This article focuses on the symbolic nature of the policing of migrations and mobility, by looking at discussions on visa policies between Morocco and European countries. I argue that it is important to take seriously the symbolic, moral and emotional arguments put forward by state actors in the South in order to understand their claims and the unfolding of negotiations. The contestation of European visa policies then appears not only as a contestation of specific visas, but more generally as a contestation of inequalities in the policing of migration. Unequal policing is interpreted as both a result and a reinforcing element of international hierarchies, which are subtly questioned through claims for the free movement of people.