In 2022, Estonia, Finland, and Belgium have been identified as the countries with the highest rejection rates for Schengen visa applications from Türkiye. These countries have shown a higher rate of visa rejections compared to other European countries.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to the visa issue as "political blackmail" during a speech at the 79th General Assembly of TOBB and expressed the intention to resolve this problem.
According to Firuz B. Bağlıkaya, the President of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), the rejection rate for Schengen visa applications from Türkiye increased from 15 percent in 2022 to approximately 50 percent this year.
Data from the "Schengenvisainfo" website reveals that 15 percent of the 778,000 Schengen visa applications submitted through Turkish missions were rejected in 2022.
Interestingly, the rejection rates for visa applications from Russia, which has faced Western sanctions due to the conflict with Ukraine, were lower than those for Türkiye, with a rejection rate of 10 percent.
The rejection rate for Schengen visa applications from Türkiye has shown a significant increase compared to previous years. In 2019, 9.7 percent of the 906,000 visa applications from Türkiye were rejected, while the rejection rate rose to 15 percent in the following year.
During the 2020-2021 period, when the Covid-19 pandemic was prominent, visa application and rejection data were affected by travel restrictions, and figures from 2019 were included.
Among the EU countries, Germany, Greece, France, and Italy received the highest number of visa applications from Türkiye last year. Out of the 778,000 applications, over 591,000 were submitted to the diplomatic representations of these four countries.
Germany had the highest rejection rate, at 21 percent, among the countries with the highest number of applications. France followed with a rejection rate of 13.4 percent. Italy had the lowest rejection rate, at 7 percent, among the countries with the highest number of applications.
