A newly created visa service center in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, will offer Moroccan nationals the chance to apply for visas in February 2024 if they want to visit Italy. The well-known visa service firm VFS Global will run this facility for processing visas.

On February 16, 2023, the Embassy of Italy in Rabat, Morocco, and VFS Global worked together to formally seal the agreement to open the visa services office in Rabat. H.E. Mr. Titanilla Tóth, the Italian ambassador to Morocco, and Mr. Johan Virassamynck, the regional head for North Africa at VFS Global, helped to enable the signing of this agreement.

Since Italy and Morocco do not currently have a visa liberalization agreement, Moroccan nationals must apply for a visa before traveling to Italy.

The Italian Embassy and Consulates in Morocco, the Consulates in Agadir and Fes, the General Consulate and Promotion Center in Casablanca, and the Consulate in Marrakech are the five diplomatic representation offices that Italy now maintains in Morocco. Both Italian and foreign citizens residing in Morocco can take advantage of a variety of consular services through the Italian Embassy in Rabat.

The Italian Embassy in Rabat provides aid to Moroccan nationals looking for data on the laws governing obtaining Italian citizenship as well as information on the country’s economy, education system, culture, and sports.

Notably, there has been a noticeable increase in Moroccan nationals’ interest in applying for Italian visas. According to SchengenVisaInfo.com data, Moroccan nationals submitted 10,507 visa applications to Italian embassies and visa processing facilities in total last year. 2,582 of these were turned down, while 7,726 were accepted.

The fourth-largest market for Schengen Visa applicants after Italy, Moroccan people have demonstrated a growing interest in traveling to other Schengen Zone nations.

According to Schengen Visa Statistics, a total of 423,201 Moroccans applied for Schengen visas in the previous year. The refusal rate for Moroccan applicants for Schengen visas has also increased, it is important to note. In 2022, 30% of Moroccan requests for Schengen visas were turned down, with France and Spain being the main causes of these denials.

In conclusion, a 158.7 percent increase in visa applications overall, including those from Moroccans, was seen in 2018 compared to numbers from 2021. Morocco stood out with a rejection rate of 29.7%, ranking it among the nations with the highest Schengen visa rejection rates despite an overall Schengen visa rejection rate of 17.9%.