The number of Schengen visa applications by third-country nationals has dropped by 83%, compared with 2019, according to Schengen Visa Info.
The latest Schengen visa statistics show that the difference in the number of visa applications filed in 2021 compared with pre-pandemic is even bigger than the difference in the number of applications filed in 2020 compared with pre-pandemic times – in 2020, 82,7% fewer applications than 2020 were lodged.
According to Besart Bajrami, Founder of Schengen Visa Info, the reason behind the low number of visa applications is that, even in 2021, most Schengen countries still refused to reopen borders for most third-country nationals.
“Even in countries that reopened borders in 2021, there were so many changes every week on who could enter and who could not, which discouraged travellers and, in particular, tourists, from planning a trip to the EU,” Bajrami says.
Data also shows that along with the decrease in the number of applications, the global refusal rate also decreased from 13,6% to 13,4%. This means that in 2020, 395 266 people had their visa applications rejected. Last year, slightly fewer (379 207 Schengen visa applicants) had their applications turned down.
In many cases, Schengen and EU states opened for third-country travellers last, keeping their borders shut to all but member states when they started opening up to the world again.
The number of multiple-entry visas (MEVs), which permit their holder to enter the Schengen Area more than once within the period of validity, increased from 61,6% to 71,7%. This number is, however, still far lower than pre-pandemic times in 2019, when the share of MEVs was 88,6%.
