Rabat - Cote d’Ivoire has announced the reintroduction of temporary Moroccan visa requirements for all holders of ordinary Ivorian passports.

A statement from the country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday that the measure is taking place in coordination with Moroccan authorities.

The reintroduction of the entry visa requirements for all holders of Ivorian ordinary passports will be applied for a trial period of two years, starting from September 1.

The process comes in response to the influx of African migrants towards Mediterranean shores, with transit points being countries in North Africa, including Morocco, the ministry added.

“Host countries of irregular immigration candidates in collaboration with the relevant services of the Ivorian embassies, have conducted profiling,” the statement said.

The statement further stressed that the identification process shows that most of the irregular migrants are foreign nationals “falsely claiming Ivorian citizenship.”

The Ivorian foreign affairs ministry noted that out of 14,800 migrants arriving in Lampedusa presented themselves as Ivorian citizens but only a “few dozen have been identified as actual nationals of Cote d’Ivoire.”

Cote d’Ivoire clarified that the measure is not a permanent process but a temporary suspension of visa exemption, adding that this does not apply to Moroccan citizens wishing to travel to Cote d’Ivoire or to Ivorians holding diplomatic or service passports.

It also does not concern holders of Moroccan residence permits, as well as holders of Schengen visas, or visas from the UAE, US, or Canada.