Schengen Visa Rejection Rates in Ecuador Spike up While Govt Awaits the Finalisation of Visa-Free Agreement

Newly published Schengen Visa statistics show that while Ecuador is one of the few world countries that has reached its pre-pandemic levels of Schengen visa applications. The rejection rate is actually quite higher than in 2019, and any of the last ten years, expect for 2016.

While in 2021 and 2020, the rejection rates stood at 17.6 per cent out of 29,480 applications and 17.9 per cent out of 16,372 respectively, in 2019, when there were 75,094 applications filed at the Schengen visa authorities in Ecuador, the rejection rate was quite lower at only 14.6 per cent, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

The increase sounds even more drastic, taking into account that in 2022, the government of Ecuador has continuously warned that the country would soon reach a visa-free travel agreement with the EU.

Commenting on the issue, the founder of SchengenVisaInfo, Besart Bajrami, says that normally, a third country is supposed to have a lower rejection rate throughout the proves of reaching a visa-free agreement with the EU.

“Ideally, a third country to the EU, like Ecuador, is expected to have a lower share of Schengen visa applications before reaching a visa liberalisation deal with the EU authorities. At least, a rate that is below the average worldwide rejection rate,” he points out.

The average rejection rate of the Schengen countries for 2022 is 17.9 per cent.

The proposal for the removal of visas for Ecuadorians was presented to the EU parliament in December 2022, alongside with the proposal to remove visas for Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.

“Considering that, by facilitating people-to-people contact and helping to strengthen political, economic, research, educational, cultural and social exchanges, the long-term benefits of visa-free travel can reinforce positive trends also in the areas of human rights and fundamental freedoms, nationals of Ecuador, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar should be exempt from the visa requirement for stays of no more than 90 days in any 180-day period,” read the report presented to the Parliament.

Now the Council of EU should also approve the proposal in order for the technical preparations and practical implementations to be made.