Ahead of Paris Olympics, will Schengen visa woes ease?

Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26, more and more Indians are charting out trips to the Schengen countries, but the going hasn't been smooth.

- AHONA CHAKRAVARTY

Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26, more and more Indians are charting out trips to the Schengen countries, but the going hasn't been smooth.

Recent findings released by Spain-based travel agency Amadeus show that flight searches to France from across the world for the Olympics have jumped 25 per cent. Schengen Visa reports indicate that a majority of visa applications for France are filed by Indians, after Algerians and Moroccans.

While France is the most sought-after destination amongst all Schengen countries, the wait time for its visa and the rejection rate for Indians are high.

In 2022, France had the highest visa rejection rate for Indians, accounting for 20.12 per cent of all visas it rejected. Spain followed with 18.5 per cent visa denials.

The Embassy of France in India says the number of visas issued to Indians has since gone up. "In 2023, France issued 147,285 short-stay visas to Indian citizens, which is 37 per cent more than the visas issued in 2022," the embassy said in an email to Business Standard.

"The continuous increase in the number of visas issued by France in India is a reflection of the growing interest of Indian tourists, students, researchers and professionals in France, which we highly value," it added.

While the numbers might increase further this year because of the Olympics, the rejection rates remain a sore point.

The Schengen visa survey found that Indians lost nearly 90 crore in 2022 because of visa rejections. The fee for a Schengen visa and airport transit visa is 80 euros (about 7,170) for adults and 40 euros (about 3,585) for children aged between 6 and 12.