Schengen Visa Denied to Moroccan Woman: She Discovers That a Secret Algorithm Examined Her Application

The Moroccan national had submitted an application for a short-stay visa on 6 September 2023. Her husband, who holds Moroccan and Dutch nationality and resides in the Netherlands, was to accommodate her and finance her visit.

The visa was refused on 29 September 2023. The authorities subsequently rejected her appeal on 5 September 2024, prompting the Moroccan woman to bring the matter before the The Hague court. The dispute concerns, among other things, her ties to Morocco and Egypt, where she held a residence permit and lived with her husband’s family.

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The case took on a different dimension when the court discovered that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs had used its IOB system (“Informatie Ondersteund Beslissen”) when examining the application. This involvement appeared neither in the initial decision nor in the decision rejecting the appeal.

In an initial decision issued in August 2025, the court found that the refusal was insufficiently reasoned. It also asked the ministry to explain precisely how the algorithm worked and what possible influence it had had on the Moroccan woman’s application.

The IOB system compares the information provided by the applicant, their host or their employer with data available from previous visa applications and information transmitted by other actors in the migration chain. It can thus direct an application toward rapid, standard or in-depth processing. The final decision, however, remains with a consular officer.

The Moroccan Woman Will Not Be Able to Know Which Profiles Were Used

The ministry ultimately provided the court with the algorithm’s profiles that were in force when the application was submitted. It nevertheless insisted that only the court be allowed to consult them, without their being disclosed to the Moroccan woman or her lawyer.

The applicant objected. She believed that her right to a fair trial required her to know the elements used by the authorities, so that she could effectively challenge the refusal of her visa.

In its decision of 16 September 2026, the court acknowledged that a simple reference to the Dutch rules protecting certain administrative information was not sufficient to justify keeping it confidential. The ministry nevertheless put forward another argument deemed admissible: revealing the profiles would enable future applicants to artificially adapt their applications and could encourage “visa shopping” between different consulates.

The judges therefore authorized keeping the profiles secret. With the Moroccan woman’s consent, the court will be able to examine them and verify the ministry’s statements itself, but the applicant will not have direct access to them.

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The Dutch government also maintains that the Moroccan woman did not correspond to any of the algorithm’s profiles. This claim will have to be specifically examined by the court. The previous decision had indeed established that the IOB system had been used without this involvement being mentioned in the refusal.

The appeal against the visa refusal has not yet been definitively resolved. The decision of 16 September concerns only the confidentiality of the profiles: the court must still determine whether the ministry properly justified its refusal and whether the Moroccan woman may ultimately obtain a fresh examination of her application.