Schengen Visa Demand in Türkiye Hits 1.27 Million With 14.6% Rejection Rate

Schengen consulates in Türkiye received a record 1,268,376 visa applications in 2025, pushing rejection rates to 14.6 per cent and costing applicants an estimated €16.5 million in lost fees. Turkish passport holders continue to navigate severe appointment backlogs, slow processing times, and high refusal rates across European diplomatic missions.

European Commission statistics published on May 28, 2026, confirm Türkiye remains the world’s second-largest source of Schengen visa applications, registering an 8.0 per cent increase over the previous year. Consulates issued 1,072,328 visas while rejecting 183,196 applications, slightly up from a 14.5 per cent refusal rate in 2024. A decade ago, in 2014, the rejection rate sat at 4.4 per cent before climbing to a peak of 16.9 per cent in 2021.

📌 Read More

Editor’s Picks

Lithuania and Malta Register Highest Rejections While Greece Captures Most Applications

Rejection rates varied widely across individual Schengen member states. Among nations processing at least 500 applications from Türkiye, Lithuania refused 35.5 per cent and Malta rejected 34.9 per cent. On the lower end, Portugal denied just 3.5 per cent, Slovakia 6.5 per cent, and Romania 7.4 per cent.

Greece absorbed 24.5 per cent of all applications originating from Türkiye, holding its position as the primary destination for Turkish travellers for the third consecutive year.

The persistent friction has prompted high-level political engagement. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met EU High Representative Kaja Kallas and EU Commissioners Marta Kos and Magnus Brunner in Ankara on June 30, 2026, to address the sluggish visa liberalisation dialogue and application processing hurdles. Those discussions run parallel to the EU’s “cascade” rules adopted in July 2025, which offer multi-year multiple-entry visas to Turkish nationals with clean travel records, though professional truck drivers remain carved out of the policy.