Schengen visa data for 2025: Greeks most popular, Germans reject most Turkish applicants

European Commission data for 2025 reveals that Turkish citizens submitted around 1.27 million Schengen visa applications, with an overall rejection rate of 14.6%. Greece emerged as the most sought-after destination among Turkish applicants, followed by Germany.

Germany processed 217,627 applications from Turkey, but rejected 21.1% of them. This rate is notably higher than the general average for Turkish Schengen applications and stands out among countries with substantial application volumes. The data, reported by T24, indicates a significant hurdle for Turkish nationals seeking entry into Germany.

Other countries also showed considerable rejection rates. Denmark rejected 19.19% of its 44,253 applications from Turkey, and Hungary rejected 18.14% of its 35,605 applications. France saw a 15.23% rejection rate from 143,379 applications, while Italy rejected 14.77% of its 79,470 applications.

Conversely, some Schengen countries had much lower rejection rates. The Netherlands rejected 9% of applications from Turkey, and Bulgaria rejected 10.1%. Spain and Romania both had a 7.4% rejection rate. Portugal recorded the lowest rejection rate at 3.5%, although it received a considerably smaller number of applications, just 3,921, from Turkey.