New Delhi: Indians were the third largest number of applicants for Schengen visas globally in CY 2025, with 11.5 lakh people doing so with a rejection rate of 15.8%. According to data released by the European Commission (EC), the Chinese were the largest applicants with 18 lakh with a rejection rate of 4.1%, followed by Turkish nationals (12.5 lakh) with a rejection rate of 14.6%. “The top five applicant countries remained largely unchanged,” the EC says, adding that Russia (6.8 million) and Morocco (6.2 million) are applicants to the Court and in fifth place.Despite rising international airfares and the rupee’s steep depreciation since last year, which has made traveling abroad more expensive, 4% more Indians applied for a Schengen visa in 2025 compared to 2024. The rejection rate for Indian applicants also increased from 15% to 15.8% during this period.Rajesh Mago, Co-Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said, “After the budget-friendly and close to home Middle East and South East Asia, Europe tops the list of Indian globetrotters with its diverse attractions, including Switzerland, Greece, Amsterdam, France and others. We are now seeing a growing trend of sports tourism and a large number of Indians are going there to watch matches.”Among the EU and Schengen associated consulates, Switzerland sees the maximum number of applications in India at around 2.3 lakh and the country-specific rejection rate is no more than 13.6%. This is followed by France with more than 2 lakh, Germany with 1.5 lakh, Netherlands with less than one lakh and Sen with around 91,000. Other big attractions for visa applicants included the embassies of Italy, Austria, Greece, Belgium and Sweden.“Switzerland and France (the top two embassies in India in terms of receiving Schengen visa applications) have really made the visa application here easy in terms of dates and then getting the passport stamped back. While the total turnaround time for the Schengen states is 15 working days, Switzerland and France return in 7-10 days. Availability of dates in Italy is a big issue,” said a leading travel agent on condition of anonymity. At 46.5%, the highest rejection rate for Indians was in SloveniaOverall, 3.3 crore Indians were expected to travel abroad in CY 2025 – 6% more than 2024 and 21.5% more than pre-Covid 2019. According to government data, their top five destinations were: UAE (86 lakh), Saudi Arabia (34 lakh), Thailand (22 lakh), USA (20 lakh) and Singapore (15 lakh).According to the European Commission, EU and Schengen-affiliated consulates globally received approximately 12 million applications for short-term visas in 2025 and granted more than 10 million visas. While over CY 2024, both the number of applications and visas granted were below pre-Covid levels.“More than 10 million visas were issued in 2025 – an increase of 3% from 2024 (97 million), but still down from 15 million granted in 2019. The global denial rate remained stable at 14.8%, unchanged from 2024, although some countries saw significant fluctuations. Denials declined in Russia (6.4%, down from 7.5%), Algeria (31%, down from 35%), and Ethiopia (34%, down from 36.1%), but faster increases in Cape Verde (21.4%, up from 13.4%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (40.1%, up from 29.9%), Senegal (51.9%, up from 46.8%), and Burundi (53.4%, up from 40%). Happened,” says EC.