India ranks among the top five countries that filed the most number of Uniform Schengen visa applications in 2017, figures recently released by the European Commission show. Russia topped the list with 3,885,899 visa applications, followed by China (2,533,905) and Turkey (971,710), according to schengenvisainfo.com. India ranked fourth, recording 920,699 visa applications in 2017.
India was at the fifth place in 2016, and at the seventh spot in 2014, the Hindu reported.
The Schengen visa is required by those wishing to visit or travel within and to the Schengen Area, which comprises 26 countries in Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, and Greece. Uniform Schengen visa is a permit of one of the Schengen Area member countries for a person to transit or reside in the country for a certain period of time, up to a maximum of 90 days, every six-month period starting from the date of entry.
“Statistics published by the European Commission reveal that more than 16.1 million applications for short-stay visas were lodged at the consulates of the Schengen States in 2017, 6.3 per cent more than in 2016 and the first increase in demand since 2013,” Schengen Visa Info said in a statement.
The country with the largest number of visa application rejections in 2017 was Algjeria, with 279,740 applications getting rejected.
The number of Uniform Schengen visas issued to India was 837,109, while the number of rejections for the country was 78,681. The number of visas issued for Russians in 2017 was 3,826,151, while the corresponding number for China and Turkey stood at 2,447,041 and 903,644, respectively.
France was the favorite destination for Indians, with 179,749 Schengen uniform visas issued to Indians in 2017 out of 201,161 visa applications received by French consulates in India. Germany was the second most preferred destination for Indians, with consulates receiving 153,961 Schengen visa applications, and refusing 10,505 requests.
Italy and the Netherlands came next. While Italy issued 78,685 visas out of 88,502 visa applications it received, the Netherlands issued 64,816 visas and refused 5,081 others.
In total, the French consulate issued 3,161,274 uniform visas, followed by Germany that issued a total of 1,857,770 uniform visas in 2017. This was followed by Italy with 1,703,693 visas and Spain with 1,456,906 visas.
More than half of the total number of visas issued to Indians were multiple-entry visas (MEVs). Out of the total number of 837,109 visas issued, 484,366 were MEVs.
The maximum rate of rejection of visa applications for Indian nationals happened in Estonia (31.8 per cent of 1,316 visa applications refused), followed by Latvia (27 per cent refusals). The lowest rate of rejections for 2017 was for Denmark (3.1 per cent of 18,723 visa applications refused), and Finland (3.90 per cent of 10,209 visa applications refused), according to the report.