Schengen visas have high refusal rates and you can expect your schengen visa application to be denied depending on where you apply.

According to the schengen visa statistics published by European commission, Worldwide, 9.6% of all visa applications were refused for 2018, that is 1.4 percentage points more than in 2017.

Here are some of the facts about schengen visas

  • France issued most schengen visas than any other schengen country (3.3 million visas), followed by Germany and Italy
  • EU schengen states received 16 million visa applications for 2018
  • Russians and chinese followed  top the table for receiving schengen visas.

Top 10 Schengen States with Visa Refusals

These are the top countries with highest refusal rates for the schengen visa. We give you breakdown in terms of highest and lowest refusal rates.

Highest Refusal Rate

  1. Malta
  2. Belgium
  3. Portugal
  4. France
  5. Netherlands
  6. Sweden
  7. Slovenia
  8. Norway
  9. Spain
  10.   Germany

Lowest Visa Refusal Rate

These are the schengen states with lowest visa refusal rates.

  1. Lithuania
  2. Estonia
  3. Iceland
  4. Finland
  5. Latvia
  6. Poland
  7. Luxembourg
  8. Slovakia
  9. Czech Republic
  10.   Greece

Schengen visa refusals

Schengen State Uniform visas applied Uniform visas not issued Refusal %
Malta 32331 6611 20.45%
Belgium 219827 36906 16.79%
Portugal 266516 44179 16.58%
France 4010604 629997 15.71%
Netherlands 682382 86123 12.62%
Sweden 253292 29604 11.69%
Slovenia 26403 2632 9.97%
Norway 164591 15633 9.50%
Spain 1701379 157494 9.26%
Germany 2056296 186699 9.08%
Hungary 228793 17762 7.76%
Switzerland 556520 41230 7.41%
Italy 1844140 135882 7.37%
Denmark 164003 11472 6.99%
Austria 306133 19098 6.24%
Greece 855285 42013 4.91%
Czech Republic 662902 31206 4.71%
Slovakia 26797 1118 4.17%
Luxembourg 10876 401 3.69%
Poland 518003 15423 2.98%
Latvia 161709 3374 2.09%
Finland 769049 13439 1.75%
Iceland 9334 156 1.67%
Estonia 127561 2048 1.61%
Lithuania 353059 4701 1.33%

Source: European commission / Schengen Visa Statistics 2018

Applicantion Refusals

These are the visa refusals of applicants by country, listed by schengen consulate

No. Schengen consulate Uniform visas not issued Uniform visas applied Refusal Rate
1 RUSSIAN FEDERATION 57421 3695671 1.55%
2 CHINA 105264 2823252 3.73%
3 INDIA 100980 1081359 9.34%
4 TURKEY 74321 879240 8.45%
5 ALGERIA 324291 713255 45.47%
6 BELARUS 2239 681106 0.33%
7 MOROCCO 119586 662585 18.05%
8 SAUDI ARABIA 27300 360287 7.58%
9 THAILAND 11102 332269 3.34%
10 UNITED KINGDOM 4214 275099 1.53%
11 IRAN 80397 273580 29.39%
12 TUNISIA 42639 234452 18.19%
13 SOUTH AFRICA 5403 221790 2.44%
14 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 38909 217433 17.89%
15 INDONESIA 3687 210468 1.75%
16 UKRAINE 8943 191725 4.66%
17 EGYPT 37891 190140 19.93%
18 PHILIPPINES 14440 175703 8.22%
19 KUWAIT 8485 174765 4.86%
20 USA 3185 160749 1.98%
21 KAZAKHSTAN 7544 157608 4.79%
22 LEBANON 18874 155650 12.13%
23 VIETNAM 12030 127062 9.47%
24 ANGOLA 23127 107541 21.51%
25 QATAR 7205 90957 7.92%
26 KOSOVO 19631 90840 21.61%
27 PAKISTAN 31062 89256 34.80%
28 NIGERIA 44076 88587 49.75%
29 SENEGAL 29684 73346 40.47%
30 ECUADOR 11032 68013 16.22%
31 IRAQ 30907 64726 47.75%
32 COTE D’IVOIRE 19003 61639 30.83%
33 AZERBAIJAN 6257 59325 10.55%
34 ARMENIA 6939 59012 11.76%
35 JORDAN 9390 56976 16.48%
36 CUBA 7070 50179 14.09%
37 GHANA 18133 43665 41.53%
38 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 11697 42606 27.45%
39 OMAN 1909 38944 4.90%
40 KENYA 4769 38503 12.39%
41 CAMEROON 11318 37043 30.55%
42 SRI LANKA 7302 36449 20.03%
43 SINGAPORE 533 33133 1.61%
44 UZBEKISTAN 4067 30798 13.21%
45 BANGLADESH 9976 30573 32.63%
46 CANADA 1416 30140 4.70%
47 ISRAEL 2273 24009 9.47%
48 BAHRAIN 765 23544 3.25%
49 ETHIOPIA 4297 23134 18.57%
50 BOLIVIA 5241 23126 22.66%
51 GABON 5466 22589 24.20%
52 MALI 5717 21953 26.04%
53 MADAGASCAR 4881 21606 22.59%
54 CAPE VERDE 6752 20158 33.50%
55 SURINAME 1642 19793 8.30%
56 MONGOLIA 2741 18620 14.72%
57 AUSTRALIA 432 17029 2.54%
58 MOZAMBIQUE 1089 16679 6.53%
59 BURKINA FASO 2495 16073 15.52%
60 KYRGYZSTAN 1143 15823 7.22%
61 MAURITANIA 2873 15684 18.32%
62 HONG KONG S.A.R. 167 15485 1.08%
63 IRELAND 235 15396 1.53%
64 CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE) 5110 15389 33.21%
65 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 3231 15055 21.46%
66 JAPAN 337 14546 2.32%
67 NORTH MACEDONIA 3035 13999 21.68%
68 GUINEA 6307 13487 46.76%
69 UGANDA 2500 13352 18.72%
70 BENIN 1680 12242 13.72%
71 TANZANIA 1614 12035 13.41%
72 CAMBODIA 1442 11250 12.82%
73 SUDAN 2716 11193 24.27%
74 MYANMAR 580 10469 5.54%
75 NEPAL 2467 10464 23.58%
76 LIBYA 2429 9928 24.47%
77 RWANDA 1725 9427 18.30%
78 CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC) 4197 9122 46.01%
79 TOGO 2011 8745 23.00%
80 HAITI 3052 8582 35.56%
81 SERBIA 233 8572 2.72%
82 GUINEA-BISSAU 1744 8260 21.11%
83 ZIMBABWE 452 7522 6.01%
84 CHAD 2209 7419 29.77%
85 NIGER 784 7011 11.18%
86 CYPRUS 625 6666 9.38%
87 MALAYSIA 1175 6603 17.79%
88 PANAMA 1563 6530 23.94%
89 PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY 775 6251 12.40%
90 NAMIBIA 113 6205 1.82%
91 ZAMBIA 287 5979 4.80%
92 TURKMENISTAN 133 5451 2.44%
93 JAMAICA 256 5356 4.78%
94 ROMANIA 339 4906 6.91%
95 BULGARIA 200 4826 4.14%
96 TAJIKISTAN 901 4662 19.33%
97 LAOS 363 4640 7.82%
98 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 1469 4101 35.82%
99 SOUTH KOREA 295 4073 7.24%
100 BURUNDI 798 3604 22.14%
101 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 554 3504 15.81%
102 BRAZIL 770 3478 22.14%
103 DJIBOUTI 895 3241 27.61%
104 GEORGIA 920 2927 31.43%
105 NEW ZEALAND 40 2735 1.46%
106 MOLDOVA 85 2615 3.25%
107 ERITREA 874 2155 40.56%
108 COLOMBIA 293 2093 14.00%
109 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 109 1830 5.96%
110 CROATIA 55 1806 3.05%
111 MEXICO 85 1773 4.79%
112 COMOROS 633 1709 37.04%
113 BOTSWANA 8 1655 0.48%
114 ALBANIA 142 1595 8.90%
115 TAIWAN 43 1417 3.03%
116 AFGHANISTAN 18 1350 1.33%
117 CHILE 172 1308 13.15%
118 MONTENEGRO 23 1156 1.99%
119 ARGENTINA 65 1114 5.83%
120 NETHERLANDS 38 1010 3.76%
121 PERU 41 889 4.61%
122 MAURITIUS 17 878 1.94%
123 DENMARK 7 769 0.91%
124 SYRIA 155 643 24.11%
125 MACAO S.A.R. 16 557 2.87%
126 SAINT LUCIA 21 541 3.88%
127 SAN MARINO 2 437 0.46%
128 VENEZUELA 95 434 21.89%
129 FRANCE 4 391 1.02%
130 NORTH KOREA 22 363 6.06%
131 SPAIN 16 360 4.44%
132 GERMANY 12 348 3.45%
133 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 21 334 6.29%
134 GUATEMALA 0 281 0.00%
135 AUSTRIA 13 241 5.39%
136 ITALY 14 236 5.93%
137 COSTA RICA 3 213 1.41%
138 VANUATU 0 164 0.00%
139 URUGUAY 2 143 1.40%
140 GREECE 9 139 6.47%
141 ANDORRA 138 0.00%
142 MALAWI 11 137 8.03%
143 SWEDEN 8 118 6.78%
144 SWITZERLAND 1 112 0.89%
145 BELGIUM 4 112 3.57%
146 SLOVENIA 13 99 13.13%
147 ICELAND 88 0.00%
148 PARAGUAY 6 88 6.82%
149 POLAND 6 81 7.41%
150 LIBERIA 78 0.00%
151 EL SALVADOR 0 75 0.00%
152 SLOVAKIA 2 69 2.90%
153 TIMOR-LESTE 3 51 5.88%
154 FINLAND 2 48 4.17%
155 PORTUGAL 2 46 4.35%
156 HONDURAS 0 43 0.00%
157 LUXEMBOURG 2 40 5.00%
158 NICARAGUA 1 38 2.63%
159 LITHUANIA 0 34 0.00%
160 MALTA 0 34 0.00%
161 NORWAY 0 33 0.00%
162 HUNGARY 1 24 4.17%
163 CZECH REPUBLIC 1 22 4.55%
164 LATVIA 1 16 6.25%
165 SOUTH SUDAN 0 9 0.00%
166 ESTONIA 5 0.00%
167 FIJI 1 3 33.33%
168 SEYCHELLES 0 2 0.00%
169 MONACO 1 2 50.00%

Consulates with Schengen Visa Refusals

Which consulates refused the highest number of schengen visas?

These are the top 50 consulates with highest visa refusals. You can see the full list here

Schengen State Country where consulate is located Consulate Uniform visas not issued Not issued rate for uniform visas
France ALGERIA ALGIERS 123565 45.84%
France ALGERIA ORAN 75742 54.17%
France ALGERIA ANNABA 65836 48.69%
France TUNISIA TUNIS 26604 15.94%
France MOROCCO FES 20057 26.48%
France IRAN TEHERAN 19816 33.04%
France CHINA SHANGHAI 18025 7.39%
Portugal ANGOLA LUANDA 17518 19.52%
Spain ALGERIA ALGIERS 16739 28.14%
France SENEGAL DAKAR 15665 36.31%
France COTE D’IVOIRE ABIDJAN 15126 30.47%
France CHINA BEIJING 14391 5.95%
Germany IRAQ ERBIL 14100 54.98%
Spain ALGERIA ORAN 13831 31.20%
Germany TURKEY ISTANBUL 13804 10.98%
France NIGERIA LAGOS 12963 50.79%
France EGYPT CAIRO 11941 19.85%
Germany TURKEY ANKARA 11809 16.34%
Germany IRAN TEHERAN 10985 20.48%
Spain MOROCCO NADOR 10808 40.23%
France INDIA NEW DELHI 10663 14.97%
Germany CHINA BEIJING 9561 6.82%
Netherlands IRAN TEHERAN 9354 32.96%
Italy ALGERIA ALGIERS 9185 39.15%
France MOROCCO CASABLANCA 9066 8.65%
Italy IRAN TEHERAN 8948 27.30%
France RUSSIAN FEDERATION MOSCOW 8798 2.33%
Italy RUSSIAN FEDERATION MOSCOW 8720 1.88%
France MOROCCO AGADIR 8672 26.53%
Switzerland INDIA NEW DELHI 8529 5.28%
France IRAQ ERBIL 8369 62.92%
Spain DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SANTO DOMINGO 8363 28.22%
France MOROCCO TANGER 8297 18.43%
France INDIA MUMBAI 8171 11.74%
Italy INDIA NEW DELHI 7825 20.05%
Netherlands GHANA ACCRA 7587 41.15%
Spain IRAN TEHERAN 7581 32.65%
France SAUDI ARABIA JEDDAH 7475 12.15%
Germany KOSOVO PRISTINA 7431 22.84%
Spain MOROCCO TANGER 7011 11.51%
Italy UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DUBAI 6709 22.43%
Spain RUSSIAN FEDERATION MOSCOW 6563 1.36%
Germany RUSSIAN FEDERATION MOSCOW 6434 3.22%
Portugal CAPE VERDE CIDADE DA PRAIA 6394 33.54%
France CHINA GUANGZHOU (CANTON) 6236 4.79%
Czech Republic INDIA NEW DELHI 6219 23.31%
Belgium MOROCCO CASABLANCA 6111 47.41%
Switzerland KOSOVO PRISTINA 6018 19.59%
Spain MOROCCO RABAT 5992 25.67%