Data has shown that the African continent experiences a disproportionate number of visa rejections for popular tourism destinations.
Picture: Sourced / iStock (teekid)
In 2023, it was reported by VFS Global that South African visa applications reached 94% of pre-pandemic levels.
According to TravelNews, the most popular destinations were found to be Australia, Canada and the Schengen region.
While there is a surge in visa applications, data from Schengen Visa Statistics showed that, out of the 10 most rejected nationalities for Schengen Visas, six are from Africa.
Additionally, 4,8% of the visa rejection rate was found to be for South Africans.
The country was also found to be in the top 10 nationalities that spend the most money on Schengen visa applications.
According to data from the US government, South Africa was the second most common nationality to apply for non-immigrant visas in 2023. Egypt was found to be the first.
The US visa refusal rate which South Africans experienced was 11,27% for the 2023 fiscal year.
This is an increase from the 2022 refusal rate which was 9,68%.
There are a number of reasons for the rejection of visa applications. These include missing or incorrect documentation.
‘Applicants leave out critical information that would have an impact on the visa decision,’ said Johan Pretorious, a consultant at visa assistance company, Midlands Visa.
He further added that the strictness often differs by region, and that applications for US visas were the most difficult.
‘We had a case recently where a mother and father got their visas, but their adoptive daughter was declined. The letter given to her was stock standard and basically stated that they were not convinced that she would return to South Africa as she did not have strong ties here,’ he shared.
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