“This was despite showing genuine hotel and flight bookings, sufficient bank balance, past income tax returns and every other document that was asked. The rejection letter gave a vague reason that travel reasons are not justified,” said the 39-year-old businessman. “I didn’t try to play smart by submitting dummy reservations but even that didn’t help.”
Sharma’s plight is shared by at least 15% of Indian travellers who apply for visa to Schengen states – an area consisting of 29 European countries. As per data from Atlys, a visa processing platform, Schengen visa rejection rates varied from 9-16% across countries in 2024. Data from the Migration and Home Affairs website of the European Union shows that of about 966,000 applications made by Indians in 2023, 16% were rejected.
Almost all European countries ask for confirmed hotel and flight bookings with visa applications, which carries the risk of monetary loss for applicants because there is no guarantee of approval. During the peak May-July season, scarce appointment slots and long processing times can affect holiday plans. Visa rejection is a risk in other Western countries too, such as the US (24% in 2023), the UK, Georgia and Australia.
However, you don’t have to ditch plans for a European or US summer holiday because of visa uncertainty. Experts say there is a science behind the right way to apply for a visa. Mint tells you how to plan your travel and the mistakes to avoid so that visas don’t play spoilsport.
Preparing for visa rejection
The biggest cost in applying for a Schengen visa is the flight and hotel bookings. There are ways to contain losses, but most travellers are not aware of them, said Jimeet, founder of outofofficedaku, a visa and holiday planning company.
“In place of booking a non-refundable or a 25-40% expensive refundable flight, travellers should do one of the two – book a reservation flight or one clubbed with insurance that offers full refund on cancellation,” he said.
A reservation flight booking reserves a seat for you for five to seven days without full payment.
“However, reservation bookings are not recommended with Nordic countries as they ask for a booked flight. The alternative is to book through a website that offers insurance on flight bookings. In case of visa rejection, one can claim a full refund of the ticket price net of the insurance premium,” Jimeet explained. “This is the best option to not lose money in case of rejection.”
MakeMyTrip and Goibibo provide these options. A New Delhi-Copenhagen return flight in June costing about ₹60,000 can be reserved for ₹1,200-1,700 for four to seven days. This amount can’t be adjusted against the fare when the booking is finalised later. As a second option, both these platforms offer cancellation protection against visa cancellation at ₹4,400-4,900 premium.
On a visa rejection, you would still lose the visa fee, which varies from ₹6,000 to ₹15,000 across countries, the application centre appointment fee and the agent’s fee, if applicable.
To ensure there are no financial losses and to take the guesswork out of your holiday planning, you can look at countries with visa-friendly rules for Indians.
“Visa-friendly destinations account for approximately 40% of total travel demand for the upcoming summer season on our platform, while the US and Schengen countries together make up 35%,” said Mohak Nahta, founder and CEO of Atlys.
Timing visa applications
The key factors in planning holidays in the upcoming months are visa appointment slot availability and processing times. Priyesh Sharma, founder of Viszapp, said normal slots for US tourist visas are available only for June 2026, given the high demand. Going through an agent is the only route to get an earlier appointment for the US.
“It’s not that appointments are not available. Slots for the US open at random and get filled super-fast, so getting a slot is challenging. A regular person doesn’t have the time to check for slots all day. An agent can do that and hence, as soon as slots open, they book them,” Sharma said.
However, be careful to go through only reputed agents because it is common for scamsters to dupe people into paying several lakhs of rupees on the false pretext of a guaranteed US visa. After getting a slot, visa processing can take 15 days to two months.
“US tourist visa approval rates last year were good, but since the government has changed, we are seeing rejections even for small deficiencies in applications. So, applicants have to be extra careful this year,” said Sharma.
For Schengen visas, some countries give appointments earlier than others, but the processing time for each varies. Sharma said the Czech Republic, Denmark, Belgium, Hungary and France are countries with the earliest appointment times, but some also carry high rejection rates.
“Nordic countries, including Denmark, have the highest rejection rates,” he said.
Jimeet pointed out that France has high rejections this year due to an excessive application load. For countries with high rejection rates, it may help to apply again with a one-month buffer.
“France rejections are happening for no concrete reasons and when we reapply for the same clients, we get the visa,” he said.
Applying well in advance is crucial for countries with long processing times as well, such as Germany and the Netherlands.
“The Netherlands has issued an advisory that their processing time for visas can take 30-45 days. Travellers with May travel dates should avoid it,” Jimeet said.
Avoid visa shopping
Germany is a traveller’s favourite because it is among the countries with the highest approval rate. However, some people try to misuse it to shop for a visa, which carries risks of deportation and visa cancellation at the airport.
Many prospective travellers apply for Schengen visas from countries such as Germany, Spain and Switzerland, which have faster and easier processing to reduce the risk of rejection but have no intention of travelling there. This is called visa shopping.
“More than high acceptance rate, travellers do this for easy appointment availability during the peak season such as now, which backfires with rejection,” said Jimeet.
Visa shopping is commonly done in two ways – one, apply for a visa through an easy country, but don’t travel there at all, and two, fly down only as a stopover to travel further to other countries. Both practices are increasingly being flagged. In the first case, you will be stopped at the departure airport itself.
“Say, you visa-shopped from Switzerland, but you are taking a flight to Iceland, you won’t be allowed to board. You have to fly to Switzerland,” Sharma said. “Airlines have started checking Schengen visas at the check-in counters because if they let such passengers board and they are refused entry at the arrival country, the airline has to bear the cost of flying them back.”
Airlines have also started asking for hotel bookings to check where the maximum duration of the holiday will be spent.
“Immigration officers can also ask for the same and they can check the status of the hotels in case passengers are carrying dummy bookings,” Jimeet said.
“The Czech Republic goes to the extent of checking with the hotel whether the traveller has reached or not on the booking dates. I have seen a visa being cancelled by the Czech Republic within 24 hours after the passenger reached Europe but didn’t go to the hotel he had disclosed in his application. He had to return to India on the same day,” Sharma said.
Another country that is very strict with visa shopping is Germany. If you get a visa from Germany but skip it completely, the next time you apply, they will ask for proof of maximum time spent in Germany and reject the visa if not provided, according to Sharma.
You must apply for a visa to enter the primary destination where you intend to spend the maximum number of days and disclose the full itinerary.
“Schengen countries require applicants to submit a detailed travel plan covering all destinations within the Schengen area. For instance, if you plan to spend five days each in Germany and Iceland with Germany as your point of entry, you must still include your Iceland travel details in the application submitted to the German consulate,” Nahta of Atlys said.
Mistakes related to documents
For Schengen, the primary prerequisite is to submit documents that prove your financials are in order to fund the trip. However, it is important to note that some details in the documents can lead to rejection. You must not submit hotel bookings that don’t match your financials.
“Travellers blindly book stays for the sake of visa applications or ask agents to book them without considering the traveller’s finances. Say, a traveller’s past ITRs show ₹8-9 lakh income, and the bank balance is ₹2 lakh for a 10-day trip, but the traveler has booked stays worth ₹1.5 lakh-2 lakh, which is approximately ₹20,000 a night. This clearly shows the traveller is visa shopping as they cannot afford the same,” said Jimeet.
Another aspect to avoid is to show that you will stay at an airport hotel for the first few days. Visa officers could read this as lacking the intent to stay in the country.
