2017 sees 50% rise in Schengen visa requests
Published : 27 Sep 2018, 11:14
Updated : 27 Sep 2018, 11:17
In 2017, the Finnish embassies across the world collected 827,520 Schengen uniform visa applications, marking a 50% rise from that in the previous year, according to a report published on SchengenVisaInfo.com.
The figure shows Russians remain, as before, the largest group of applicants submitted to the Finnish embassies. Last year, four Finnish missions located in Russia received a total of 790,993 uniform visa applications. As such, Russians weighted for 88 per cent of all applications filed with Finland’s embassies in 2017.
The Finnish mission in Saint Petersburg received the highest number of 591,581 Schengen uniform visa applications last year. In return, the mission issued 589,387 uniform visas, the majority (99.6 per cent) of which were for multiple entries. Though in absolute numbers this mission had the highest number of visa denials, totalling at 1,660, the denied visas shared only 0.3 per cent of the total applications received.
It should be noted that as visa applications at these consulates have increased significantly in last year, the number of rejected applications too have increased by proportion.
A surface analysis of the data reveals that the reason behind the increase in the number of visa applications might has some link to the rising illegal immigration that Europe has been experiencing in the recent years.
At least this was one of the key factors and considerations that prompted many a visa denial by Finnish embassies in the countries that have gained ill repute as potential illegal immigration routes toward Europe, such Morocco and Algeria. For example, as many as 691 or 60 per cent of the 1,152 Schengen uniform visa application received in Algeria were turned down last year. Similarly, uniform visa denials in Morocco accounted for 30 per cent of the total applications submitted at the Finnish embassy there.