ALBAWABA - Individuals from third countries wishing to apply for a visa are obligated to pay a Schengen Visa fee of €80. This fee is generally applicable to all third-country nationals, with the exception of those from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Kosovo, who are subject to a slightly reduced fee of €35. Conversely, nationals of the Gambia face the highest fee of €120.
Based on Schengen Statistics, the most significant visa fee contributors in 2022 were citizens of Turkey, Russia, and India, collectively accounting for over 2.1 million visa applications.
To elaborate further, Turkish nationals alone expended €62.2 million in 2022 solely for visa applications, marking the highest spending among all countries, according to a report by SchengenVisaInfo.com.
The subsequent nationalities, Russians and Indians, respectively spent approximately €55 million and €53.7 million on visa applications. Unfortunately, out of these, around 121,188 Indian applicants were unsuccessful, leading to a loss of almost €9.7 million, as denied visa applications are non-refundable.
Comparatively, Turkish nationals faced a lower rejection rate, with 120,876 applications being denied, resulting in a loss of €9.6 million. Among the three, Russians had the lowest rejection rate and, consequently, incurred the least loss, approximately €5.5 million.
Conversely, Moroccan and Algerian applicants fared worse, as they experienced a higher number of negative responses to their visa applications. Particularly, around 28.2% of visa applications (119,346 requests) from Moroccan nationals were rejected, equating to a loss of €9.5 million.
Surprisingly, despite not leading in application numbers, Algerian nationals incurred the most substantial losses. Their €31.3 million expenditure on Schengen visa applications resulted in €14.3 million going to waste due to 179,409 applications being denied. Algerian applicants faced the most unfavorable outcomes in 2022.
Among the top ten nationalities, Algerian nationals experienced the greatest impact financially, as the average income in their country hovers around €400. Consequently, approximately 20% of an average applicant's salary was allocated to a Schengen Visa Application.
Other significant spenders on visa applications in 2022 include Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Thailand, contributing €28.6 million, €22.5 million, and €16.6 million, respectively.
Conversely, applicants from the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia collectively spent €28.3 million. Of these, Tunisians had a higher number of rejected applications, resulting in greater financial losses – around €3.9 million due to 48,909 rejections
