A set of pictures targeting the Muslim community is going viral on the internet with a claim that France has recently banned passports and visas of people from 57 Muslim countries in the world 'except India'.
The context: The claim comes after the recent violence and protests that the country witnessed when a 17-year-old was allegedly shot dead by the police. Several unrelated images and videos had gone viral since then linking it to the violence and targeting the Muslim community.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
(More archives of similar claims can be viewed here, here, and here.)
What is the truth?: There is no information available to support that France has declared a ban on passports and visas of people from Muslim nations.
It should also be noted that India is not a Muslim or Islamic nation, as claimed in the viral post.
How did we find out?: We performed a keyword search but did not come across any credible news reports which supported the claim that France has declared such a ban.
We checked the official website for visas in France, but it did not carry any such announcement of the government announcing ban on the entry of citizens from Islamic nations.
Using the 'visa wizard' option, we looked for the visa application process of several Islamic countries but found no restriction based on citizenship.
No restrictions on the basis of citizenship were found in our research.
(Source: France visas/Screenshot)
It should be noted that if such a blanket ban were to be announced by the government, then there would have been several news reports indicating the same.
The Quint has reached out to the French government authorities for their input and this report will be updated as and when they are received.
Conclusion: There is no evidence to support the claim that the French government has announced a ban on the passports and visas of all citizens from Islamic nations.
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