Applicants from Sao Tome and Principe, South Africa and Botswana are most likely to be issued a Schengen visa, taking into account that their visa approval rates were the highest.
According to data published by SchengenVisaInfo, the average approval rate for visa applicants from the African continent in 2023 was 70 percent, VisaGuide.World reports.
On the other hand, the three African nations had approval rates as the following list shows:
- Sao Tome and Principe – 96.45 percent
- South Africa – 94.45 percent
- Botswana – 93.15 percent
South Africa Has the Highest Schengen Visa Approval Rates for the 2nd Consecutive Year
Nearly 95 percent of visa applications filed by South Africans in 2023 were approved. This figure does not make South Africans the leading nationality with the most visas approved – that goes to Moroccans, who received 233,018 visas.
But, out of countries that filed a higher number of visas, which means excluding Sao Tome and Principe (9,582 visa applications), South Africa had higher approval rates. Out of 204,211 visa applications, South Africans were granted 192,888 – 69.6 percent of which were multiple entry visas. In 2022, South Africans were granted 155,455 visas, which is 93.7 percent of their applications.
The third country with the highest approval rates for Schengen visas is Botswana, which had an approval rate of 93.15 percent and 1,755 approved visas out of 1,884 applications. However, Botswana applicants were less likely to receive MEVs – 38.8 percent out of all visas issued were multiple-entry visas. The same goes for Sao Tome and Principe applicants, with 653 out of 9,242 visas granted being MEVs.
5 African Nationalities Least Likely to Receive Schengen Visas in 2023
On average, 28.2 percent of visa applications filed by African nationalities to Schengen states, were denied in 2023.
The most affected nationalities by visa rejections are as follows:
- Comorians, who had 61.3 percent of their visas rejected
- Bissau-Guineans – 51 percent
- Ghanians – 47.5 percent
- Sudananese – 47.5 percent
- Malis – 42.3 percent
Comorians filed 3,768 visa applications in 2023, 1,370 of which were approved and 2,174 were rejected. The share of MEVs issued to this nationality group was quite low – 27.1 percent.
Bissau-Guineans submitted 5,493 visas and received 2,528 of them. Out of all issued visas, 28.3 percent were MEVs. Moreover, Ghanaians were issued 23,400 visas out of 45,421 applications. In this list, Ghanaians received the highest share of MEVs – 40.80 percent.
Sudanese and Malians received 1,315 and 11,225 Schengen visas, respectively, accounting for less than half of the applications they filed.