Chinese nationals have filed the highest number of Schengen visa applications in 2023. With 1.1 million applications, the Chinese represent 10.8 per cent of the total share of applications received for the year.
According to data by Schengen Statistics, the top ten nationalities have dominated the market of visa applicants, submitting over six million requests or 59 per cent of all applications, SchengenNews reports.
Nine out of ten 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 extinct from the list. Visa application rates have increased by 36.3 per cent in 2023.
China Tops the List, Russia Moves Considerably Lower
The COVID-19 pandemic has 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. Moreover, in 2022, it ranked 22nd.
This year, it made a great comeback, topping the list of the top sources for visa applications submitted.
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 24 per cent drop.
These changes have also caused Tunisia, which was the tenth country of origin for visa applicants, to be entirely off the list.
Chinese applicants’ favourite destination to apply for a visa was France. A total of 271,000 visa requests were directed there, followed by Germany (160,000) and Spain (148,000).
Similarly, France represented the top destination for four other nationalities; Moroccans, Algerians, Saudis and Brits.
Greece was Turkish nationals’ most sought-after destination for visa applications, followed by Germany and France. These three countries received 61 per cent 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 per cent 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.
France Was the Top Destination for 5 Nationalities