2.5 Million Schengen Visas issued by European Countries Last Year

Last year has been not that significant for travelers to Schengen countries where only 3 million short-stay C-type visa applications were submitted in the member states’ consulates and embassies abroad. The visa issued to third countries nationals was 2.5 million (exactly 2.489.146 which is 83% less than of 2019). The statistics have been issued by European Commission in May for 2020. The ratio is extremely lower than of 2019 where 17 million visa applications were submitted in member states.

The travel restriction in action from March 2020 in most of the European states has made it difficult for the travellers to even apply and then get the Schengen visa. The trend remained constant around the year. Anyhow, introduction of the Covid-19 travel passport from European countries, is surely going to increase the number of travelers in member states in 2021.

The visa rejection rate increased last year where 13.6% of all were rejected with an increase of 3.7% more compared with 2019. About 1.5 million or 62% of the 2.5 million visas issued in 2020 allow for multiple entries into the Schengen area.

Most of the Schengen visas were issued by France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic respectively. On the other hand, most of the visa application success rate has been for Russians, Chinese, Turkish, Indian, and Morrocon nationals respectively.

The visa rejection rate increased significantly for African countries where Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana from top to bottom five respectively.

More importantly, in addition to the 2.5 million visas issued abroad, in 2020 the Schengen States also issued 54 000 uniform visas directly at the external borders.

Country-wise list of most Schengen visa applications received

No.	Schengen State	Uniform visas applied for
1	France	658,247
2	Germany	411,826
3	Spain	340,062
4	Italy	293,553
5	Czech Republic	177,197
6	Netherlands	169,926
7	Finland	137,536
8	Greece	111,870
9	Poland	103,743
10	Switzerland	92,249
11	Lithuania	66,800
12	Portugal	56,613
13	Belgium	50,058
14	Hungary	45,198
15	Austria	45,014
16	Sweden	36,136
17	Denmark	31,438
18	Latvia	30,134
19	Estonia	25,554
20	Norway	20,985
21	Malta	6,472
22	Slovenia	4,414
23	Slovakia	4,319
24	Iceland	2,552
25	Luxembourg	2,469
	Grand Total	2,924,365

Countries-wise list of most visas issued

No.	Schengen State	Total  uniform visas issued (including MEV)	Multiple entry uniform visas (MEVs) issued	Total LTVs issued
1	France	552,393	184,663	1,146
2	Germany	343,511	310,473	10,070
3	Spain	263,073	107,417	2,039
4	Italy	259,040	198,155	829
5	Czech Republic	167,245	66,219	253
6	Netherlands	137,655	89,918	842
7	Finland	132,475	119,525	461
8	Poland	98,511	83,690	380
9	Greece	96,002	78,208	2,277
10	Switzerland	74,598	53,889	7,731
11	Lithuania	65,172	58,426	44
12	Austria	41,934	25,662	568
13	Hungary	39,914	22,934	33
14	Portugal	39,608	20,694	45
15	Belgium	35,810	20,990	100
16	Latvia	29,593	24,454	37
17	Denmark	27,013	14,852	66
18	Sweden	25,461	11,408	1,908
19	Estonia	24,963	23,557	6
20	Norway	17,162	8,352	883
21	Malta	4,654	2,074	10
22	Slovakia	4,115	2,959	77
23	Slovenia	3,796	2,541	778
24	Iceland	3,115	419
25	Luxembourg	2,333	1,982	106
	Grand Total	2,489,146	1,533,461	30,689

Countries-wise list of most visas rejected

No.	Schengen State	Uniform visas not issued	Not issued rate for uniform visas	Share of MEVs
1	France	125,579	18,5%	33,4%
2	Germany	58,245	14,1%	90,4%
3	Spain	55,673	17,4%	40,8%
4	Italy	33,684	11,5%	76,5%
5	Czech Republic	9,699	5,5%	39,6%
6	Netherlands	27,921	16,8%	65,3%
7	Finland	5,061	3,7%	90,2%
8	Poland	4,995	4,8%	85,0%
9	Greece	8,971	8,4%	81,5%
10	Switzerland	9,920	10,8%	72,2%
11	Lithuania	1,411	2,1%	89,6%
12	Austria	2,512	5,6%	61,2%
13	Hungary	3,997	9,1%	57,5%
14	Portugal	17,013	30,0%	52,2%
15	Belgium	11,072	23,6%	58,6%
16	Latvia	827	2,7%	82,6%
17	Denmark	3,616	11,8%	55,0%
18	Sweden	8,185	23,0%	44,8%
19	Estonia	370	1,5%	94,4%
20	Norway	3,490	16,2%	48,7%
21	Malta	1,795	27,8%	44,6%
22	Slovakia	174	4,0%	71,9%
23	Slovenia	792	14,8%	66,9%
24	Iceland	129	4,0%	13,5%
25	Luxembourg	135	5,2%	85,0%
	Grand Total	395,266	13,6%	61,6%

Third countries whose citizens applied and received most Schengen Visas

No,	Country where consulate is located	Uniform visas applied for	Total  uniform visas issued (including MEV)	Multiple entry uniform visas (MEVs) issued	Total LTVs issued	Uniform visas not issued	Not issued rate for uniform visas	Share of MEVs
1	RUSSIAN FEDERATION	653,764	635,271	499,227	392	16,724	2,6%	78,6%
2	TURKEY	229,282	197,694	150,877	618	28,826	12,7%	76,3%
3	CHINA	206,907	202,309	80,072	75	10,114	4,8%	39,6%
4	MOROCCO	180,443	135,475	68,502	393	42,079	23,6%	50,6%
5	INDIA	167,562	138,484	87,896	186	28,291	16,9%	63,5%
6	ALGERIA	136,079	87,138	31,105	538	53,831	38,0%	35,7%
7	BELARUS	135,372	134,777	124,301	57	380	0,3%	92,2%
8	UKRAINE	99,657	94,566	43,710	28	5,046	5,1%	46,2%
9	UNITED KINGDOM	77,341	70,431	33,884	447	6,255	8,1%	48,1%
10	THAILAND	76,922	70,252	40,128	232	6,115	8,0%	57,1%
11	TUNISIA	69,549	49,637	19,532	159	20,344	29,0%	39,3%
12	PHILIPPINES	64,136	59,784	44,573	12	3,174	5,0%	74,6%
13	INDONESIA	47,165	44,793	20,383	44	1,470	3,2%	45,5%
14	SAUDI ARABIA	47,152	42,714	33,323	349	3,927	8,4%	78,0%
15	EGYPT	43,254	33,039	16,424	417	9,240	21,6%	49,7%
16	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	42,091	32,281	18,279	521	8,524	20,6%	56,6%
17	IRAN	40,861	25,689	11,404	203	14,709	36,2%	44,4%
18	LEBANON	36,092	25,386	13,640	956	8,508	24,4%	53,7%
19	SOUTH AFRICA	34,328	31,530	22,750	116	2,127	6,3%	72,2%
20	KAZAKHSTAN	32,922	29,462	12,804	54	3,285	10,0%	43,5%
21	USA	29,520	27,613	12,047	502	1,096	3,8%	43,6%
22	KOSOVO	24,566	2,359	1,189	17,717	5,498	21,5%	50,4%
23	ANGOLA	22,205	13,293	6,320	7	8,802	39,8%	47,5%
24	SENEGAL	21,581	10,304	3,048	169	11,439	52,2%	29,6%
25	NIGERIA	21,497	10,214	4,358	400	11,031	51,0%	42,7%
26	PAKISTAN	18,545	9,518	4,207	206	7,473	43,5%	44,2%
27	KUWAIT	17,926	16,628	11,986	111	1,504	8,2%	72,1%
28	ECUADOR	16,372	12,777	4,248	0	2,787	17,9%	33,2%
29	QATAR	15,893	13,504	9,362	584	1,670	10,6%	69,3%
30	CUBA	14,783	10,400	2,723	3	3,297	24,1%	26,2%
31	AZERBAIJAN	12,071	10,651	4,952	51	1,332	11,1%	46,5%
32	COTE D’IVOIRE	11,940	7,386	3,413	20	4,607	38,4%	46,2%
33	VIETNAM	11,464	10,476	3,159	18	1,534	12,8%	30,2%
34	DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	11,323	8,150	2,821	5	2,766	25,3%	34,6%
35	JORDAN	11,238	8,402	3,960	201	2,282	21,0%	47,1%
36	GHANA	10,589	5,258	2,224	25	4,848	47,9%	42,3%
37	ARMENIA	10,017	8,591	4,263	2	1,439	14,3%	49,6%
38	IRAQ	9,722	5,784	2,752	100	3,583	37,8%	47,6%
39	KENYA	7,961	6,165	2,423	152	1,476	18,9%	39,3%
40	CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC)	7,421	4,263	2,048	28	2,662	38,3%	48,0%
41	MAURITANIA	7,147	5,295	2,594	21	1,491	21,9%	49,0%
42	BANGLADESH	6,816	3,715	2,205	67	3,040	44,6%	59,4%
43	UZBEKISTAN	6,770	5,376	2,098	66	1,283	19,1%	39,0%
44	CAMEROON	6,490	3,919	1,125	4	2,157	35,5%	28,7%
45	CANADA	6,345	5,857	2,604	32	296	4,8%	44,5%
46	SRI LANKA	5,757	3,988	1,761	37	1,700	29,7%	44,2%
47	OMAN	5,604	4,933	3,835	65	557	10,0%	77,7%
48	MALI	5,294	3,515	854	72	1,649	31,5%	24,3%
49	ETHIOPIA	5,286	3,627	1,003	178	1,295	25,4%	27,7%
50	CAPE VERDE	5,254	3,521	1,741	24	1,728	32,8%	49,4%
51	BOLIVIA	5,232	3,231	602	1	1,425	30,6%	18,6%
52	IRELAND	5,155	4,742	2,203	9	160	3,3%	46,5%
53	SINGAPORE	4,911	4,697	3,143	8	145	3,0%	66,9%
54	SURINAME	4,845	3,992	1,854	35	779	16,2%	46,4%
55	ISRAEL	4,025	2,889	1,239	183	592	16,2%	42,9%
56	MONGOLIA	3,954	3,237	2,189	0	711	18,0%	67,6%
57	BAHRAIN	3,928	3,694	2,986	3	245	6,2%	80,8%
58	CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)	3,792	2,422	1,086	0	1,413	36,8%	44,8%
59	KYRGYZSTAN	3,629	2,922	726	0	707	19,5%	24,8%
60	GABON	3,583	2,657	695	0	904	25,4%	26,2%
61	GUINEA-BISSAU	3,507	1,595	493	1	1,801	53,0%	30,9%
62	MADAGASCAR	3,388	2,645	746	0	696	20,8%	28,2%
63	NORTH MACEDONIA	3,342	440	343	2,415	853	23,0%	78,0%
64	MOZAMBIQUE	3,167	2,712	622	5	430	13,7%	22,9%
65	UGANDA	2,919	2,031	756	9	851	29,4%	37,2%
66	CAMBODIA	2,862	2,341	913	0	559	19,3%	39,0%
67	BURKINA FASO	2,773	1,996	711	0	481	19,4%	35,6%
68	MYANMAR	2,700	2,309	1,405	1	312	11,9%	60,8%
69	LIBYA	2,694	1,994	1,822	58	642	23,8%	91,4%
70	GUINEA	2,680	1,268	337	2	1,135	47,2%	26,6%
71	CYPRUS	2,596	2,138	1,495	104	317	12,4%	69,9%
72	SERBIA	2,576	2,481	2,023	5	85	3,3%	81,5%
73	BENIN	2,543	2,022	495	4	472	18,9%	24,5%
74	JAPAN	2,469	2,320	1,346	1	100	4,1%	58,0%
75	TANZANIA	2,463	1,876	726	25	462	19,6%	38,7%
76	SUDAN	2,432	1,210	438	107	1,247	48,6%	36,2%
77	NEPAL	2,369	1,650	1,230	0	709	30,1%	74,5%
78	EQUATORIAL GUINEA	2,333	1,553	606	172	318	15,6%	39,0%
79	AUSTRALIA	2,302	2,139	825	13	101	4,5%	38,6%
80	RWANDA	2,109	1,591	564	18	401	20,0%	35,4%
81	BULGARIA	1,989	1,800	1,385	30	148	7,5%	76,9%
82	PANAMA	1,779	1,257	683	0	475	27,4%	54,3%
83	CHAD	1,715	1,045	390	0	613	37,0%	37,3%
84	HONG KONG S,A,R,	1,692	1,547	764	13	84	5,1%	49,4%
85	ROMANIA	1,615	1,385	708	4	195	12,3%	51,1%
86	HAITI	1,575	840	154	1	664	44,1%	18,3%
87	NIGER	1,483	1,180	468	28	259	17,7%	39,7%
88	TOGO	1,321	910	301	0	400	30,5%	33,1%
89	ZIMBABWE	1,265	1,018	432	11	217	17,4%	42,4%
90	PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY	1,224	897	785	112	215	17,6%	87,5%
91	BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA	1,169	1,137	721	0	25	2,2%	63,4%
92	NAMIBIA	1,123	1,023	609	0	72	6,6%	59,5%
93	MALAYSIA	1,112	824	379	3	277	25,1%	46,0%
94	TAJIKISTAN	1,109	801	385	0	308	27,8%	48,1%
95	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE	1,002	719	108		284	28,3%	15,0%
96	JAMAICA	928	806	407	0	59	6,8%	50,5%
97	SOUTH KOREA	924	721	362	3	185	20,4%	50,2%
98	ZAMBIA	870	739	134	0	109	12,9%	18,1%
99	LAOS	797	685	351	3	112	14,0%	51,2%
100	COMOROS	785	401	162	0	336	45,6%	40,4%
101	TURKMENISTAN	781	711	342	12	58	7,4%	48,1%
102	MOLDOVA	751	730	98	0	18	2,4%	13,4%
103	CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC	741	490	100	0	210	30,0%	20,4%
104	CROATIA	701	627	516	35	61	8,4%	82,3%
105	BURUNDI	665	282	68	0	234	45,3%	24,1%
106	DJIBOUTI	635	482	223	0	112	18,9%	46,3%
107	BRAZIL	528	335	150	2	180	34,8%	44,8%
108	GEORGIA	500	322	119	3	184	36,1%	37,0%
109	DENMARK	488	426	131	13	5	1,1%	30,8%
110	ALBANIA	477	383	233	119	43	7,9%	60,8%
111	COLOMBIA	444	370	150	1	63	14,5%	40,5%
112	CHILE	420	275	95	14	102	26,1%	34,5%
113	MEXICO	411	343	161	0	33	8,8%	46,9%
114	ERITREA	404	220	129	3	181	44,8%	58,6%
115	NEW ZEALAND	363	344	154	0	15	4,2%	44,8%
116	AFGHANISTAN	353	279	106	70	6	1,7%	38,0%
117	BOTSWANA	330	326	317	0	4	1,2%	97,2%
118	NETHERLANDS	326	247	141	19	33	11,0%	57,1%
119	MONTENEGRO	311	264	256	4	50	15,7%	97,0%
120	AUSTRIA	309	295	272	6	1	0,3%	92,2%
121	PERU	307	252	94	3	38	13,0%	37,3%
122	TAIWAN	291	288	212	0	8	2,7%	73,6%
123	ARGENTINA	269	216	46	6	18	7,5%	21,3%
124	MAURITIUS	184	159	82	0	20	11,2%	51,6%
125	GERMANY	161	136	99	9	6	4,0%	72,8%
126	SYRIA	157	84	30	46	29	18,2%	35,7%
127	LUXEMBOURG	153	119	2	105	34	13,2%	1,7%
128	SAN MARINO	146	145	138		1	0,7%	95,2%
129	SLOVENIA	133	7	7	77	49	36,8%	100,0%
130	SAINT LUCIA	132	102	34	0	7	6,4%	33,3%
131	FRANCE	120	82	35	1	4	4,6%	42,7%
132	LITHUANIA	112	84	84	7	26	22,2%	100,0%
133	LIBERIA	105	99	52			0,0%	52,5%
134	URUGUAY	95	90	9	0	4	4,3%	10,0%
135	SPAIN	90	57	13	12	3	4,2%	22,8%
136	ITALY	85	64	24	2	4	5,7%	37,5%
137	ANDORRA	83	81	41	0	0	0,0%	50,6%
138	VENEZUELA	82	61	23	13	8	9,8%	37,7%
139	GREECE	72	52	10	9	4	6,2%	19,2%
140	COSTA RICA	69	57	22	2	5	7,8%	38,6%
141	GUATEMALA	60	56	25	0	1	1,8%	44,6%
142	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO	47	45	29	0	2	4,3%	64,4%
143	BELGIUM	43	36	10	5	1	2,4%	27,8%
144	MACAO S,A,R,	43	44	13		1	2,2%	29,5%
145	SWITZERLAND	40	32	13	7	0	0,0%	40,6%
146	MALTA	36	14	11	18	1	3,0%	78,6%
147	POLAND	31	23	11	2	4	13,8%	47,8%
148	EL SALVADOR	31	31	6	0	0	0,0%	19,4%
149	SWEDEN	26	21	18	1	3	12,0%	85,7%
150	SLOVAKIA	24	13	13	3	1	5,9%	100,0%
151	FINLAND	21	15	8	0	0	0,0%	53,3%
152	LATVIA	20	13	1	5	2	10,0%	7,7%
153	PORTUGAL	20	13	9	1	2	12,5%	69,2%
154	TIMOR-LESTE	20	19	8		1	5,0%	42,1%
155	NORWAY	19	15	2	0	3	16,7%	13,3%
156	NICARAGUA	15	13	6	0	0	0,0%	46,2%
157	PARAGUAY	14	12	5	0	1	7,7%	41,7%
158	HONDURAS	11	4	0	3	0	0,0%	0,0%
159	ICELAND	8	4				0,0%	0,0%
160	CZECH REPUBLIC	7	3	2	0	1	25,0%	66,7%
161	HUNGARY	5	2	2	0	0	0,0%	100,0%
162	MALAWI	5	5	5	0	0	0,0%	100,0%
163	VANUATU	3	3	1	0	0	0,0%	33,3%
164	NORTH KOREA	1	1	1			0,0%	100,0%
165	ESTONIA	0	0	0	0	0
	Grand Total	2,924,365	2,489,146	1,533,461	30,689	395,266	13,6%	61,6%