Applying for a Schengen visa from India

Every Schengen state's refusal rate for applications lodged in India, 2025. Official EU Commission figures.

Lowest refusal7.1% Denmark · 17,038 applications

Highest refusal46.5% Slovenia · 3,910 applications

Overall from India15.8% 1,153,748 applications, 2025

Spread6.6× 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 2023
Denmark	17,038	15,451	1,178	7.1%	▼ -13.50 pts
Belgium	33,333	30,434	2,581	7.8%	▼ -7.26 pts
Germany	153,179	136,674	16,126	10.6%	▲ +0.17 pts
Sweden	32,536	28,564	3,723	11.5%	▼ -6.31 pts
Italy	53,423	46,613	6,810	12.7%	▼ -1.50 pts
Hungary	16,251	14,024	2,106	13.1%	▼ -3.46 pts
Switzerland	226,044	195,369	30,630	13.6%	▲ +1.62 pts
Finland	17,564	15,132	2,450	13.9%	▼ -13.38 pts
Norway	29,104	24,840	4,264	14.7%	—
France	204,184	172,072	31,058	15.3%	▼ -1.60 pts
Spain	90,720	75,906	13,825	15.4%	▲ +0.58 pts
Poland	9,673	8,022	1,640	17.0%	▼ -2.20 pts
Romania	1,931	1,574	350	18.2%	—
Latvia	1,314	1,070	244	18.6%	▼ -6.85 pts
Czech Republic	27,388	21,885	5,501	20.1%	▼ -7.80 pts
Portugal	15,422	12,284	3,138	20.4%	▼ -2.15 pts
Netherlands	97,650	77,057	20,156	20.7%	▲ +5.47 pts
Austria	48,761	37,117	10,543	22.1%	▲ +2.87 pts
Luxembourg	3,684	2,727	814	23.0%	▲ +12.45 pts
Slovakia	1,437	988	303	23.4%	▲ +8.76 pts
Iceland	10,906	8,061	2,793	25.7%	▲ +21.70 pts
Croatia	2,615	1,721	709	29.1%	▲ +1.60 pts
Estonia	1,706	1,193	513	29.7%	▼ -20.31 pts
Malta	8,587	5,755	2,720	32.1%	▼ -20.60 pts
Greece	41,009	27,232	13,526	33.2%	▲ +4.80 pts
Lithuania	944	607	337	35.7%	▼ -13.08 pts
Bulgaria	3,435	2,082	1,270	37.9%	—
Slovenia	3,910	2,075	1,803	46.5%	▲ +11.03 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. France refused 7.9% of applications at Bangalore but 27.4% at New Delhi in 2025 — 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	3,632	53	1.5%
Mumbai	Belgium	22,109	1,005	4.6%
Mumbai	Hungary	9,491	557	5.9%
New Delhi	Denmark	17,038	1,178	7.1%
Bangalore	France	54,046	4,221	7.9%
Kolkata	France	10,116	870	8.7%
New Delhi	Germany	11,936	1,189	10.0%
Mumbai	Italy	22,737	2,286	10.1%
Chennai	Germany	4,477	470	10.5%
Mumbai	Germany	130,562	14,055	10.8%
Goa	Portugal	3,037	336	11.1%
New Delhi	Sweden	32,536	3,723	11.5%
Mumbai	Spain	50,389	5,830	11.7%
Mumbai	France	64,765	7,613	11.8%
Bangalore	Italy	9,159	1,137	12.4%
Kolkata	Italy	6,182	827	13.4%
New Delhi	Switzerland	226,044	30,630	13.6%
New Delhi	Finland	17,564	2,450	13.9%
Kolkata	Germany	2,572	359	14.0%
New Delhi	Belgium	11,224	1,576	14.2%
New Delhi	Norway	29,104	4,264	14.7%
New Delhi	Poland	4,587	740	16.2%
New Delhi	Italy	15,345	2,560	16.6%
Mumbai	Poland	5,086	900	17.7%
New Delhi	Romania	1,931	350	18.2%
New Delhi	Latvia	1,314	244	18.6%
Chennai	France	28,780	5,626	19.6%
New Delhi	Spain	40,331	7,995	20.0%
New Delhi	Czech Republic	27,317	5,489	20.1%
New Delhi	Netherlands	97,648	20,156	20.7%
New Delhi	Austria	48,761	10,543	22.1%
New Delhi	Portugal	12,385	2,802	22.6%
New Delhi	Luxembourg	3,684	814	23.0%
New Delhi	Hungary	6,760	1,549	23.1%
New Delhi	Slovakia	1,437	303	23.5%
New Delhi	Iceland	10,906	2,793	25.7%
New Delhi	France	46,477	12,728	27.4%
New Delhi	Croatia	2,615	709	29.2%
New Delhi	Estonia	1,706	513	29.7%
New Delhi	Malta	8,587	2,720	32.1%

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, 2025. 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.