UK, Schengen countries cashes in millions from rejected visas of Pakistanis

LONDON: The United Kingdom and Schengen countries raised millions of pounds and euros in fees from rejected visa applications from Pakistan, dubbed as ‘reverse remittances‘, new research published this month showed.

According to the research released by Lago Collective, a community of researchers, policymakers, and designers, showed that Pakistanis spent £5.3 million on rejected UK visa applications, with close to 40 % of applications rejected from Pakistan in 2023.

In the same year, about 50pc of Schengen visas from Pakistan were also rejected, with €3.344m spent on applications.

As per data shown in the report, 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.

The EUobserver reported that EU governments raked in €130m per year in rejected visa application fees, which were dubbed as ‘reverse remittances’. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the cost of Schengen visa rejections in 2023 was €130m.

The largest number of visa applications to the EU come from Morocco and Algeria, according to the data. The data also shows that rejection rates of short-term visitor visas to Europe and the UK are higher for low and middle-income countries. African countries, in particular, are disproportionately affected, with rejection rates as high as 40-50 percent for Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria.

The analysis notes that the visa application fee for short-term Schengen visas is 80 and for the UK equivalent, £100. For UK visa applications, countries with high rejection rates include Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Algeria — bearing high costs as a result (£5.8m, £5.3m, 2.3m, and 3.6m, respectively).

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 EUobserver reported that the cost of Schengen visa rejections in 2023 was €130m, up from €105m in 2022, the data compiled by Marta Foresti and Otho Mantegazza at LAGO Collective finds.

Citing the data compiled by Marta Foresti and Otho Mantegazza at LAGO Collective, the EUobserver reported that the total sum is likely to increase in 2024 since the visa application fee to travel to the EU will increase from €80 to €90 for adults on 11 June, following a recent decision by the EU Commission.