Croatia, being the most recent country to enter the Schengen Areastarted receiving its first Schengen visa applications in 2024.
According to statistics published by SchengenVisaInfoCroatia received 42,165 visa applications in 2024, which ranks the country 19th for the highest number of applications received, Schengen.News reports.
In terms of numbers, Croatia has received more visa requests than nine Schengen countries, indicating that the newest member state could become an important destination for visa applicants in the future.
Croatia Approved Over 33,000 Applications in Its 1st Year Issuing Schengen Visas
Out of 42,165 applications, Croatia approved 33,441 or 79.3 per cent of the total, while the number of rejected applications was 8,003. That accounted for 19.3 per cent in rejection rates, making Croatia one of the countries with the highest rejection rates for the year.
As the data reveal, Croatia is the seventh country with the highest rejection rate for visa applications, falling behind Denmark, Sweden, Slovenia, Belgium, Estonia, and Malta, which are the Schengen countries with the highest rejection rates for 2024.
Croatia received around 0.3 per cent of the 11.7 million applications that were filed by visa applicants in 2024. In general, Croatia issued 33,441 visas for the year, and the Chinese were the main applicants.
While application rates were low, Croatia’s rejection rates stood out as being higher than the EU average. The EU average of rejected applications was 14.8 per cent, while Croatia rejected 19.63 per cent of visa applications in 2023.
These Nationalities Obtained Most Visas From Croatia in 2024
Chinese were granted 7,838 visas out of 8,125 applications that were filed to Croatia, becoming the number one nationality group for most visas issued and with approval rates of over 96.4 per cent.
South Africa is the second country of origin for visa applicants in 2024, with Croatia receiving around 5,396 applications and approving 4,530, or 83.9 per cent of them.
Turkish nationals were the third-largest group for visa applications, filing around 4,655 of them, while 3,240 were approved. Indonesia followed with 3,300 applications (3,024 approved and 231 rejected) and India (2,315 applications, out of which 1,676 approved and 606 rejected).