Almost 40,000 Algerians Had Their Schengen Visas Rejected in 2021, 80% of Them by French Authorities
While a total of 140,212 Algerians applied for a Schengen visa last year, only 83,941 of them received a positive answer for their applications, which means that the remaining 32 per cent had their application rejected.
Newly published Schengen Visa Statistics show that the majority of rejected visa decisions were issued by the French authorities in Algeria, while the second Schengen country with the highest number of visa applications rejected in Algeria is Spain (4,912).
In spite of the high number of rejected applications, France also remains the country that issued most Schengen visas to Algerians last year, a total of 44,032, followed by:
- Spain – 34,139
- Italy – 2,898
- Switzerland – 641
According to Besart Bajrami, founder of AtoZSerwisPlus.com, the reason behind the high number of Schengen visa applications rejected by France for nationals of Algeria is a decision of the French government to grant fewer visas than before for the nationals of this country.
“In September 2021, France had decided to grant fewer visas than before for the nationals of Algeria, since the same had refused to take back its nationals illegally residing in France after being denied asylum,” Bajrami explains.
He also notes that the low number of vaccinated people in the country against the Coronavirus – only 1.17 in every 100 citizens – might have contributed to the high number of applications rejected in this country as well.
The large share of visas rejected by the French authorities last year has listed Algeria as one of the third countries with the highest share of visas rejected, well over the worldwide average rejection share of 13.4 per cent.
Yet, 2021 is not the only year during which Algeria has been listed amongst the countries with the highest rates of rejected visas, as in 2020, Algeria had a rejection rate of 38 per cent, in 2019, 43 per cent and in 2018, a rejection rate as high as 45.5 per cent. Each year, France was the top rejecting country, yet it was never responsible for a rejection rate share as high as in 2021.
