The Schengen area countries have broken a new record with the number of the issued Schengen multiple-entry visas (MEVs) for Ukraine. NGO “Europe Without Barriers” informs about this with the reference to the official statistics, published at the European Commission’s website on March 24.
817 thousands, or 59,9 % out of all Schengen visas issued to Ukrainians in 2016, were multiple-entry visas (MEVs). More frequently MEVs were issued to Ukrainians by the Netherlands (82,1%), Lithuania (78,1%), Poland (76%) and Hungary (61,5%). The lowest share of MEVs were issued by Finland (17%), France (20,7%), Spain (26,8%) and Czechia (28 %).
In general, Ukrainian citizens applied for the Schengen visas more often and received 15% more visas than in 2015. In total, 1,36 mln citizens of Ukraine have received short-term visas to the Schengen area countries.
The leader by number of visas issued is Poland. Its consular institutions issued 560 thousands Schengen visas to Ukrainian citizens in 2016, what is 22% more than in 2015. Top-5 leaders in visa issuance to Ukrainians also includes Hungary (115,8 thousand), Germany (98,7 thousand), Lithuania (88,9 thousand) and Spain (88,1 thousand). Traditionally, the rarest countries to apply for a visa for Ukrainians are Slovakia and Norway.
Total share of the Schengen visa denials has diminished from 3,4% to 3,2% in a year. Most rarely Ukrainians received refusals from Lithuania, only 0,2% of applicants (167 persons in a year). Also low level of denials to Ukrainians is fixed in the consular of Austria (0,9%), Latvia (1,1%), Slovenia (1,5%) and Hungary (1,8%).
In 2016, according to the European Commission data, Ukrainian citizens were most frequently denied in the consular of Czechia – 6,5% of applications (5,7 thousand people). At the same time, in 2015 their refusal level was only 4,3%.
High level of denials was recorded for the consular of the Netherlands (6,2%) and Belgium (6,2%), but the Netherlands decreased level of refusals comparing to 2015 (7,5%).
Information. The Schengen visas give its owner a right to stay on the territory of all the countries that are members of the Schengen area for a period not more than 90 days during 180 days. Such visas can be issued with the possibility of single entry and multiple entry.
These countries include: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
