This is the most popular destination in Schengen area for Indians
Schengen Visa 2023: The Schengen area is EU passport-free zone that covers most European countries.
France is the most popular destination for Indian travellers among Schengen states, a report by the Schengen Visa Statistics 2022 showed. But France also had the largest visa rejections in 2022, the report added. The country- one of the five most popular Schengen destinations for Indians- saw 1.38 lakh visa applications in 2022, followed by Switzerland at 1.06 lakh applications, Spain at 80,098 applications, Germany at 76,352 applications and the Netherlands at 52,616 applications, the report showed.
France's visa rejection rate was 20.12 per cent, Spain's 18.5 per cent and Switzerland’s was as low as 13.2 per cent, data showed.
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The Schengen area is EU passport-free zone that covers most European countries. It is the largest free travel area in the world and can be visited using a short stay visa- Schengen visa. A person with a Schengen visa- the most common visa used for travelling in Europe- can stay up to 90 days in the Schengen area.
The visa allows its holder to enter the country and travel freely in the Schengen zone from any of the Schengen member countries. There are no border controls within the zone.
Germany saw the lowest rate of visa rejection in 2022 at 11.33 per cent with 8,615 visas being rejected, the report claimed while Iceland saw 1,861 applications rejected. Hungary refused 9,046 applications, Belgium 4,824 visa applications and Norway 18,016 application.
Currently, there are 27 European countries in the Schengen Area. These include Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Croatia.
