Chinese applicants have been among the nationalities with the most visa requests
Chinese nationals filed the highest number of Schengen visa applications in 2023. With 1.1 million applications, the Chinese represent 10.8 pc of the total share of applications received for the year.
According to data by Schengen Statistics, the top 10 nationalities have dominated the market of visa applicants, submitting over six million requests or 59 pc of all applications.
It says that nine out of top 10 countries of origin for applicants have remained the same as in 2022, with the only news changes for the list being that China has made a great return as a top visa applicant, pushing for Tunisia to go out of the list. Visa application rates have increased by 36.3 pc in 2023.
China tops, Russia moves considerably lower
The report adds that the Covid-19 pandemic impacted China greatly in the past five years. This was especially reflected in the number of visa applications filed.
Chinese applicants have been among the nationalities with the most visa requests as the available data reveals. However, between 2020 and 2022, China dropped low in the list of origin countries for Schengen visa applicants. Even in 2022, it ranked only a lowly 22nd.
This year, it made a great comeback, topping the list of the top sources for visa applications submitted, says the statement.
It adds that China’s comeback has caused Türkiye to rank second, down from being a top applicant in 2022 while the recent developments with Russia have caused visa applications from this country to drop significantly.
While in 2022 Russians filed 687,239 visas, in the following year, application rates dropped to 520,387, a drop of 24 pc. These changes have also caused Tunisia, which was the 10th country of origin for visa applicants, to be entirely off the list.
France top destination for 5 nationalities
The statement adds that Chinese applicants’ favourite destination to apply for a visa was France. A total of 271,000 visa requests were directed there, followed by Germany at 160,000 and Spain at 148,000.
Similarly, France represented the top destination for four other nationalities, namely Moroccans, Algerians, Saudis and British.
It says that Greece was Turkish nationals’ most sought-after destination for visa applications, followed by Germany and France. These three countries received 61 pc of all visa requests in 2023.
Switzerland, France and Germany were the countries that received most visa applications from Indian nationals. Switzerland was also Thai applicants’ favourite destination, filing 43,000 requests or 16 pc of all applications.
While Emiratis filed most visas to Germany and Spain, some 26,000 Russians opted for Italy, where they submitted 143,500 visa applications, the statement adds.
