Indians remained 3rd largest Schengen visa applicants in 2025; numbers climb in tough travel year

NEW DELHI: Indians remained the third largest applicants for Schengen visas globally in CY 2025, with 11.5 lakh did so with a rejection rate of 15.8%. Chinese were the largest applicants at 18 lakh with a rejection rate of 4.1%, followed by nationals of Turkey (12.5 lakh) with a rejection rate of 14.6%, according to data released by the European Commission (EC). “The top five applicant countries remained largely unchanged,” the EC says, with applicants from Russia (6.8 lakh) and Morocco (6.2 lakh) being at the court and fifth spots.

Despite soaring international airfares and the rupee’s steep depreciation since last year, which have together made foreign travel more expensive, 2025 saw 4% more Indians applying for Schengen visas than in 2024. The rejection rate also climbed from 15% to 15.8% for Indian applicants in this period.

“After the budget-friendly and closer to home Middle East and Southeast Asia, Europe has been top of the list for Indian globetrotters with its varied attractions, including Switzerland, Greece, Amsterdam, France and others. We are now seeing a rising trend of sports tourism with a significant number of Indians going to watch matches there,” said Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group CEO at MakeMyTrip.

Among EU and Schengen-associated consulates, Switzerland saw the maximum applications in India at almost 2.3 lakh and a not too high country-specific rejection rate of 13.6%. This was followed by France at over 2 lakh, Germany at 1.5 lakh, the Netherlands at just under lakh, and Sain at about 91,000. The big other big magnets for visa applicants included the embassies of Italy, Austria, Greece, Belgium and Sweden.

“Switzerland and France (the top two embassies in terms of getting Schengen visa applications in India) have really smoothened visa application here in terms of both getting dates and then the turnaround time in terms of getting the stamped passport back. While the overall turnaround time is 15 working days for Schengen states, Switzerland and France return in 7-10 days. Italy has a major issue in date availability,” said a leading travel agent who did not wish to be named. At 46.5%, the highest rejection rate for Indians was in Slovenia

Overall, 3.3 crore Indians had travelled abroad in CY 2025 — 6% more than 2024 and 21.5% more than pre-Covid 2019. Their top five destinations, according to government data, were: UAE (86 lakh), Saudi Arabia (34 lakh), Thailand (22 lakh), USA (20 lakh) and Singapore (15 lakh).

According to the European Commission, the EU and Schengen-associated consulates globally received nearly 1.2 crore applications for short-stay visas in 2025 and over a crore visas were granted. While more than CY 2024, both the number of applications and visas granted were below the pre-Covid levels.

“Over 1 crore visas were issued in 2025 —a 3% increase from 2024 (97 lakh), but still short of the 1.5 crore granted in 2019. The global refusal rate held steady at 14.8%, unchanged from 2024, though some countries saw significant fluctuations. Refusals fell in Russia (6.4%, down from 7.5%), Algeria (31%, down from 35%), and Ethiopia (34%, down from 36.1%), but rose sharply in Cape Verde (21.4%, up from 13.4%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (40.1%, up from 29.9%), Senegal (51.9%, up from 46.8%), and Burundi (53.4%, up from 40%),” says the EC.