2025 Schengen Visa Statistics: France Still Leads, But Refusal Risk Depends Heavily on Where You Apply
France remains the biggest Schengen visa destination in the 2025 statistics. In the attached year-over-year extract, French consulates received 3,105,356 short-stay visa applications in 2025, ahead of Spain with 1,713,550 and Germany with 1,497,619.
That scale matters. It means France alone represented about 26.0% of the applications in the attached YoY workbook. It also means France visa applicants are not dealing with one single "France visa system" in practice. They are dealing with a large global network of consulates and visa centres, each with different demand pressure, appointment availability, document patterns, and refusal risk.
The European Commission's 2025 headline confirms the broader trend: Schengen short-stay demand rose again in 2025, with more than 12 million applications received overall. But demand is still below the 2019 pre-pandemic level. In the attached YoY extract, the included missions totalled 11,934,106 applications in 2025, up 1.86% from 2024 but still 29.62% below 2019.
For France, the recovery is steadier than dramatic. Applications rose 1.06% year over year, from 3,072,728 in 2024 to 3,105,356 in 2025. Compared with 2019, France is still about 22.0% below its pre-pandemic application volume.
The biggest Schengen visa destinations in 2025
| Rank | Mission | 2025 applications | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 3,105,356 | +1.06% |
| 2 | Spain | 1,713,550 | +4.81% |
| 3 | Germany | 1,497,619 | -1.00% |
| 4 | Italy | 1,059,956 | -14.06% |
| 5 | Netherlands | 746,011 | +2.38% |
| 6 | Greece | 704,973 | -0.71% |
| 7 | Switzerland | 619,323 | -2.63% |
The sharpest movement among larger destinations was Italy's decline. Italy still received more than one million applications, but its 2025 volume fell 14.06% from 2024 in the attached extract. Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Bulgaria, Romania, and Iceland grew much faster, although from smaller bases.
France visa applications: where demand came from
France's 2025 applicant mix was highly concentrated. China was the largest source market for France visa applications, followed by Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and India.
| Applicant country | France applications | Not issued | Rejection rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 453,348 | 23,363 | 5.15% |
| Morocco | 295,272 | 29,175 | 9.88% |
| Algeria | 248,681 | 72,740 | 29.25% |
| Saudi Arabia | 234,331 | 8,854 | 3.78% |
| India | 204,184 | 31,058 | 15.21% |
| Russian Federation | 167,549 | 5,634 | 3.36% |
| Turkiye | 143,379 | 21,837 | 15.23% |
| United Kingdom | 129,940 | 10,994 | 8.46% |
| Tunisia | 116,833 | 17,865 | 15.29% |
| Indonesia | 66,061 | 1,724 | 2.61% |
Across all France rows in the country-level workbook, 440,758 applications were marked not issued, giving France a weighted not-issued rate of 14.19%. That is close to the broader Schengen refusal environment, but the average hides very different realities.
For example, applicants in China had a 5.15% France rejection rate in this extract, while applicants in Algeria had a 29.25% rate. Nigeria was at 47.42%, Senegal at 46.86%, Guinea at 55.38%, and Congo (Brazzaville) at 45.72%. These figures do not mean a person from a higher-refusal market cannot get a visa. They do mean weak documentation, unclear travel purpose, unstable finances, or inconsistencies are less likely to be forgiven.
The busiest France consulates in the data
At consulate level, Rabat was the largest France visa location in the 2025 file, followed by Moscow, Shanghai, Riyadh, and Algiers.
| Consulate | Applicant country | Applications | Rejection rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rabat | Morocco | 177,590 | 10.80% |
| Moscow | Russian Federation | 167,549 | 3.36% |
| Shanghai | China | 166,788 | 3.89% |
| Riyadh | Saudi Arabia | 146,125 | 2.69% |
| Algiers | Algeria | 141,885 | 24.26% |
| London | United Kingdom | 129,940 | 8.46% |
| Casablanca | Morocco | 117,682 | 8.49% |
| Tunis | Tunisia | 116,833 | 15.29% |
| Beijing | China | 102,419 | 4.52% |
| Istanbul | Turkiye | 96,071 | 15.83% |
This is why "apply early" is not generic advice. In high-volume locations, appointment supply can become the first bottleneck. In higher-refusal locations, document quality becomes just as important as timing.
What applicants should learn from the 2025 numbers
The most practical lesson is that refusal risk is local. A France tourist visa application in Shanghai, Riyadh, Algiers, Lagos, or Dakar may involve the same Schengen legal framework, but the risk profile is not the same.
Applicants should pay special attention to five areas:
- A clear travel purpose that matches the selected visa category.
- Accommodation and itinerary evidence that is realistic for the trip length.
- Bank statements and income proof that explain how the trip is funded.
- Employment, study, family, or property ties that make the return plan credible.
- Consistency between the France-Visas form, supporting documents, bookings, and cover letter.
For HelpMyVisa readers, the key is not to chase the "easiest" Schengen country. You should apply through the country that is actually your main destination. The smarter move is to prepare your France application as if a busy officer will only have a short time to understand your story.
If your country or consulate appears in a higher-refusal segment, treat that as a reason to make the application cleaner, not as a reason to panic.
Sources: European Commission 2025 Schengen visa statistics release, European Commission short-stay visa statistics page, and HelpMyVisa analysis of the attached 2025 Schengen workbooks.