Top 10 Schengen countries for short-stay visa applications in 2017

France has once again topped the list of Schengen countries that received the highest number of applications for short-term visas in 2017 than any other country in the 26-member bloc, according to SchengenVisaInfo.com.

Schengen Visa’s statistics, published by the Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission, 418,485 more people applied for a short-term visa to France in the past year compared to 2016 when French consulates around the world received 3,265,919 visa applications.

Of the overall short-term visa applications received, France issued 3,161,274 visas, 965,661 of which were of the multiple-entry, short-term variety.

Germany



placed second behind France having approved 1,857,770 vias out of the 2,049,055 visa applications its consulates received. Popular tourist destination, Italy, was third with 1,703,693 visas issued from the 1,850,260 applications its diplomatic mission received over the course of the year. Both Germany and Italy placed second and third in 2016, as well.

Spain remained in fourth place with 40,428 more applications than the previous year, with 615,897 visas issued in 2017.

The Schengen Zone acts as a single jurisdiction for international travel purposes with a common visa policy for participating European countries, which includes 22 of the 28 EU Member States.