Applying for a Schengen visa from Tanzania

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

Lowest refusal5.2% Italy · 1,986 applications

Highest refusal31.8% Poland · 565 applications

Overall from Tanzania19.3% 16,227 applications, 2025

Spread6.1× 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
Italy	1,986	1,883	103	5.2%	▼ -6.38 pts
Switzerland	1,398	1,297	99	7.1%	▼ -2.25 pts
Spain	2,166	1,928	306	13.7%	▲ +1.21 pts
France	3,100	2,378	654	21.6%	▲ +7.84 pts
Netherlands	1,237	933	276	22.8%	▼ -0.58 pts
Belgium	1,359	1,006	336	25.0%	▲ +2.00 pts
Germany	3,910	2,875	999	25.8%	▲ +0.26 pts
Finland	506	344	153	30.7%	▲ +1.34 pts
Poland	565	372	191	31.8%	▲ +6.57 pts

States with fewer than 250 applications from Tanzania 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 Tanzania moves. No newsletter, no marketing — just the data changing.

By consulate

City	Deciding country	Applications	Refused	Rate
Dar Es Salaam	Italy	1,986	103	5.2%
Dar Es Salaam	Switzerland	1,398	99	7.1%
Dar Es Salaam	Spain	2,166	306	13.7%
Dar Es Salaam	France	3,100	654	21.6%
Dar Es Salaam	Netherlands	1,237	276	22.8%
Dar Es Salaam	Belgium	1,359	336	25.0%
Dar Es Salaam	Germany	3,910	999	25.8%
Dar Es Salaam	Finland	506	153	30.7%
Dar Es Salaam	Poland	565	191	31.8%

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.