Minister for Asylum and Migration Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) is setting off for Cameroon on Monday on a mission to discourage people from coming to Belgium. According to the minister, there are “serious indications of fraud and abuse” involving student visas for Belgium.

Cameroon is the main country of origin for student visa applications in Belgium, accounting for one in five applications. Four out of five applications are refused, and the Immigration Office (DVZ) has been detecting abuse for years, Van Bossuyt’s office says. For example, people sometimes act as guarantors for dozens of students at a time in exchange for payment. The DVZ suspects that organised networks are involved.

“Many young people leave with an idealised image of Belgium, without realising how expensive life is here,” Van Bossuyt says. “Some spend their savings on a journey that ends in poverty, failed studies and, ultimately, illegal residence. We want to dispel these illusions.”

During her working visit, Van Bossuyt plans, among other things, to speak to young people at a university and hand out leaflets. She will also meet mothers of young people who went abroad on student visas but ended up living in poverty and illegally. She will also speak to the press and religious leaders, and meet the ministers for foreign affairs and the interior.

The minister will also address regular migration to Belgium. Cameroon is one of the main countries of origin for asylum seekers, but almost nine out of ten Cameroonian asylum seekers are not granted international protection.

Van Bossuyt has previously undertaken deterrence missions to Moldova and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to her office, those missions were followed by a fall in the number of asylum applications.

Source: Belganewsagency