Applying for a Schengen visa from India

Every Schengen state's refusal rate for applications lodged in India, 2024. Official EU Commission figures.

Lowest refusal8.5% Denmark · 16,597 applications

Highest refusal50.8% Slovenia · 2,787 applications

Overall from India15.0% 1,108,239 applications, 2024

Spread6.0× worst vs best odds

Before you use this to pick a country, know the rule that decides whether your application is even valid. The Schengen Visa Code requires you to apply to the country of your main destination — where you will spend the most days. If you are splitting time evenly with no single main destination, you apply to the country of first entry. That is the whole rule.

Applying to a country you do not actually intend to visit is not a loophole. Consulates check the itinerary against the application, share data through the Visa Information System, and "application lodged at the wrong consulate" is a standard ground for refusal. Worse, if it is treated as misrepresentation rather than a mistake, the visa can be annulled after issue and the refusal follows you into every future application, because every Schengen consulate can see it.

Where this data legitimately helps: when you genuinely are visiting several countries and no single one dominates, the first-entry rule gives you a real choice — and the refusal rates below differ enough to be worth knowing before you book. It also tells you what to expect, and how much documentation to prepare, for the consulate you actually have to use.

Every Schengen state, ranked by refusal rate

Deciding country	Applications	Issued	Refused	Refusal rate	vs 2022
Denmark	16,597	15,093	1,396	8.5%	▼ -11.10 pts
Belgium	29,322	26,556	2,557	8.8%	▼ -6.61 pts
Norway	27,282	24,690	2,592	9.5%	▼ -5.03 pts
Bulgaria	4,889	3,885	760	10.5%	—
Germany	142,955	126,812	15,806	11.1%	▼ -0.23 pts
Italy	60,365	53,539	6,809	11.3%	▼ -6.54 pts
Latvia	963	839	114	11.8%	▼ -14.62 pts
Switzerland	217,373	191,162	26,126	12.0%	▼ -1.17 pts
Hungary	19,243	16,695	2,548	13.2%	▼ -10.63 pts
Slovakia	1,394	1,162	187	13.4%	▼ -14.38 pts
Sweden	32,939	28,109	4,755	14.5%	▼ -4.20 pts
Luxembourg	3,233	2,667	498	15.7%	▲ +0.37 pts
Spain	97,204	80,806	15,150	15.8%	▼ -3.04 pts
France	197,959	165,564	31,314	15.9%	▼ -4.65 pts
Netherlands	91,003	75,727	14,569	16.1%	▲ +0.83 pts
Portugal	12,626	10,077	1,953	16.2%	▼ -13.68 pts
Iceland	5,257	4,278	835	16.3%	▲ +10.80 pts
Poland	11,886	9,614	2,260	19.0%	▼ -0.38 pts
Finland	17,762	13,878	3,483	20.1%	▲ +2.72 pts
Czech Republic	19,947	15,659	4,280	21.5%	▼ -12.64 pts
Austria	43,504	33,896	9,579	22.0%	▼ -1.96 pts
Romania	1,563	1,154	402	25.8%	—
Croatia	2,315	1,676	606	26.5%	—
Estonia	1,569	1,120	443	28.2%	▼ -27.76 pts
Lithuania	681	471	213	31.1%	▼ -10.28 pts
Greece	41,418	28,230	12,973	31.5%	▼ -3.25 pts
Malta	4,203	2,022	1,645	44.9%	▼ -0.13 pts
Slovenia	2,787	1,367	1,413	50.8%	▲ +6.31 pts

States with fewer than 250 applications from India are excluded — below that the rate swings on a handful of cases. "Refused" is the EU's uniform visas not issued. Rate is refused ÷ (issued + limited-territory visas + refused), which is the Commission's own formula.

Get told when this changes

The State Department publishes these figures once a year with no announcement, and has skipped years entirely. We check the source daily and will email you when the number for India moves. No newsletter, no marketing — just the data changing.

By consulate

The consulate you use can matter as much as the country. Hungary refused 6.8% of applications at Mumbai but 23.0% at New Delhi in 2024 — the same country, the same year. Applicant mix differs between cities, so this is not purely a consulate-strictness effect, but it is a real difference in outcomes.

City	Deciding country	Applications	Refused	Rate
Bangalore	Germany	6,743	84	1.2%
Chennai	Germany	1,988	42	2.1%
Mumbai	Belgium	19,822	1,044	5.3%
Goa	Portugal	2,860	175	6.3%
Mumbai	Italy	25,613	1,721	6.7%
Mumbai	Hungary	11,550	780	6.8%
New Delhi	Denmark	16,597	1,396	8.5%
Bangalore	Italy	7,878	700	8.9%
Bangalore	France	50,701	4,569	9.0%
Mumbai	Spain	53,698	4,963	9.4%
New Delhi	Norway	27,282	2,592	9.5%
New Delhi	Bulgaria	4,889	760	10.5%
Kolkata	France	9,302	1,065	11.5%
Mumbai	Germany	121,086	13,935	11.5%
New Delhi	Latvia	963	114	11.9%
New Delhi	Switzerland	217,373	26,126	12.0%
New Delhi	Germany	10,374	1,286	12.4%
Kolkata	Italy	10,091	1,261	12.5%
New Delhi	Slovakia	1,394	187	13.4%
Mumbai	France	62,016	8,333	13.5%
New Delhi	Sweden	32,939	4,755	14.5%
New Delhi	Luxembourg	3,233	498	15.7%
New Delhi	Belgium	9,500	1,513	16.0%
New Delhi	Netherlands	91,003	14,569	16.1%
New Delhi	Iceland	5,257	835	16.3%
Kolkata	Germany	2,764	459	16.6%
Mumbai	Poland	6,650	1,171	17.6%
New Delhi	Italy	16,783	3,127	18.6%
Chennai	France	26,592	5,024	19.1%
New Delhi	Portugal	9,766	1,778	19.2%
New Delhi	Finland	17,762	3,483	20.0%
New Delhi	Poland	5,236	1,089	20.8%
New Delhi	Czech Republic	19,947	4,280	21.5%
New Delhi	Austria	43,504	9,579	22.0%
New Delhi	Hungary	7,693	1,768	23.0%
New Delhi	Spain	43,506	10,187	23.7%
New Delhi	France	49,348	12,323	25.2%
New Delhi	Romania	1,563	402	25.8%
New Delhi	Croatia	2,315	606	26.5%
New Delhi	Estonia	1,569	443	28.2%

Travel medical insurance — required, not optional

Unlike a US visitor visa, a Schengen visa cannot be issued without travel medical insurance. The Visa Code sets a minimum of €30,000 of cover for medical emergencies, hospital treatment and repatriation, valid across the entire Schengen area for the whole period of stay. Missing or insufficient insurance is a straightforward refusal ground, and it is one of the most common avoidable ones.

Buy a policy that is refundable if the visa is refused — most visa-specific insurers offer this, and it removes the risk of paying for cover you never use.

AXA Schengen — Visa-compliant €30,000+ policies, refundable if the visa is refused. (link not configured)
Europ Assistance — Schengen-compliant travel medical cover, widely accepted by consulates. (link not configured)

Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy a policy through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It does not change the statistics on this page, which come from published government data.

Add your own interview to the record

Official data cannot tell anyone which questions get asked or which documents get demanded under 221(g). Only people who have been through it can. Nothing identifying is published — no name, no email, no employer. If you would rather not be quoted at all, say so in the notes.

Source and what this actually counts

European Commission, DG Migration and Home Affairs, Schengen visa statistics for consulates, 2024. Primary source ↗

Rows are grouped by where the consulate is, not by the applicant's nationality. For most people those are the same thing, but a national of one country applying while resident in another is counted where they applied. Figures cover short-stay type C visas only — not national long-stay D visas, and not airport transit.

"Issued" includes limited-territorial-validity (LTV) visas — a visa valid only for certain countries rather than the whole Schengen area. An LTV is an approval, not a refusal, so it belongs on the issued side, and the Commission's own rate calculation treats it that way. Some states issue a high share of LTVs, which is worth knowing if you need to move between countries.

Decisions in a given year include applications lodged late in the previous year, so issued plus refused does not equal applications. That is why the rate uses decisions as its denominator rather than applications.