Key Takeaways
• Pakistanis and Algerians have the highest rejection rates by Greek authorities.
• Greece rejected more than half of visa applications filed by these nationalities in 2023.
• Kazakh applicants, on the other hand, had some of the highest approval rates for Schengen visas in Greece.
Greece is the sixth country in the Schengen Area that received the highest number of visa applications for 2023.
According
to statistics published by SchengenVisaInfo, over six per cent of all
visa applications filed to Schengen states in 2023 were submitted in
Greece, representing a total of 627,008 visa requests, Schengen.News
reports.
The majority of these applications came from Turkish
applicants (254,377 or 40.5 per cent), followed by Russians (62,959) and
Chinese (35,931).
5 Nationalities With the Highest Visa Rejections by Greece in 2023
As
the data reveals, the countries of origin for applicants with the
highest rejection rates by Greek authorities are mainly in the African
and Asian continents.
Greece denied visa applications the most for these nationalities:
1. Pakistanis
2. Algerians
3. Tunisians
4. Senegalese
5. Iraqis
Pakistanis
filed 560 visa applications to Greece in 2023, and out of these, more
than half (65.54 per cent) were rejected, making this nationality group
most affected by visa rejections for the year.
Algerians follow
second, with 59.54 per cent of their visa applications being rejected,
which accounts for 1,230 out of 2,066 visa requests submitted.
Tunisians
had 56.36 per cent of their visas rejected. This means that Greek
authorities issued 1,564 negative visa applications to Tunisians in
2023.
Senegalese did not have high application rates, as 240 visa
applications were recorded in 2023. However, their rejection rates were
fourth-highest in this list, as 56.25 per cent of visa requests (135)
were rejected.
Iraqis filed 3,568 applications in 2023, and Greek authorities rejected 1,756 or 49.22 per cent of all visa requests.
Greece Approved Over 90% of Visa Applications Filed By These 3 Countries of Origin
As
the data shows, countries with the highest approval rates were those
that already have visa liberalisation agreements with the EU, such as
Hong Kong. Applicants from these countries are usually foreigners living
in Hong Kong and need a Schengen visa to be able to enter Greece.
However, out of countries that need Schengen visas, these three countries had the highest approval rates by Greek authorities:
Kazakhstan
Kazakhs
filed 9,674 visa applications to Greece in 2023, and 97.78 per cent of
them were approved. This means that Kazakh applicants were granted
9,459, and only 178 applications were rejected.
Indonesia
Greece
approved 97.27 per cent of all applications, which represents 4,208
approved visas out of 4,326 applications. In addition, 101 visa
applications were rejected, showing that visa application rates for
Indonesian nationals are some of the highest.
Thailand
Thais were
approved 94.75 per cent of 1,903 visa applications that were filed in
2023. That represents 1,803 visas issued and 85 rejected applications.