It has never been easier to explore employment or study opportunities in other countries than it is nowadays with globalisation. Indian citizens are no strangers to this phenomenon – India could even be one of the leading countries for the source of workers and students around the world.
However, navigating the visa process is one of the most complicated things that these applicants encounter. While some countries are generous, others can be more stringent and have more requirements, Schengen.News reports.
According to statistics published by SchengenVisaInfo, Indians have filed 966,687 visa applications, 811,290 of which are approved and 151,752 are rejected. The average refusal rate for Indian applicants is 83.9 per cent.
Here Are 5 Schengen Visas Indian Citizens Can Obtain The Easiest
While Switzerland has received the highest number of visa applications – 19.61 per cent of all requests filed by Indians, this country did not necessarily approve most requests.
As the data reveals, these are the top five countries where Indians have the easiest to obtain a Schengen visa in 2024:
Iceland
With a total of 2,904 visas approved and only 122 rejections, Iceland was most likely to grant Schengen visas to Indian nationals. The approval rate was 95.4 per cent, meaning that almost all visa applications received a positive response.
However, Iceland was not among the countries that granted Multiple Entry Visas (MEVs) to Indians. Together with Finland, Spain and Portugal, Iceland had among the lowest issuance rates for MEVs – 18.29 per cent.
Germany
Based on data by SchengenVisaInfo, Germany granted 89.5 per cent of visa requests filed by Indians. This ranks Germany second for the highest approval rates of Indian visa applicants.
In general, Indians filed 132,825 visa applications; 118,819 were approved, while 13,779 were refused. However, unlike Iceland, which had low MEV issuance rates, Germany has the highest chance to grant Indian nationals a multiple entry visa – 99.6 per cent of approved visas were MEVs.
Switzerland
Switzerland has approved the highest number of visas for Indian applicants – a total of 166,919. The approval rates, however, stand at 88 per cent. The number of MEVs issued by this country was 164,440 – which is 98.51 per cent of all visas issued for 2023.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg has not necessarily issued too many visas to Indian applicants; however, it was one of the countries most likely to approve an application.
Indians filed 3,090 Schengen visa requests to this country – 2,651 or 85.8 per cent of which were approved while 312 were denied. MEV issuance was fairly low – 42.59 per cent were issued such a visa.
Belgium
Belgium issued 20,582 visas to Indians in 2023, which is 85.8 per cent of all requests filed. In addition to the high issuance rate, Belgium also granted a high number of MEVs, as they represented 71.9 per cent of visas issued to Indians for the year.