Visa refusal rates for Australia: Schengen countries (2025), easiest and hardest, the UK and Canada

Updated on 31 October 2026 · Data: European Commission, 2025

How many Schengen visa applications made in Australia were not issued in 2025, country by country and consulate by consulate, with the easiest and hardest countries for applicants from Australia, and how many UK visitor, study and work visa applications by nationals of Australia were refused, with the latest figures for Canada. Official figures only.

Key figures

• In 2025, 19,163 Schengen visa applications were made in Australia.
• In 2025, 3.0% of Schengen visa decisions on applications made in Australia were "not issued": 576 of 19,145 decisions.
• Schengen countries issued 18,519 uniform visas on applications made in Australia in 2025.
• The 2025 not-issued rate in Australia was 0.1 percentage points lower than in 2024, when it was 3.1%.

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026); calendar year 2025, compared with 2024. Not-issued rate = visas not issued ÷ (uniform visas issued + visas with limited territorial validity + visas not issued). © European Union; reuse allowed under CC BY 4.0 (Commission legal notice, Decision 2011/833/EU, checked on 31 October 2026). Download these figures (CSV), CC BY 4.0.

Applying for a visa to Australia? This page is about Schengen visas applied for in Australia. For Australia's own visas see Australia visa refusal and approval rates by nationality.

Visa refusal ratesAustralia

Schengen visas · applications made in Australia · 2025: 3.0% not issued (576 of 19,145 decisions)

19,163applications

18,519uniform visas issued

576not issued

−0.1 ptschange on 2024 (3.1%)

Easiest Schengen visa from Australia, by the numbers: the lowest not-issued rate among Schengen countries with at least 500 decisions was Switzerland (0.6%); the highest was Netherlands (8.8%). Of the 74 countries with the most applications, Australia ranks 3 (1 = lowest rate). Multiple-entry visas: 51.4% of uniform visas issued in 2025 (by country).

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026); European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2024 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Short-stay (Schengen) visas, calendar year. All years on the Commission website.

United Kingdom · nationals of Australia · July 2025 to June 202625.0% of visitor visa decisions refused (details)

0.4%study visas refused · 1,034 decisions

1.0%work visas refused · 10,355 decisions

Source: Home Office, entry clearance visa outcomes, published 27 August 2026, downloaded on 15 October 2026

Australia, New Zealand and Canada · by citizenship: Latest official full-year figures for nationals of this country

83.9%Canada temporary resident applications approved · 2025 · 10,070 processed

Sources: IRCC (2025, Open Government Licence – Canada); downloaded on 26 October 2026. Details and definitions below.

Statistics, not advice. These are official figures for all applications made in a past period. They cannot predict the decision on your application, and a lower rate does not make a visa easier for you: you must apply to the Schengen country where you will spend the most time (or, for equal stays, the one you enter first), at the consulate responsible for the place where you legally live. Always follow the consulate's official requirements.

Schengen visa rejection rate by country, applications made in Australia

Tap a column heading to sort. "Not issued" includes refusals and applications whose examination was discontinued. * Fewer than 100 decisions: the rate can swing a lot.

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026); European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2024 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Short-stay (Schengen) visas, calendar year. All years on the Commission website.

Easiest Schengen visa from Australia: lowest and highest refusal rates (2025)

Which Schengen country has the lowest rejection rate for applicants from Australia? Among the 7 Schengen countries that decided at least 500 applications made in Australia in 2025, Switzerland had the lowest not-issued rate (0.6%) and Netherlands the highest (8.8%). Smaller numbers move too much from year to year to compare. These rates describe past decisions, not your chances.

A lower rate is not a guarantee, and you cannot choose freely. Each rate mixes different travellers, purposes and documents. You must apply to the country of your main destination: the rule is on the European Commission page on applying for a Schengen visa (checked on 15 October 2026). Applying to a country you do not plan to visit mainly can itself lead to a refusal.

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Short-stay (Schengen) visas, calendar year. All years on the Commission website.

Multiple-entry Schengen visas issued in Australia (2025)

Multiple-entry visasAustralia · 2025

Schengen visas issued in Australia · 2025: 51.4% were multiple-entry visas (9,528 of 18,519 uniform visas issued)

49.1%in 2024

+2.4 ptschange on 2024

Switzerlandhighest share: 99.8%

Spainlowest share: 0.5%

Among the 7 Schengen countries that issued at least 500 visas in Australia in 2025, Switzerland gave the highest share of multiple-entry visas (99.8%) and Spain the lowest (0.5%). All Schengen visas issued worldwide in 2025: 51.7% multiple-entry. Multiple-entry Schengen visas by country and by place of application.

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026); European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2024 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Short-stay (Schengen) visas, calendar year. All years on the Commission website.

Schengen countries that issued at least 500 uniform visas in Australia in 2025, from the highest share of multiple-entry visas. Tap a column heading to sort. "Change" is in percentage points; * fewer than 500 visas issued in 2024. Not shown (fewer than 500 visas issued): Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden.

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026); European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2024 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Short-stay (Schengen) visas, calendar year. All years on the Commission website.

What this share means, and what it does not. A multiple-entry visa "allows several visits to the Schengen area for as long as the visa is valid"; a single-entry visa allows one entry (European Commission, checked on 30 October 2026). Every visit is still a short stay, of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. A multiple-entry visa is not a long-stay visa, a work permit or a residence permit. The Commission's file only says whether each visa allows multiple entries: it does not say how long the visas were valid for. The share describes visas issued in the past, not your chances: the consulate decides the number of entries and the validity of each visa.

By consulate

Each Schengen country's consulates (or visa sections) in Australia, by number of applications in 2025. Where a country is represented by another, the applications appear under the country that decided them.

Source: European Commission, Visa statistics for consulates 2025 (XLSX, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Short-stay (Schengen) visas, calendar year. All years on the Commission website.

UK visa refusal rate for nationals of Australia: visitor, study and work visas

From July 2025 to June 2026, the UK refused 25.0% of visitor visa decisions for nationals of Australia (151 refused out of 604). 0.4% of study visa decisions were refused (1,034 decisions); 1.0% of work visa decisions were refused (10,355 decisions). Unlike the Schengen figures, the UK counts applicants by nationality, wherever they apply. With only 604 visitor visa decisions, read this rate with care: where most nationals can visit the UK without a visa, the people who apply for one are a small and unusual group.

Source: Home Office, Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes detailed datasets, year ending June 2026 (XLSX, published 27 August 2026, downloaded on 15 October 2026; next update 26 November 2026). Refusal rate = refused ÷ (granted + refused), as in the Home Office grant rate; withdrawn and lapsed applications are excluded. Figures from 2026 Q1 are provisional.

Visitor visas, quarter by quarter

1. 3.7%Q3
   2024 107 decisions
2. 17.2%Q4
   2024 93 decisions
3. 30.4%Q1
   2025 148 decisions
4. 23.4%Q2
   2025 205 decisions
5. 25.7%Q3
   2025 179 decisions
6. 22.6%Q4
   2025 115 decisions
7. 24.0%Q1
   2026 146 decisions
8. 26.8%Q2
   2026 164 decisions

Source: Home Office, same file as above (published 27 August 2026, downloaded on 15 October 2026). Each bar is the share of visitor visa decisions taken in that quarter that were refusals; 2026 figures are provisional.

Study and work visas, quarter by quarter

Source: Home Office, Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes detailed datasets, year ending June 2026 (XLSX, published 27 August 2026, downloaded on 15 October 2026). "Study" is the Home Office group for sponsored study (Student, Child Student) and short-term study visas; "Work" groups all work routes (Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, temporary and seasonal work, Global Business Mobility, talent and business visas, and their dependants). * Fewer than 100 decisions; 2026 figures are provisional.

New Zealand visa decline rate

In 2025/26 Immigration New Zealand decided at most 185 visitor, student or work visa applications from nationals of Australia in each category, fewer than the 500 we need to show a meaningful rate. See New Zealand visa decline rates for all nationalities.

Canada: temporary resident applications from Australia approved (2025)

In 2025, IRCC approved 83.9% of the temporary resident applications from Australia that it processed (8,450 approved out of 10,070 people). This share mixes visitor visas, study permits and work permits, first applications and extensions; "processed" includes applications refused and withdrawn, so the other 16.1% were refused or withdrawn. In 2024: 85.3%. January to August 2026: 85.4% (8,685 processed).

No study permit or visitor visa refusal rate. For each country IRCC publishes only the number of new study permit applications processed (190 from Australia in 2025) and the number of visitor visas approved (30), never both for the same visa, so a study permit or visitor visa refusal rate cannot be calculated from the official files.

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Operational Processing – Monthly IRCC Updates: temporary resident applications processed, temporary resident applications approved, new study permit applications processed, visitor visas (V-1) approved (XLSX, data as of September 1, 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026). Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. IRCC rounds counts to the nearest 5 and does not publish counts from 1 to 4; the data are operational and subject to change.

Approved share, month by month (all temporary resident applications)

1. 82%Sep
   2025 860 processed
2. 80%Oct
   2025 830 processed
3. 70%Nov
   2025 625 processed
4. 76%Dec
   2025 425 processed
5. 81%Jan
   2026 390 processed
6. 91%Feb
   2026 895 processed
7. 87%Mar
   2026 1,285 processed
8. 86%Apr
   2026 1,155 processed
9. 89%May
   2026 1,415 processed
10. 89%Jun
    2026 1,490 processed
11. 80%Jul
    2026 825 processed
12. 77%Aug
    2026 1,230 processed

Source: IRCC, same files as above (data as of September 1, 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026). Each bar is approved ÷ processed in that month. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.

All countries: Canada temporary resident approval rate by country.

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How to read these figures

• Where you apply, not your passport. The Schengen figures count applications made in Australia, including residents of other nationalities, and leave out nationals of Australia who applied elsewhere.
• Not-issued rate = visas not issued ÷ (uniform visas issued + visas with limited territorial validity + visas not issued), the formula in the Commission's file. Applications still pending at the end of the year are not counted.
• If you are refused, the consulate must tell you why and how to appeal (European Commission).
• Australia, New Zealand and Canada count applicants by citizenship (Canada: "source country"), like the UK, and each authority defines its rate differently: see the notes under each table.
• Full method: how we calculate the rates.

Other countries where people apply

Schengen visa refusal rates by country, 2025 · Multiple-entry Schengen visas by country · UK visa refusal rates by nationality · Australia · New Zealand · Canada · Visa income calculator