The four EU countries in which it is most difficult to get a Schengen visa were presented by Schengen Visa Statistics experts, who compiled a rating of visa refusals based on the results of 2022. As it turned out, Malta, Sweden, Belgium, and France began to refuse visas the most.
At the same time, these countries cite the tourist’s financial inability and lack of insurance as the main reason for refusal.
So, the experts submitted the following data:
- The first place in the rating of the most frequent refusals went to Malta – 36.4% of applications were rejected in the consulates and visa centers of this country. However, the researchers add that the total number of submitted applications is also small — the country rejected about 8,000 applications out of 22,000 received.
- In second place is Sweden, where 29% of applications, or 38,652 out of 135,946 applications, were rejected.
- Belgium is next – 28.4% or 46,569 out of 171,966
- By the way, France was in fourth place. Although its total percentage of rejected applications is lower than that of its predecessors in the ranking — 22.2% — due to its popularity, it has become the country with the largest number of negative visa decisions — almost 409,000 visa applications were rejected. Issued in its 1.9 million
By the way, Spain – about 228,000 applications, Germany – 167,000 applications, and Italy – 92,000 were also included in the rating of “large numbers” of visa refusals. That is, all countries are popular with tourists.
The researchers also named the main reasons for the failures. In the first place was insufficient proof of financial means for the trip, followed by lack of travel insurance for the Schengen area or other required insurance; this is followed by an invalid passport and even a “criminal record”. The ranking of countries with the highest percentage of Schengen visa refusals can also more clearly “underline” the reasons for refusals – Algeria is in first place in the ranking, where almost 50% of applicants are refused, followed by Nigeria with 46%, and Sri Lanka closes the top three. Ghana and Haiti are also on the list.
The overall rejection rate for the Schengen area in 2022 was 17.9%.