Turkey Leads Asian Visa Applications in Europe for 2022, While China's Numbers Decline

Turkey has emerged as the leading country in terms of visa applications from the entire Asian continent for the year 2022, constituting 17.2% of all applications for that year. This nationality, with a total of 778,409 visa applications, claimed the highest number of applications for visas within Europe in 2022.

Russia follows as the second-leading country in visa applications from North Asia and the Asian continent, representing 15.2% of all applications made in 2022. Russian nationals submitted 678,239 requests for Schengen visas in the same year, making them not only the highest number of applicants from North Asia and the entire Asian continent but also among the leading nationalities seeking visas for Germany over the past five years.

Despite the highest application rates, Turkish applicants had a higher rejection rate in comparison to other regions, with a rejection rate of 15.7%. They were second only to India, which had a rejection rate of 18.3%, corresponding to 121,188 declined visa applications. The total number of rejected Turkish applicants reached 120,876, while 645,842 applicants were approved.

Statistics provided by Schengen reveal that India held the top position for the country of origin in visa applications submitted from the South Asian region in 2022 and ranked third in the entire Asian continent. A total of 671,928 applications were filed, with 81.7% of requests, or 541,094 applications, approved.

Thai nationals held the position of the fourth-largest nationality with the highest number of visa applications filed in 2022, totaling 208,356 applications. This nationality also held the distinction of being the primary applicant from the Southeast Asian region. Notably, Thais, along with Kazakhs, had one of the lowest rejection rates, as only 8.20% of visa applicants received negative responses.

Applicants from Central Asian countries were primarily led by Kazakhstan, with a total of 106,097 visa applications, establishing the country as the fifth-largest country of origin for visa applicants in 2022.

China, despite having the highest number of applicants from East Asia, ranked as the sixth-largest country of origin for visa applicants in the same year. Chinese applicants exhibited a high acceptance rate, with 90.7% of their applications approved, resulting in the issuance of nearly 80,000 visas in 2022. However, when compared to previous years and considering the country's massive population of 1.4 billion, Chinese nationals' application rates experienced a significant drop. This reduction could be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic's influence, as application rates by Chinese nationals plummeted by 90.6% during the pandemic years of 2019, 2020, and 2021.

By fLEXI tEAM