Planning a European holiday? You'd be better off staying away from France, Germany and Spain when applying for your Schengen visa.
These three Schengen Area Member States were responsible for 66.5% of the total number of short-term visas rejected in 2021, according to recently released visa application statistics.
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Out of the total 379,207 Schengen applications rejected, as many as 252,522 applications have been rejected by France, Germany and Spain.
France, that had the highest number of applications in 2021, also contributed most to the rejected pile, after denying a visa to 128,672 applicants (21%) out of the 652,331 applications it received.
Spain came in second, with 69,863 rejected visas (15.5%) out of the 483,469 applications received in total. While Germany rejected 53,987 of the 346,284 visa applications it received.
The world's largest free travel zone, the Schengen area comprises 26 countries — 22 EU states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Almost 1.7 million people live in one Schengen country and work in another. Around 3.5 million people cross an internal border each day.
It allows people travelling between its member countries to cross generally without having to show a passport, ID card or visa.
Croatia was the latest country to be voted into the Schengen zone, allowing travellers to visit the country on a Schengen visa from January 1, 2023.
A visitor's visa allows one to stay in the Schengen area for up to 90 days over a period of 180 days. The processing time for these visas is between 15 and 30 days. To cut down processing time, one can apply up to six months in advance.
The visa fee costs 80 euros (approx Rs 6,700) for adults and 40 euros (Rs 3252 approx) for children aged six -11. It is free for children under six years.
ET Online