Algerian nationals were refused Schengen visa applications the most in 2022, with a total of 179,409 visas not being issued with the total rate of not issued uniform visas reaching 45.8 per cent.
Schengen Statistics reveal that applicants from India and Türkiye follow next in the list, with 121,188 and 120,876 visa rejections, respectively, while the total rejection rate was 18 and 15.2 per cent.
The list of top ten countries with the highest Schengen visa rejection rates for 2022 is further completed with Morocco and Russia, which had 119,346 and 68,753 visa applications rejected, respectively. In addition, the not-issued rate for uniform visas among these two countries was 15.5 and 28.2 rejections, respectively.
The African country of Tunisia has also scored a high rate of visa rejections – 29.1 per cent with 48,909 total visa application rejections, followed by the United Arab Emirates with 42,105.
The last three countries with the most rejections are Nigeria, Iran and Egypt, who had around 30,000 applications denied. More specifically, 39,189 visa applications were rejected from applicants from Nigeria, followed by 33,679 from Iran and another 31,271 in Egypt.
However, the visa rejection rates varied depending on the country, with Nigeria having the second highest among all ten countries with the most visas rejected, falling only behind Algeria. This means that 45.1 per cent of all applications for Schengen visas filed by Nigerian applicants were denied compared to 23.7 per cent of those in Iran and 18.6 per cent of requests submitted by Egyptians.
In general, the visa rejection rates have increased in 2022, with Algerians once again being quite impacted. While the rejection rate in 2021 was 32 per cent for Algerian applicants, it rose to 45.8 per cent in the following year, while the nationality to witness a decline in visa rejections was Türkiye- from 16.9 to 15.5 per cent.
In terms of expenses, the top ten countries with the highest rejection rates have spent €64 million for a total of 804,725 visa applications denied, while in 2021, the expenditure was exponentially lower, as 237,041 applications were rejected, corresponding to €18.9 million.
While Turkiye spent the most on Schengen visa applications that got denied in 2021, Algeria suffered the same deal this year, with increasingly higher expenses.
