Visa systems are administrative infrastructures that determine who gets to move and they are not designed equally. This is LAGO's flagship body of work on visa inequality: the data, stories, art and analysis that reveal what unequal visa regimes mean for people, economies and creative practice.
Event - M4Music Festival
21.03.2026
Event
Together with DJ CocoEm, Marta Foresti joined a panel at Switzerland's leading music industry conference to make the case for mobility as a driver of creativity, innovation and a thriving global creative economy.
Event - 1-54 Art Fair Marrakech
07.02.2026
Event
What would it take to redesign mobility for the future of African creative leadership? Moderated by Kenji Maghoma, this panel with curators Basma Mansour and Alinta Sara explored exactly that.
Project - African Creativity Beyond Borders
09.12.2025
Project
In collaboration with King's College London, LAGO is supporting a PhD programme launching October 2026, examining how visa regimes shape youth mobility, creative exchange and the cultural economy across Africa and beyond.
Event - London Design Festival with King's College London
03.09.2025
Event
In collaboration with King's College London, LAGO exhibited data visualisations by Federica Fragapane and sonifications by Tiziana Alocci at Bush House, London, exploring what it means to give shape and sound to visa rejections and their costs.
Event - Somerset House with Oroko Radio
25.07.2025
Event
Featuring Jinan Vyent, Amina Adebisi Odofin, Amanda Boachie, Nate Agbetu and Marta Foresti, this conversation 'Global Cities and Borders' explored visa inequality, diaspora networks and how to build alternative models of mobility.
Data - The Value of a Visa Application Fee
10.07.2025
Visual Design
How much is a €100 visa fee actually worth? Designer Federica Fragapane visualises how the same application fee translates into vastly different financial realities depending on where you live. Data credit: 'Our World in Data'.
Words - The Poetics of Visa Inequality
01.07.2025
Words
Poet Lemn Sissay confronted the racism embedded in global visa systems at LAGO's 2024 Beauty of Movement event, then captured the moment in a quatrain that captures the heart of our flagship project on visa inequality: All Other Passports.
Data - Shapes of Visa Inequality: 2025
12.06.2025
Visual Design
Designer Federica Fragapane visualises the latest data on passport inequality, mapping rejection rates and the real cost of short-term visa applications to Europe from low and middle income countries.
Data - Sounds of Visa Inequality: 2025
12.06.2025
Sound Design
Data artist Tiziana Alocci transforms the latest rejection rates for short-term visas to Europe into sound, making the weight of visa inequality something you don't just see, but hear.
Data - Visa Rejection Rates 2022–2024
19.05.2025
Data
LAGO's analysis of UK and Schengen short-term visa applications reveals the scale of passport inequality, with full datasets available on rejection rates and the financial costs they impose.
Film - Stories of Visa Inequality
30.01.2025
Film
Shot in Kumasi and Accra, Ghana, artists speak about the reality of a rejected visa and what unequal visa regimes mean for creative opportunities, locally and globally. Made in collaboration with Oroko Radio.
Opinion - Africans Pay the Price of Visa Denials to Europe
24.06.2024
Words
Published by the London School of Economics Africa Centre, LAGO's analysis finds that unequal visa regimes cost applicants from low and middle-income countries over €100 million in rejected fees every year.
Data - The Costs of Visa Inequality: 2024
05.06.2024
Visual Design
The Schengen non-refundable visa fee is €80. Based on 2023 rejection rates, LAGO estimates €130M lost to rejected applications, 90% borne by low and middle-income countries: a reverse remittance.
Data - Shapes of Visa Inequality: 2023
16.04.2024
Visual Design
The lower your country's income, the more likely your visa will be rejected. This visualisation maps short-term Schengen rejection rates, with African applicants bearing the heaviest burden.
Opinion - Europe must make it easier for Africans to get visas
02.06.2023
Words
Europe is placing insurmountable barriers in front of Africans trying to get visas to visit. Marta Foresti and Otho Mantegazza discuss how this policy is denying people opportunities and doing Europe more harm than good - published by LSE.
Opinion - Less Gratitude, Please
01.05.2020
Words
Published by Brookings, Marta Foresti argues that COVID-19 exposed the urgent need for migration reform and that turning gratitude for essential migrant workers into policy change requires an entirely different conversation.