Third-country nationals that want to apply for a visa are required to pay a Schengen Visa fee of €80. This fee generally applies to all third-country nationals, except those from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kosovo, who have to pay slightly less (€35), and the Gambia pays the most (€120).
According to Schengen Statistics, the top three nationalities that have paid the most for visa applications in 2022 are Turks, Russians and Indians, with these three countries filing over 2.1 million visa applications together.
More specifically, Turkish nationals paid €62.2 million in 2022 for visa applications alone, representing the country with the highest expenditure.
The second and third nationalities to follow – Russian and Indians have spent around 55 and 53.7 million for visa applications while some 121,188 applicants from India really saw no use for their money as their applications were denied. This means almost €9.7 million were lost, as denied visa applications cannot be refunded in any way.
These rates are lower for Turkish nationals, as the rejection rate for these applicants was lower – 120,876 applications were denied resulting in €9.6 million lost, while Russians, which had the lowest rejection rate out of three, witnessed losses the least, around €5.5 million.
However, the case with Moroccan and Algerian applicants is nowhere near this mark, as these two nationalities have received the most negative answers on their visa applications out of all. More specifically, 28.2 per cent of all applications or 119,346 requests for a Schengen Visa filed by Moroccan nationals were rejected, resulting in €9.5 million in losses.
But the nationality that experienced the highest losses, despite not having filed the most applications, are Algerians, who spent €31.3 million in Schengen visa applications, with €14.3 million going up in smoke as 179,409 applications were denied. Algerians have also received the most negative answers on their application for 2022.
Out of all ten nationalities, Algerian nationals have the income as average salaries in this North African country are around €400. This means that 20 per cent of an average applicant’s wage went for a Schengen Visa Application.
The list of other countries that spent the most on visa applications in 2022 is concluded with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Thailand, which spend 28.6, 22.5 and 16.6 million, respectively.
On the other hand, the Emiratis and Tunisians spent €28.3 million together, while Tunisians received more denied applications, indicating that they saw more money go up in smoke – 48,909 rejected applications or €3.9 million in losses.
