France has been the main recipient of visa applications filed by third-country nationals in 2022, receiving a total of 1.9 million requests, up from 652,331 submitted in the previous year.
Schengen Statistics show visa applications have been the highest in the top three countries for the year – France, Spain, and Germany, with the applicants exceeding the one-million mark, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Although some nationalities file more visa applications than others, in general, the top applicants to the EU are Indians, Russians, Turks, and Saudi Arabians. For a more complete overview of top applicant nationalities for the year, SchengenVisaInfo.com has compiled a comprehensive list of countries with the most applications and the top applicant nationalities.
France
The majority of visa applications to France were filed by Algerian nationals (239,927), accounting for 48.9 per cent more than Moroccans, who followed next with 161,045 requests. In addition, Moroccan nationals from the African continent are the top visa applicants to Schengen states in 2022.
The third and fourth countries of origin for applicants for a France visa in 2022 were India and Saudi Arabia, with 138,643 and 120,630 applications, respectively, while Turkiye followed next with 115,114 applicants.
The list of top ten applicants is further concluded with Tunisia (95,515), United Kingdom ( 91,702), Russia (64,309), Lebanon (46,072) and Cote d’Ivoire (45,993). Regardless of the 2022 results, Chinese applicants have been the top visa applicants to France in the last six years and the second-largest visa applicants to Schengen countries for 2022.
Spain
Moroccans applied the most for Spain Visa in 2022, filing 201,584 applications, while Russians, who have filed the most visa applications to Spain in the last six years, were the second applicants with 166,893 requests. The third largest group of applicants were Algerians, with 102,656 applications, while Indians and Brits filed a total of 80,098 and 61,005 requests, respectively.
Spain receives a relatively large number of visa applications from Spanish-speaking countries, which is the case for Ecuadorians, who filed 58,141 requests. Ecuador is also the top visa applicant from the South American continent, while the Dominican Republic is the second largest nationality group to apply from the same region.
Compared to other nationalities, the Spanish-speaking country is listed ninth, following Saudi Arabia (43,269) and Kuwait (29,297). Turkiye filed a total of 27,664 visa applications to Spain for 2022, concluding the list of top ten nationalities with the most requests for the year.
Germany
Over 37 per cent of all applications for a German visa in 2022 were made by Turkish nationals (223,699), compared to 76,352 requests made by Indian nationals, who were the second-largest visa applicant group. Turks have led visa applications to Germany in the last six years, together with Chinese and Russians.
Kosovo was the country of origin for 54,685 applicants and the third largest nationality group to file the most requests for the year, followed by Russians (48,895), Egyptians (43,2530, and Saudi Arabians (41,753).
The four remaining visa applicants for the year are Thais, with 30,466 requests, while Kuwaitis, who, together with Kosovars, had the highest number of visa applications per capita, filed a total of 29,368 applications. Belarus and South Africa were the last two countries of origin for top applicants for 2022, submitting 27,319 and 26,735 applications, respectively.
Italy
Russians, Turks, and Saudi Arabians applied the most for visas to Italy in 2022, filing around 241,561 applications altogether, while Belarus, India, and South Africa were countries of origin for 36,416, 35,982, and 26,730 visa applicants.
Italy visa applicants from Iran and Kuwait logged 22,519 and 18,130 applications in total, while Algerians filed another 17,824.
Greece
This Mediterranean country is one of the most popular destinations for Turks, who filed 164,829 visa applications in 2022, representing 44 per cent of all applications made by the top ten applicant countries.
The second and third largest nationality groups to apply for a Greek visa were Russians (75,830) and Indians (27,457), while Armenians and Saudis filed a total of 27,457 and 20,228 requests, respectively.
The five remaining nationalities were Brits with 17,207 applications, South Africans with 11,982, Lebanese with 11,156, and Egyptians with 9,656 requests. Although Emiratis have a visa-free travel agreement with Schengen countries, in this case, Greece recorded a total of 15,350 visa applications from foreign nationals living in the United Arab Emirates in 2022.
Netherlands
Although with a minor difference in applications filed, Indians led visa applications for the Netherlands visa in 2022 with 52,616 requests, followed by Turks (48,807), Filipinos (45,354), and Indonesians (23,738).
Expats in the United Arab Emirates filed 19,774 applications, while South Africans and Saudi Arabians logged 19,649 and 18,804 applications, respectively. Out of other European countries, visa applicants to the Netherlands are more diverse, as Moroccans are listed eighth in comparison to Spain and France, where they are one of the top three applicants, with a total of 17,795 applications. Suriname nationals filed around 16,938 applications, while Brits logged a total of 11,478.
Switzerland
Unlike the Netherlands, where Indians were top visa applicants but did not have a significant difference in visa applications with other nationalities, they have dominated visa applications to Switzerland in 2022.
With a total of 106,025 applications – 36.2 per cent of all applications filed by top applicants in 2022, Indians have led the visa applications for a Swiss visa, followed by Kosovars (44,453), Thais (36,879) and Saudi Arabians (25,961).
Furthermore, Indonesians filed 18,792 applications, followed by Emiratis (17,549), Turks (13,778), Russians (10,990), Brits (9,263) and Iranians (9,075).
Finland
There is no nationality group in Europe that has dominated visa applications like Russians have dominated those for the Finland visa. While the total number of ten applicant countries in 2022 was 149,189, 75.5 per cent of those, or 112,737 applications, were made by Russians.
Others to follow were Thais (9,358), Indians (7,950), Turks (4,073), Brits (3,620), Kosovars (3,484), Tunisians (2,336), Indonesians (1,981), Iranians (1,836) and Emiratis (1,814).
Austria
Indians, Saudi Arabians, and Russians are the top applicants for the Austria visa in 2022, with a total of 24,791, 16,695, and 13,292 filed requests, respectively.
The list of top ten countries that filed the most visa applications to Austria last year is concluded with Turkiye (12,815), Thailand (8,453), United Arab Emirates (5,800), South Africa (5,552), Kuwait (4,950), Indonesia (4,442), and Iran (4,343).
Portugal
The majority of visa applications filed for a Portugal visa are made from applicants in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), which includes Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, as well as Sao Tome and Principe.
More specifically, Angolans filed a total of 43,567 visa applications in 2022, followed by requests filed by Cape Verdeans (15,710), Saudi Arabians (13,873), and Mozambique (10,490).
Moreover, Brits filed around 10,490 applications in the same year, while South Africans followed with 7,884 applications. Sao Tome and Principe is the eighth country of origin for visa applicants to Portugal, as 4,133 applications were filed. This means that around 1.85 per cent of the 223,107 population of Sao Tome and Principe has applied for a Portuguese visa in 2022.
Unlike other countries with fewer visa applicants from the United States, Portuguese authorities received around 3,935 visa applications from Americans in 2022, making this nationality the ninth largest to have filed requests for a visa. Russians followed next with 3,332 visa applications, also concluding the list of top ten applicants for Portuguese visas.