Thursday 14 / November / 2024
The number of visa applications filed in 2023 surpassed 10.3 million, showing an increase of 37 per cent from 2022.
According to data from the European Commission published by SchengenVisaInfo, The top five countries with the most visa applications for the year are China (1.11 million), Turkiye (1.05 million), India (966,000), Morocco (591,000) and Russia (520,387).for the year – a total of 1.1 million. China marked a comeback as the top of origin for the first time since 2018 when it was overtaken by Turkiye.
The top five countries with the most visa applications for the year are China (1.11 million), Turkiye (1.05 million), India (966,000), Morocco (591,000) and Russia (520,387).
China is once again the first country with the most Schengen visa applicants in the world. This outcome further proves the point that application rates have recovered from COVID-19, which prompted this change and caused Turkiye to be the top applicant country from 2019 to 2022.
More than ten per cent of all applications filed for Schengen visas in 2023 were made by Chinese nationals, while Turks and Indians followed.
A total of 8.49 million visas were issued in 2023, showing that 82.3 per cent of all applications were approved. In 2022, the acceptance rate was 78.4 per cent.
In terms of changes, Turkiye, which ranked as the top applicant country in 2022, now ranks second, while China marked a robust comeback – from the 22nd spot in 2022 to the first in 2023. Turks filed 36.5 per cent more applications this year, while the change in application rates for Chinese applicants was 1104 per cent higher than in 2022.
India maintained its third position, filing a total of 966,687 applications – up by 43.8 per cent compared to 2022, same as Morocco, which remained the fourth country of origin for most visa applications in 2023. In total, Moroccans submitted 591,401 applications – 39.7 per cent more than in 2022.
In addition to China, the most evident change in visa application rates was noticed among Russian applicants. This year, Russia is listed fifth among countries of origin with most applications with a total of 520,387 requests. In 2022, Russia ranked second, with 687,239 applications – marking a 24.2 per cent decline.
In 2023, the refusal rates were lower, with 16 per cent of all visas being rejected, representing some 1.6 million denied applications. The visa application rejection rates in 2022 were 17.9 per cent and 13.4 per cent in 2021, respectively.
Refusal rates for applicants coming from Belarus, Russia, Turkiye and Iran were higher in 2023. While in 2022, 1.9 per cent of applications from Belarus were rejected, that share rose to 3.4 per cent in 2023. For Russians, the rejection rate increased from 10.2 per cent to 10.6 per cent and 16.1 per cent for Turks (15.7 per cent in 2022). Around 30.3 per cent of applications from Iran were rejected this year – up from 25.2 per cent recorded in 2022.
