Which Schengen countries got stricter with Indians in 2025: refusal-rate change since 2024
Percentage-point change in each state's refusal rate for Indian applicants, 2024 to 2025. Positive means stricter. A state can be lenient overall and still be tightening.
Only states/consulates with at least 1,000 applications from India in 2025 are ranked, so tiny samples do not distort the order.
| Rank | Country | Change (pp) | Rate 2025 | Rate 2024 | Applied 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulgaria | +21.4 pp | 37.0% | 15.5% | 3,435 | |
| 2 | Iceland | +9.7 pp | 25.6% | 15.9% | 10,906 | |
| 3 | Slovakia | +7.7 pp | 21.1% | 13.4% | 1,437 | |
| 4 | Luxembourg | +6.7 pp | 22.1% | 15.4% | 3,684 | |
| 5 | Norway | +5.2 pp | 14.7% | 9.5% | 29,104 | |
| 6 | Portugal | +4.9 pp | 20.3% | 15.5% | 15,422 | |
| 7 | Netherlands | +4.6 pp | 20.6% | 16.0% | 97,650 | |
| 8 | Estonia | +1.8 pp | 30.1% | 28.2% | 1,706 | |
| 9 | Greece | +1.7 pp | 33.0% | 31.3% | 41,009 | |
| 10 | Switzerland | +1.5 pp | 13.6% | 12.0% | 226,044 | |
| 11 | Italy | +1.5 pp | 12.7% | 11.3% | 53,423 | |
| 12 | Croatia | +0.9 pp | 27.1% | 26.2% | 2,615 | |
| 13 | Hungary | -0.3 pp | 13.0% | 13.2% | 16,251 | |
| 14 | Spain | -0.3 pp | 15.2% | 15.6% | 90,720 | |
| 15 | Austria | -0.4 pp | 21.6% | 22.0% | 48,761 | |
| 16 | Germany | -0.5 pp | 10.5% | 11.1% | 153,179 | |
| 17 | France | -0.6 pp | 15.2% | 15.8% | 204,184 | |
| 18 | Belgium | -1.0 pp | 7.7% | 8.7% | 33,333 | |
| 19 | Czech Republic | -1.4 pp | 20.1% | 21.5% | 27,388 | |
| 20 | Denmark | -1.5 pp | 6.9% | 8.4% | 17,038 | |
| 21 | Poland | -2.1 pp | 17.0% | 19.0% | 9,673 | |
| 22 | Sweden | -3.0 pp | 11.4% | 14.4% | 32,536 | |
| 23 | Slovenia | -4.6 pp | 46.1% | 50.7% | 3,910 | |
| 24 | Finland | -5.7 pp | 13.9% | 19.6% | 17,564 | |
| 25 | Malta | -7.5 pp | 31.7% | 39.1% | 8,587 | |
| 26 | Romania | -7.6 pp | 18.1% | 25.7% | 1,931 |
Other rankings
Source: European Commission, "Visa statistics for consulates", 2009 to 2025 annual releases; figures cover uniform (short-stay, type C) visas applied for at consulates located in India, regardless of applicant nationality; airport-transit visas excluded from headline figures. Refusal rate = visas not issued / visas applied for, computed by us from the counts. Rankings use a floor of 1,000 applications. Last verified 2026-08-18. Full methodology. Download the CSV.