French Consular Staff Busted for Visa Scam

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Ties between France and the Kurdistan Region have never been stronger as evidenced by President Francois Hollande’s recent historic visit to Erbil and Paris’ military support of the Kurds. Yet amid flourishing diplomacy, the French consulate in Erbil is facing its biggest scandal yet: a corruption ring that allegedly involved a high-level diplomat.

Employees at the French consulate in Erbil are facing charges of corruption that involved scamming Iraqis by pressing them to pay thousands of dollars for visas and embassy appointments. 

“It’s true, consular employees were redirecting applicants to travel agencies who would charge them ridiculous prices for appointments and visas,” Alain Guépratte, the French consul-general to the Kurdistan Region told Rudaw. 

“This issue is primarily from last year and the beginning of this year,” he said. 

Guépratte said he did not have sufficient evidence to call in French inspectors until late February. 

Deputy Consul-General Ludovic Francelle has been suspended for one year pending a criminal tribunal ahead of a trial. The Foreign Ministry would not comment on his exact role in the scam. Meanwhile, two Kurdish employees have been fired charging huge premiums on visas that should only cost €60. 

Guépratte told Rudaw that travel agencies would book all appointments on the Foreign Ministry’s website, making it seem impossible to get an appointment without an agent. Consulate staff who were in on the scam would direct any visitor who showed up to the agencies. 

French media reported that some Iraqis paid $600 for an initial appointment and $800-$1,700 for a visa. They also paid for the agent to fill out an application. Generally, those wanting an appointment immediately would have to pay more.

The European Union visa is one of the most coveted and difficult visas for Iraqis to obtain. Although they have an easier time traveling internationally now than in the past, it still can be difficult for Iraqis and other citizens of poor, war-torn countries such as Syria to obtain visas from western and Arab countries that fear they might seek asylum. 

Following an investigation by the Kurdish intelligence service, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) officials reported that people may have been paying upwards of $10,000. 

Guépratte said some may have paid much more for other services, such as residency applications. 

Despite local investigations, the closure of the main firm allegedly involved in the scam, YellowRiver, and public statements by the consulate against the practice, locals continue to fall for the scam. 

“Until today, people are asked by travel agencies to pay for visas, and they still do it,” says Guépratte. 

It is suspected that similar practices are occurring at other consulates, according to a source at another European consulate.  

Agencies in many less fortunate countries help visa seekers who aren’t aware of the procedures fill out applications in the country’s native language, although most of these services are typically available at an embassy. Some agencies go farther, claiming they can boost the applicant’s chances of obtaining a visa. But the alleged bribes and payments are clearly illegal.

Worse still in Erbil, Guépratte said, many of the agencies fill applications with false documents, so they’re often rejected in the end. Customers had no legal recourse for a refund, if they can even find the agent who offered the service.    

Karwan Jamal Tahir, deputy chief of the KRG’s Department of Foreign Relations, maintained that the scams were born out of the Kurdish desire to travel given the region’s economic boom. At the same time, obtaining a tourist can be a difficult and time-consuming process, so people were willing to pay extra to cut corners.  

There are long waiting lines for visas, especially at the French and German consulates, who are the only countries that send EU Schengen tourist visa applications directly to their capitals. 

Guépratte claimed that many of those who receive a Schengen visa ignore the stipulation to enter the EU through France. Many other countries with large Kurdish populations complain that travelers arrive directly from Iraq with French-issued visas.  This creates a bigger problem if the traveler claims asylum: they will be sent back to France, which issued the visa  not Iraq.  

“We have realized that people would rather pay more money and not wait two to three months to get an approval for the visa,” Tahir said. “People find a different way. Most of the people are tourists or they have families abroad, and they don’t have any (pressing) reason to travel: it’s not business, it’s not official, and it’s not medical.” 

Because it’s common practice for affluent Kurds to pay someone to take care of bureaucratic procedures like renewing a driver’s license, the scam was tolerated for some time. The consul-general said while they were aware of complaints and rumors of the scam, there wasn’t any hard evidence.  

“The biggest problem is that no one will testify, no one will go on the record about this, because they must’ve known that what they were doing was illegal,” Guépratte said. “They must have assumed I was in on it, which was quite embarrassing for me and the consulate….Many were afraid to come in until after the staff were fired.”

Guépratte claimed that this could be a problem for the criminal trial in France, where it may be necessary for local witnesses to appear in court. 

There couldn’t be a more awkward time for the story to come out. Tahir believes the French media are exploiting the news to tarnish Hollande’s achievement abroad.

“His reputation domestically is under attack by some of the French parties,” he told Rudaw. “At the same time, his reputation abroad has surged: he’s leading this big international coalition to support the United States in fighting ISIS. That’s led some people to try to make this scandal bigger — it all happened months ago, even if it’s coming out now.” 

Officials insist that the visa process is working normally now, with appointments arranged by a reputable private company (which also handles Austrian visas, amongst others).  

The consulate has hired additional staff because of the expanding French military role in Iraq, as well as its significant humanitarian mission. There are also thousands of applications from refugee seekers since Hollande vowed to take in Iraqis persecuted by Islamic extremists last month.