The only country with higher visa rejections than India is Algeria
Potential tourists from India spent about INR 870 million in visa application fees in the year 2022, but could not travel as their visas were refused, says data by Schengen Visa Info.
According to a report, as international travel rebounded after the pandemic, there was a sharp 415 pc surge in Schengen visa applications from India in 2022. More visas were issued as a result of a decline in rejection rates brought on by the increase in applications.
However, India also had the second-highest number of Schengen visa rejections worldwide, with over 100,000 visas refused. The report says that out of the 6,71,928 Indian applications filed last year, 1,21,188 applications were rejected, with a rejection rate of 18 pc. While the number is lower than India’s 2021 rejection rate, which was 23.3 pc, it is still higher than the average rejection rate across the world, which stood at 17.9 pc in 2022.
The only country with higher visa rejections than India is Algeria, where 1,79,409 of 3,92,053 visa applications were rejected, at about 45.8 pc.
For the remaining top eight countries as per the analysis, India was followed by Türkiye with 1,20,876 out of 7,78,409 visas rejected, accounting for 15.5 pc.
Next was Morocco, accounting for 28.2 pc or 1,19,346 out of 4,23,201 repudiated visas. Russian applications saw rejection rates of 10 pc with 68,753 out of 6,87,239 visas repudiated.
The survey says that the African nation of Tunisia and Middle Eastern giant the United Arab Emirates accounted for about 48,909 out of 1,68,346 rejected visas at 29.1 pc and 42,105 out of 1,87,196 at 22.5 pc, respectively.
The last three countries included Nigeria, Iran and Egypt. Nigeria’s 39,189 out of 86,815 visas were repudiated at 45.1 pc, whereas for Iran, the numbers were 33,679 out of 1,42,243 cancelled visas at 23.7 pc and 18.6 pc or 31,271 out of 1,67,995 repudiated visas for Egypt, adds the statement.
As per the report, visa application fee in India is EUR 80 or INR 7,200 for an Indian citizen over the age of 12 with a regular passport. The figure varies for children below 12 years of age, students and representatives of non-profit organisations and nationals of other countries. On an average, Indians spent about INR 4.80 billion in visa applications last year, of which INR 870 million was lost.
