A total of 11.7 million visa applications were filed to 28 Schengen states that have received visa applications in 2024. About 1.7 million of these applications were rejected, accounting for an average of 14.8 per cent in rejection rates.
According to statistics published by SchengenVisaInfosome countries, compared to others, have even higher rejection rates in 2024, with Malta standing out for the highest rejection rates, especially compared to Iceland, Schengen.News reports.
Although the list of top ten countries likely to reject visa applications is similar to that in 2023, there is a surge in rejection rates overall.
Malta Rejected Over 16,000 Applications, Stands Out for the Highest Rejection Rates for 2024
With 16,905 rejections out of 45,578 applications received, Malta had a rejection rate of 38.5 per cent in 2024. That was the highest out of all 28 countries that received visa applications last year.
The second to follow was Estonia, with 3,291 rejections and a 27.2 per cent rejection rate, while Belgium was third with 255,564 applications received, 24.6 per cent of which received a negative response.
Slovenia and Sweden followed with 24.5 and 24 per cent rejection rates, respectively, although very different numbers – Slovenia rejected 4,417 visas while Sweden turned down about 44,576.
These are the ten countries with the highest rejection rates for Schengen visa applications in 2024:
- Malta – received 45,578 applications, rejected 16,905 visas, and the rejection rate was 38.5 per cent
- Estonia – 12,125 applications out of which 16,905 were rejected (27.2 per cent rejection rates)
- Belgium – 255,564 applications, 61,724 rejected (24.6 per cent rejection rate)
- Slovenia – 18,171 applications, 4,417 rejected (24.5 per cent rejection rate)
- Sweden – 188,623 applications, 44,576 rejected (24 per cent rejection rate)
- Denmark – 132,158 applications, 31,013 rejected (23.7 per cent rejection rate)
- Croatia – 42,165 applications, 8,003 rejected (19.3 per cent rejection rate)
- Poland – 111,538 applications, 19,277 rejected (17.2 per cent rejection rate)
- France – 3 million applications, 481,139 rejected (15.8 per cent rejection rate)
- Czech Republic – 150,629 applications, 23,735 rejected (15.8 per cent rejection rate)
On the other hand, the nationalities with the highest rejection rates for the Schengen visas in 2024 were Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, among others, with rejection rates being over 62 per cent for some of these applicants.