Schengen visa refusal rate changes each year depending upon the policies of the Schengen countries. France (26.7%), Spain (15.3%), Germany (12.7%), Italy (8.17%), and the Netherlands (6.9%) were the top five countries for rejecting most of the Schengen visa applications last year. Finland, Austria, and Belgium also showed high refusal rates.
EU Council issued Schengen visa statistics (multiple entry and uniform visas) on 15 May 2024 showing complete insights for 2023. This is the annual report that is issued every year. The available data makes it possible to identify the countries with the most and least visa success and refusal rates.
Overall, 10.3 million Schengen visa applications were received by all Schengen countries in 2023. They combined issued 8.5 million multiple entries, uniform, on-border, and LTV visas. The overall refusal rate was 16 percent (1,632,984) which is slightly lower compared with the previous year 2022 (17.9%).
Countries with the highest Schengen visa refusal rate
It depends on the number of applications received by the countries and how many visa applications they rejected.
Statistically, the countries that received the most visa applications also had the highest refusal rate. So they do not necessarily need to be considered the countries with the highest refusal rates.
We can however call these countries with the highest refusal rates against the highest submitted visa applications. We understand this with an example that the highest difference as per change in refusal rate 61.9% can be observed for the Netherlands. Greece also showed the same trend where it had a change of refusal rate that touched 61.5%. These results show an intensity of whether the numbers remained higher or lower.
Similarly, Malta rejected most of the visa applications that count to 38% in 2023. For the same year, the rejection rate remained high for Estonia at 33.1% and Belgium at 26.5%.
List of Schengen countries with uniform visa refusal numbers
| Countries | Schengen visas applied for | Schengen visas refused |
| Austria | 229,613 | 32,922 |
| Belgium | 225,951 | 60,148 |
| Croatia | 38,511 | 7,561 |
| Czech Republic | 138,840 | 24,218 |
| Denmark | 107,872 | 21,509 |
| Estonia | 13,190 | 4,347 |
| Finland | 92,078 | 16,602 |
| France | 2,625,846 | 436,893 |
| Germany | 1,459,560 | 208,155 |
| Greece | 627,008 | 91,379 |
| Hungary | 215,799 | 32,641 |
| Iceland | 22,541 | 474 |
| Italy | 1,108,035 | 133,495 |
| Latvia | 18,897 | 2,208 |
| Lithuania | 30,668 | 3,911 |
| Luxembourg | 11,227 | 1,354 |
| Malta | 33,306 | 12,261 |
| Netherlands | 669,291 | 114,269 |
| Norway | 108,536 | 17,457 |
| Poland | 124,057 | 18,564 |
| Portugal | 207,654 | 33,220 |
| Slovakia | 13,468 | 1,752 |
| Slovenia | 19,990 | 3,097 |
| Spain | 1,413,222 | 251,470 |
| Sweden | 169,151 | 38,680 |
| Switzerland | 603,261 | 64,397 |
| Total | 10,327,572 | 1,632,984 |
Third countries with higher refusal rates
It depends upon the policies of the Schengen countries about their visa rejection rate for third countries. The main reasons are:
- lack of required documents;
- no previous travel history;
- relations between two countries such as cooperation in the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers;
- political policies between two countries;
- overall policy of the EU for a certain third country (an example is recent visa sanctions on Ethiopia) under quid pro quo.
If we have a brief look at the 2023 statistics of the EU about Schengen visas, in some countries, the percentage increased for refusals such as Belarus (3.4%), Russia (10.6%), Türkiye (16.1%), and Iran (30.3%) compared with the previous year.
Some countries that remain always under the highest rejection rates such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Senegal along with many others had a visa rejection rate of about 75 percent overall (and also in 2023).
Immigration Expert Opinion
We asked about the Schengen visa refusal rates especially for the year 2023 to “Umer Rasib” based in Germany and he said,
The uniform visas of the member states are based upon policies, quota (unofficial), and relations between the two countries. Some Schengen countries trust some third-country nationals that when they get the visa they will pass their time in the zone and will leave. An example of these countries is India, Turkey, Malaysia, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait. On the other hand, less trust is shown by the Schengen member states overall towards third countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Senegal of African nations.
These policies however change from time to time as a result of better relations between two countries, the repatriation process, and the amount of money a third country applicants spend in the Schengen zone. Applicants from the above-mentioned countries mostly apply for the Schengen visa as their main motive is to enter member states and get steeled there.
However, a large majority of other applicants from the same countries have to face music as a result of quid pro quo rules, and their visa application is refused even if they a genuine visitors. Effective new techniques should be used in this modern era to differentiate between both types of applicants so that the rights, time, money, and tourism wishes of genuine applicants are not ruined.