Schengen states received a total of 10.3 million visa applications in 2023, with 10.8 percent (1.1 million) filed by Chinese applicants.
According to the latest statistics by the European Commission, China has become the largest source of Schengen visa applications in the world, overtaking Türkiye , which held this position for the first time in 2022, VisaGuide.World reports.
The level of visas issued in 2023 also remained lower than the 2019 levels, even if it increased compared to 2022: almost 8.5 million visas issued in 2023 (compared to 5.9 million visas issued in 2022 and 15 million visas issued in 2019).
Application rates in 2023 have improved compared to the previous year, with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic dimming every year. Application rates have increased by 34 per cent this year but remain another 39 percent behind the 2019 levels when 17 million requests were recorded.
List of Top 10 Applicant Countries Quite Similar to 2022 List
India and Morocco have maintained their position as the third and fourth largest sources of Schengen visa applications. This year, 966,687 applications were filed by Indian candidates, and Moroccans submitted another 591,401. Application rates for candidates from each country rose by 43.8 for India and 39.7 per cent for Morocco, respectively.
China, which in 2022 ranked 22nd, has now become the largest source of applications, scoring a 1104 per cent increase in the number of applications filed. This change caused Türkiye, last year’s top applicant country, to rank second and Russia to drop from the second to fifth position.
Turkish nationals submitted 36.5 percent more visa applications in 2023 – up from 778,409 in 2022 to 1.05 million. Russians filed 520,387 applications, compared to 687,239 in 2022- showing a decrease of 24.2 percent.
A Quarter of All Applications Filed in France
A total of 2.6 million applications, accounting for 25.4 percent of all applications, were designated for France. The number of applications rose from 1.9 to 2.6 million, marking a 36.8 percent increase compared to 2022 levels.
Amongst the countries that filed the most applications to France, Morocco and Algeria are the most evident, with 310,000 and 279,000 applications each.
Germany and Spain are the second and third recipient countries, with 1.45 and 1,41 applications, respectively, while Luxembourg and Estonia received the fewest applications among all countries – 11,227 and 13,190, respectively.