Spain Introduces Transit Visas for Kenyan & Senegalese Passport Holders

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Spain has introduced transit visas for Kenyans on January 20, and will be introducing the same requirement on Senegalese nationals on February 19.
• The move has been taken due to a surge in the number of Senegalese passport holders seeking asylum at the Madrid airport, while travelling to Brazil.
• Spain now has the longest list of countries the citizens of which need a transit Schengen visa, together with France and Czechia.

As of January 20, 2024, Kenyan passport holders will need to obtain a transit visa beforehand, in order to be able to pass through Spain, to reach their destination country.

The decision has been taken a month ago, on December 20,2023, and became effective only last weekend.

​​As of January 20, 2024, all holders of an ordinary Kenyan passport who wish to carry out airport transit in Spain with a final destination to other countries must be in possession of a valid airport transit visa (TAP Visa) to transit through the international areas of Spanish airports.​

Spain Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Whereas starting from February 19, 2024, Senegalese passport holders will also become subject to the same requirement, as announced by the Spanish Embassy in Senegal on an X (former Twitter) post on January 24.

We inform you that from February 19, 2024, Senegalese nationals, holders of ordinary passports, must be in possession of an airport transit visa (TAP) to transit through the international zones of Spanish airports.

Spanish Embassy in Senegal

The move follows a surge in the number of people claiming asylum at Madrid airport, and complaints by police unions on the increasing number of Senegalese passport holders requesting asylum while on a layover in Madrid, en route to Brazil.

In 2023, Spain was the third country in the European Union receiving the highest number of international protection applications.

According to the Office of Asylum and Refuge (OAR) of the Ministry of the Interior, there were 163,218 applications for international protection submitted in Spain in 2023, 37 per cent more than the previous year. At the same time, the number marks the highest recorded since the creation of the office in 1992.

A Transit Schengen Visa is granted to travellers who only need to stop in a Schengen Area airport, in order to take another flight, to their non-Schengen destination.

The EU countries have two types of lists of countries the nationals of which need a transit Schengen visa. The first list is a joint one, and all countries apply the same one. It includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sri Lanka

Whereas the second list is different for each Schengen country. Spain’s second list, aside of Kenya and soon Senegal, includes:

• Cameroon
• Republic of the Congo
• Chad
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Cuba
• Djibouti
• Gambia
• Guinea
• Guinea Bissau
• Haiti*
• India
• Liberia
• Mali
• Sierra Leone
• Sudan
• South Sudan
• Syria
• Türkiye
• Togo
• Yemen
• Palestinians

Spain, alongside with Czechia and France, has the longest list of countries in need of transit visas to pass through its territory. Together with Kenya and Senegal, Spain’s list now counts 23 countries.