Schengen visa applications filed in South Africa
195,946 applications · 6.2% refused · 2025
In 2025, 195,946 short-stay Schengen visa applications were filed at consulates in South Africa. 6.2% of them were refused.
These are the consulates located in South Africa, so the figures cover everyone who applied there — residents of any nationality. The data says nothing about applicants' passports.
Consulates in South Africa, 2025
30 consulate posts run by 21 Schengen states across 3 cities, in 2025.
Applications filed in South Africa over time
Every year the European Commission has published, 2009–2025.
Nearby countries of application
Other countries in the same world region with comparable application volumes.
Keep going
What these numbers show — and what they do not
The European Commission publishes one row per consulate: the Schengen state that runs it, the country and city it sits in, and how many uniform short-stay (type C) visas were applied for, issued and refused there in a calendar year.
The country dimension is where an application was filed, which is roughly where the applicant lives. It is not the applicant's nationality — the dataset contains no nationality information at all. So these figures cannot say how often citizens of a given country are refused, and they cannot predict how any individual application will be decided.
Questions about this data
No. These are applications filed at consulates in South Africa, by residents of any nationality. The European Commission's data does not record what passport applicants hold, so it cannot say anything about the refusal rate for a particular nationality.
The one representing your main destination — the country where you will spend the most time, or your first point of entry if there is no single main destination. That is a rule of the EU Visa Code, not a preference, so the numbers on this page should not be used to pick a consulate.
30 consulate posts reported figures for 2025, handling 195,946 applications between them, of which 6.2% were refused.
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