Turkish citizens submitted the most applications for Schengen visas in Greece in 2024, according to data recently released by the European Union, while Singaporean citizens are statistically more likely to be approved by our country.
Turkey ranked second in terms of the number of total applications in the EU in 2024, after China, which ranked first with 1 million 779 thousand 255 applications. Turkey was followed by India with 1 million 108 thousand 239 applications.
According to the EU, last year the number of Turkish citizens who applied for a visa in Greece was 296,377. The other two countries to which Turks applied the most were Germany with 215,506 applications and France with 151,640.
At the Greek level, second after Turkey in terms of applications were citizens of Russia with 69,690, followed by China with 43,702 and then India with 41,418.
According to the same data for Greece, Singaporeans are statistically the most likely to receive a visa, with 98.41% of the 296,377 visa applications approved. At the same time, Congolese citizens are the least likely to receive a Schengen visa for Greece, with a rejection rate of 43.83% and a total of 31,472 refusals.
The overview at EU level
According to the same figures, more than 11.7 million applications for short-stay visas were submitted in the Schengen area in 2024. Bulgaria and Romania started issuing Schengen visas, instead of national visas, from 31 March 2024.
This is an increase of 13.6% compared to 2023 (10.3 million) and 56% compared to 2022 (7.5 million). However, this number is still lower than the number of applications in 2019 (17 million) before the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 9.7 million visas were issued in 2024, an increase of 14.1% compared to 2023 (8.5 million), but still lower than in 2019 (15 million).
The countries with the highest number of visa applications to the EU and Schengen agreement countries were:
- China: 1,779 255 in 2024 (1 117 365 in 2023)
- Turkey: 1,173 917 (1 055 885 in 2023)
- India: 1,108 239 (966 687 in 2023)
- Morocco: 606,800 (591 401 in 2023)
- Russia: 606,594 (520 387 in 2023)
The percentage of visa applications refused decreased slightly compared to 2023: 14.8% (in 2023 16% of all visa applications were refused, compared to 17.9% in 2022).
However, in 2024 the refusal rates fluctuated and in some countries there were differences compared to 2023, for example in Russia 7.5% (2024) compared to 10.6% (2023), in Turkey 14.5% (2024) compared to 16.1% (2023), in Iran 26% (2024) compared to 30.3% (2023), in Mauritania 32.5% (2024) compared to 36, 6% (2023), Cape Verde 13.4% (2024) vs. 24% (2023), Syria 27% (2024) vs. 46% (2023), Nigeria 45.9% (2024) vs. 40.8% (2023), Ecuador 29, 6% (2024) vs. 24.4% (2023), Senegal 46.8% (2024) vs. 42.1% (2023), Bangladesh 54.9% (2024) vs. 43.3% (2023), Congo (Brazzaville) 43% (2024) vs. 35.3% (2023).
More than half of the 9.7 million visas issued in 2024 allowed multiple entries into the Schengen area. In addition to the 9.7 million visas issued abroad, Schengen countries also issued 85 119 uniform visas directly at the external borders.
Schengen States received 11 716 723 visa applications in 2024. Third country nationals submitted 13.45 % more visa applications in 2024 compared to the previous year.
Approval and rejection rates
- Schengen States issued 11.716.723 visas in 2024 (84.14% of all applications).
- Schengen States refused 1,706,003 applications.
- The rejection rate for all visa applications was 14.56%.
Expenditure
- Applicants spent €136.480.240 on rejected visa applications.
- Schengen States acquired € 937.337.840 from visa applications.
- France received the largest amount from visa applications (€ 245.818.240).
- Estonia received the smallest amount from visa applications (€ 970.000).
