Schengen states received 10.3 million visa applications in 2023, with ten out of the 26 countries accepting requests being the main recipient.
France, the country that received the most visa requests in the last decade, has remained the favourite destination for visa applicants. One-quarter of all applications lodged in 2023 were directed to France, VisaGuide.World reports.
In total, top recipient countries have received 89 percent of all visa requests, accounting for 9.1 million applications.
Hungary Joins Top 10 List for Visa Applicants in 2023
In 2022, 87.9 percent of all applications were filed to ten countries alone. The share of visa applications received by the top ten destinations in 2023 has increased to 89 percent, showing that the demand in these particular countries is growing.
France, an undisputable destination for visa applicants, received 2.6 million requests in 2023, representing a quarter of all destinations. A similar pattern was evident last year.
Germany followed second for most visa applications received, substituting Spain. This year, applicants filed requests for 1.4 million German short-stay visas (14.1 percent). Spain also received 1.4 million applications, some 46,000 fewer applications than Germany.
Italy maintained the fourth position for most requests – 1.1 million in 2023, up by 52 percent from 2022. The Netherlands followed with 669,291 applications received, ranking fifth, up from sixth rank last year.
The other five countries include Greece, which received 627,000 applications and Switzerland with 603,000 requests. Austria ranks eighth, climbing two positions for most visa applications received, indicating that the country is becoming more popular as a destination for visa applicants. Austria received 230,000 visa requests in 2023.
Belgium ranks ninth (226,000 applications) while Hungary has entered the list of countries with most visa applications. Hungarian authorities received around 215,000 requests for Schengen visas in 2023.
Moroccans Are Top Applicants to France & Spain, While Turks Filed Most Visa Requests to Germany
Moroccans represent the number one nationality for Schengen visa applications to France and Spain – two of the most sought-after countries for Schegen visas. They filed 310,000 applications to France and around 189,000 to Spain.
Germany was the top destination for Turkish nationals, who filed 254,000 applications, followed by Chinese (160,000), Indians (132,825) and Kosovars (64,900). This will be the last year that Kosovar nationals have to apply for a visa to enter Germany, following visa liberalisation that became effective on January 1, 2024. Turkish applicant’s favourite destinations were also the Netherlands (94,000 applications) and Greece (254,000).
Chinese nationals were the top applicants for visas to Italy and Hungary, filing 143,000 and 40,000 in these countries, respectively. Indians, on the other hand, were the top applicants to Austria (39,000) and Switzerland (189,000).
Differently from other countries, Belgium received the most applications from Congo – a total of 32,000, followed by Indians and Chinese.