Malta is obliged to make sure visa information is not fraudulent and that those granted a visa return to their home countries

Lawyers speaking to this website have said that even under the Schengen system, countries which issue visas are obliged to ensure that the information on the visa application is not fraudulent (this one should be obvious), that the person granted the visa actually does visit the country, and that at the end of the visa period he returns to his own country or at least leaves the territory for which he has been granted a visa.

This means that Malta is obliged to ensure that the 7,000 Algerian citizens who have been given Maltese visas, but who have disappeared into the Schengen zone, return to Algeria or at least leave the Schengen zone when their visas expire. How is Malta going to do this? It can’t.

Off to Algeria to trawl for business while 15,000 Algerians in just 18 months flood the Maltese consulate in Algiers with applications for visas. Join the dots.