ISLAMABAD – The number of Schengen visa applications at the Schengen consulates in Pakistan increased by almost 11% between 2016 and 2017. Germany claimed the first spot on the list as the application load on their embassy grew largely by 17%.
According to the SchengenVisaInfo.com statistics, in 2017, 80,807 Pakistani citizens submitted a visa application at Schengen consulates. Compared to the same set of statistics from the previous year, the number of Pakistani applicants was 72,911.
With this significant growth of 11 %, the Pakistani applicants shared 1% of the total Schengen visa applications recorded worldwide in 2017.
Same as in 2016, the German embassy collected the highest number of Schengen visa applications, now in a larger amount. Last year the German embassy located in the city of Karachi admitted 11,456 visa application which compared to 9,788 applications in the previous year represented an increase of 17%.
Out of the total applications at this consulate, 9,250 applicants were granted a visa. The majority of these visa grants (99.7%) were MEV visas, which notes a great interest of Pakistani to visit Germany more than once. Unfortunately, 1,966 individuals or 17.2% of all applicants got rejected.
Additionally, the other German embassy located in the capital Islamabad received a large amount of Schengen visa applications, being listed 4th. In 2017, 8,525 applicants were pursuing a visa at this consulate. Of all these applicants, 5,457 of them took their Schengen visa and 2,816 failed to get one.
The highest number of MEV issued visas
The German embassy located in Karachi had also the highest number of MEV issued visas. In fact, the absolute majority of visa grants at this embassy, as traditionally are MEV visas. The past year, 9,226 Pakistani citizens or 99.7% of the applicants received MEV visa.
Other Schengen consulates in Pakistan that granted a large amount of MEV visas were:
● Netherlands (Islamabad) – 3,195
● Germany (Islamabad) – 1,973
● Netherlands (Karachi) – 1,164
● Italy (Karachi) – 1,159
Which embassy issued the highest number of LTV visas?
In total, Schengen embassies located in Pakistan, issued 1,180 LTV visas, amounting to 2% of the global Schengen LTV grants during 2017.
The Italian embassy located in Islamabad issued the highest number of this type of visa. During the past year, their consulate issued 349 LTV visas out of 2,956 total visa grants. The second highest number of LTV issued visas was at the Switzerland and Portugal consulates, 272 on each.
Other consulates that granted a fair amount of LTV visas were
● Germany (Islamabad) – 252 LTV issued visas
● Germany (Karachi) – 240 LTV issued visas
● Netherlands (Islamabad) – 94 LTV issued visas
● France (Islamabad) – 50 LTV issued visas
● Belgium (Islamabad) – 27 LTV issued visas
There was only one consulate, which didn’t issue a single LTV visa. The Czech Republic consulate in Pakistan issued 399 visas out of 744 applications (the smallest among all consulates) and none of them was an LTV visa.
Which consulate rejected most applications?
4,188 applicants at the Dutch embassy in Islamabad were rejected a Schengen visa, making it the Schengen consulate with the highest number of visa denials.
In percentage terms, however, these applicants counted for less than half of the applications recorded in 2017.
On the other hand, the rejected visa applications at the Poland embassy counted for more than half (51.8%) of the applications making it the consulate with the highest rate of visa refusal.
