ISLAMABAD – A latest research has revealed the figures implying the money spent by rejected visa applicants from Pakistan for getting the UK and Schengen visa.
The comprehensive analysis released by Lago Collective confirms that for the UK visa, Pakistani rejected applicants spent close to £5.3 million in 2023 alone.
As far as the rejection rate is concerned, 52,927 visa applicants were rejected while 62 percent of the applicants were able to get the visa in 2023. The total number of applicants was 138,152 from Pakistan.
On the other hand, for Schengen visas, a total of 84,389 applicants from Pakistan applied for the visa and 41,808 applicants were denied the visa in 2023. The estimated cost of rejection for the Pakistani applicants came out to be £ 33,44,640 for this visa type.
The analysis compiled by Marta Foresti and Otho Mantegazza confirms that the total overall cost of rejection in 2023 for the Schengen visa was £ 130 million.
If the figures are compared to India, the UK government awarded visas to 82 percent of the applicants from the Asian country in 2023. The visa approval rate for South Africa was 96 percent while it was 95 percent for Thailand.
On the other hand, for Schengen visas, the visa approval rate for India remained close to 85 percent. The visa approval rate for Pakistan stood at 50.46 percent according to the analysis; interestingly, the Schengen visa rejection rate for Iraq stood at 35.23 percent.
The figures imply that individuals from Asian countries are trying to get to Europe and other destinations in search of better opportunities though the rejection rates are still too high leaving them with few options.
