Malta rejected 12,261 visas in 2023, accounting for 36.81 per cent of all visa requests, according to reports.

These figures make Malta the country with the highest rejection rate among Schengen states, Schengen.News reports.

The average number of rejected visa applications in 2023 has been the highest recorded since there is available data for Schengen visas (2014).

According to the Schengen Statistics Portal, Schengen states rejected an average of 16.96 per cent of visa requests in 2023, up from 16.01 per cent recorded in the previous year, Schengen.News reports.

Rejection rates started at 5.11 per cent in 2014, to increase to 11.76 per cent in 2020 while they peaked at 16 per cent in the last two years.

In total, Schengen states have rejected a total of 1.6 million visa applications in 2023. The main nationalities that were denied visas were Turks, Algerians and Indians.

In terms of numbers, France and Spain have rejected the highest number of visas – 436,893 and 251,470. However, their rejection rates are not as high – 16.7 and 18.5 per cent, respectively.