Schengen Visa for Indian Travellers: How to Avoid the Mistakes That Cause Refusals
Updated for 2026 — Based on the Latest Official Schengen Data

For years, we've built custom tours, curated experiences and private journeys across Europe and beyond - from city walks to mountain rides, from local farms to things you won't find in any guidebook - for travellers from India. And over the years, we've heard so many sad stories about Schengen visa difficulties - rejections, money lost, but most of all: broken trips, broken moods, months of preparation gone.

Recently, we planned a full custom trip for a lovely family from Bangalore: private tours, day trips, and a few special experiences along the way. They’re experienced, well-travelled people, curious about everything, thoughtful, and genuinely warm. Sadly, what was meant to be a family holiday together didn’t quite happen that way. Part of the family came and had a wonderful time with us, but other family members were refused visas, with no explanation that made sense to them.

Vikram, a long-standing client from Mumbai who has travelled with us many times - to Morocco, Serbia, and France - recently told us another frustrating story. When he applied for a Netherlands Schengen visa with a full set of documents, he expected his previous Schengen travel history to count. Still, his visa was refused because the hotel booking was refundable. He lost money, time, and the simple pleasure of looking forward to the trip. He is now reapplying through a different consulate. And we are holding his booking until he has an answer.

These are not edge cases. In 2024, over 165,000 Schengen visa applications from India were rejected - a refusal rate of 14.9%. Indians lost an estimated ₹136 crore (approximately €12.5 million) in non-refundable visa fees alone. On top of that: fully paid, non-refundable flight tickets and hotel bookings, plus travel insurance - money they may not get back if the visa is refused. India ranked third globally in visa-related financial losses, behind only Algeria and Turkey.

We believe travel is a fundamental right - not a privilege tied to which passport you hold.
This guide will not change the system. But we hope it can make the Schengen visa process a little clearer, less stressful, and less expensive.

We have brought together practical knowledge from our colleagues and partners in one place: which consulates may give you a better chance, which documents usually matter most, what mistakes often lead to refusals, how the new cascade rules may, over time, make a longer (up to five years) Schengen visa possible.

The less time and energy you spend fighting with visa paperwork, the more you can spend on the part that should actually be enjoyable: planning the journey itself.

The Schengen Area covers 29 countries across Europe — one visa, free movement between all of them. One thing worth knowing: not every EU country is part of Schengen. Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but outside Schengen — they have their own entry requirements. And some non-EU countries, including Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland, are inside Schengen. So "EU" and "Schengen" are not the same thing.

This guide is about short-stay Schengen visas (Type C) — the standard visa for tourism and short trips. If you are planning to study or work in Europe, you will need a long-stay visa (Type D). We will not cover that process here.

Your first Schengen visa will usually be a single entry, issued for the exact dates of your trip plus a small buffer. Once you have obtained and lawfully used two Schengen visas within the previous three years without any violations, the cascade system may apply — for Indian nationals residing in India and applying in India, this usually means a 2-year multiple-entry visa, then possibly 5 years.

With a multiple-entry Schengen visa, the 90/180-day rule becomes the main thing to track: you can spend a maximum of 90 days in the Schengen Area in any rolling 180-day period. It is easy to miscount, because the rule is less straightforward than it sounds: the 180-day period is counted backwards from each day of your stay. So we strongly recommend checking your dates with the official Short-Stay Visa Calculator on the European Commission website, to avoid overstaying and damaging your visa history.

The country you apply through can matter more than most travellers realise. The difference is not small. In the 2025 official Schengen statistics for India, Denmark had a non-issuance rate of 7.1%, Belgium 7.8%, and Germany 10.5%. At the other end of the table, Bulgaria was at 37.9%, and Slovenia at 46.5%.

The rankings and table below are based on official 2025 data for short-stay Schengen visas (Type C) applied for in India. The official statistics do not separate tourism from business, family visits, and other short trips. Still, they are the best official data we have for understanding how different Schengen countries handle visa applications from India.

Countries with the lowest non-issuance rates

1. Denmark — 7.1%
2. Belgium — 7.8%
3. Germany — 10.5%
4. Sweden — 11.5%
5. Italy — 12.7%
6. Hungary — 13.1%

Countries with the highest non-issuance rates

1. Slovenia — 46.5%
2. Bulgaria — 37.9%
3. Greece — 33.2%
4. Malta — 32.1%
5. Estonia — 29.7%
6. Croatia — 29.2%

The full 2025 country table is below. It includes Schengen countries with 1,000+ short-stay Schengen visa applications made in India, based on official European Commission / EU Home Affairs data.

The country is not the only thing that can matter. For some Schengen countries, applications handled in different Indian cities had very different results. So we went through the official 2025 consulate-level data and pulled out the clearest differences. The biggest gaps come first.

In practice, you may not always be free to choose the city where you apply. Often, it depends on where you live. But if you do have a genuine choice, the city-level numbers are worth taking into account.

Of course, it would be lovely to write something like: forget the idea that “getting from A to B” is boring - in Morocco it can be chaotic, crazy, exciting, and all part of the adventure. Alas! Transport in Morocco is very well organized, the roads are excellent, and the only thing that might disrupt your plans is the closure of mountain passes due to snowfall or landslides. I never thought I’d say this, but as a Dutch person, these days I can only feel jealous.

Morocco City Taxis
On a short trip, you’re unlikely to have the time or desire to figure out the local public transport. It’s not very convenient anyway and is often overcrowded. This is more than offset by the very low, state-regulated taxi fares, which make taxis affordable for everyone.

There is no Uber in Morocco. My friends and I all use regular city taxis. To hail one, you just step out to the roadside and raise your hand. You can also have a taxi ordered for you by your hotel or riad. The price will be noticeably higher, but still nowhere near shocking for someone from, say, Europe or the US. The advantage of this second option is that it saves you a lot of time and nerves: you can pay by card at the hotel, no extra passengers will be picked up along the way, the driver will know exactly where you need to go, the car will have air conditioning and, most importantly, over the fare.

This option is especially convenient if there are more than three of you - that’s the maximum number of passengers allowed in a city taxi.

How to Use Regular City Taxis:

• If you don’t want to pay the “tourist price” for your ride, it’s worth walking a hundred meters away from the medina or a big hotel before you raise your hand to hail a taxi.
• Taxis in Morocco are very cheap, so make sure you have small change on you - for example, buy a bottle of water in any little shop to break a large note. The driver may simply not have change for big bills.
• Don’t forget to greet the driver (salam alaikum) and thank them (shukran) when you get in. This way you not only show respect, but also signal that you’re not completely new here - even if that’s not true at all :)
• It’s best to give your destination in Arabic or French. You can show the address written on a piece of paper or on your phone screen. Not everyone can read maps. Make sure the driver has understood you. If necessary, call your hotel and ask the staff to talk to the driver in Arabic.
• Make sure the driver switches on the meter. Or remind them about it before you get in (“le compteur, s’il vous plaît”). If the driver refuses, just stop another taxi. You won’t be waiting long.
• The maximum number of passengers is three. If there are fewer of you and you’ve agreed to pay by the meter, the driver may pick up other passengers along the way. This is not only normal, but actually necessary given the low fares. It doesn’t cause any inconvenience, but if you want to ride without fellow passengers, agree on a fixed price with the driver in advance.
• Night fares are twice as high as daytime ones. So don’t assume the driver is cheating you if an evening ride turns out to be much more expensive.
• The cost of waiting time, depending on the city, is 50–70 dirhams per hour. It’s best to agree on this amount in advance. Night waiting rates are also twice as high as daytime ones.
• If the taxi driver has been fair with you, it’s only right to leave a tip at the end of the ride by rounding up the fare or adding 5–10 dirhams. If we don’t reward honest people, then with the current tariffs they’ll simply die out like dinosaurs.
• If you have a conflict with the driver, calmly suggest calling the tourist police. A dishonest driver will leave immediately.
• In any situation, the most important thing is: don’t stress. Remember that even a hundred dirhams is just about 9.5 euros.

Tuk-tuk
Yes, there are tuk-tuks in Morocco! Not as noisy as in Southeast Asia, but small electric ones that are great for squeezing through the narrow streets of the medina. In Marrakech they’re often part of social initiatives for people with disabilities, so by taking a ride you’re also doing a good deed.

How it works:

• You can hire a tuk-tuk for a specific trip, for an agreed amount of time, or even for the whole day.
• Make sure you understand how much the ride will cost - and even better, write the price on your phone screen or on a piece of paper and show it to the driver. That way you’ll avoid any misunderstandings, and the trip will be pleasant for both you and your driver. You can also ask the staff at your hotel to arrange this for you, but in that case the price will be higher.
• Tuk-tuk drivers are usually very attentive to their passengers, so feel free to ask them to slow down if you want to take a better look around on the way.

Transfers
If you’re planning not only to wander around the old town, but also to see the modern part of the city, visit an out-of-town museum or garden, or go to a market or craft district in the suburbs, then the best option is probably to book a transfer for half a day or a full day. It will cost only slightly more than taking multiple separate taxi rides - and possibly even less, as prices at out-of-town taxi stands can be excessively high.

Horse-Drawn Carriages (Calèches)
A ride in a horse-drawn carriage, a calèche, is slow and rather romantic :) You can follow a specific route or hire a carriage for half a day to ride along the city walls, through the French district of Gueliz, and visit the Majorelle Garden - the carriage will wait for you during your stops. The whole pleasure will cost you around 30-40 euros.

In Marrakech, calèche stands can be found on Jemaa el-Fnaa square, near the Majorelle Garden, the Menara Gardens, La Mamounia, El Badi Palace, and in other popular tourist spots. For an extra fee, your riad or hotel can also take care of arranging a carriage for you.

If you like, you can also rent bicycles, scooters (you’ll need a driving licence), or even Segways in the cities. And it’s always good to remember that walking is extremely healthy. Besides, it’s the only way to really get to know the old medinas - motor traffic is banned there. When walking in the old town, keep in mind that scooters, mopeds, donkeys, and horses always have the right of way. So stay away from the middle of the road.

Getting around Morocco is easy and convenient. As I’ve already mentioned, the roads are excellent, the transport is comfortable and runs on schedule. And there are plenty of options to choose from:

Car rental
The most convenient option is to use aggregator websites where you can compare all the conditions in advance and book a car. I would definitely recommend LocalRent, which I’ve been using for many years. You can also rent a car offline - at airports and in all major cities you’ll find plenty of rental companies on Google Maps. Be sure to read reviews from different sources in advance. And don’t forget to take your original passport.

If you’re booking offline, keep in mind that they may freeze a fairly large deposit on your card.

Flights
Domestic flights are really inexpensive. This is a great option if you have limited time but want to see far-apart locations, for example Marrakech, Fez, and Western Sahara.

Trains
A comfortable and fast way to travel around Morocco. You can get from Marrakech to Tangier on a high-speed train in under six hours. By the way, these trains are also the most punctual.

The ONCF (Moroccan Railways) website doesn’t work very well outside the country and doesn’t accept all cards. Fortunately, you can buy tickets on aggregator sites or directly at the station ticket offices once you’re there.

First class has, besides the obvious comfort, one more important advantage - reserved seats. If you’re traveling with friends, it’s nice to know you’ll be sitting together.

Buses
No less comfortable than trains. Their main advantage is that they can take you to any corner of the country. Most likely you’ll use only the big companies (CTM, Supratours) - they cover all the main routes. In addition, there are many local operators in Morocco serving less popular destinations.

I would strongly recommend buying tickets in advance - online on the companies’ websites or offline at bus station ticket offices. This is especially important on local holidays, when the whole country is on the move visiting relatives.

Grand Taxi
This is what intercity shared taxis are called in Morocco. Grand Taxis go to almost any destination; they’re faster than buses and the per-person cost is low.

But there are downsides: sometimes you have to wait a long time until the car fills up, and they are definitely less comfortable than all the options listed above. It’s especially tough in summer, as “grand taxis” often don’t have air conditioning.

How to use Grand Taxis

• Ask at your hotel where the stand is for cars going to the city you need.
• When you get to the stand, ask the drivers which of them is going to your destination. There are also touts who regularly call out the final destinations.
• After that, you simply wait until the car fills up - sometimes it happens quickly, sometimes you may be waiting for a couple of hours.
• Payment is at a fixed per-person rate. You can pay for the remaining empty seats and leave straight away without waiting and without fellow passengers. In that case, however, it probably makes more sense to choose a transfer instead: it costs only slightly more, but is definitely much more comfortable.

In Morocco I often use public intercity transport, and I genuinely enjoy it. Besides the chance to rest, get some work done on the way or read, these trips bring completely unexpected encounters and stories.

Once I was traveling from Essaouira to Marrakech during Ramadan - at this time, people who practice Islam go without food and water all day while the sun is up. At sunset, our bus suddenly stopped by a village mosque, where everyone who wished, regardless of religion or gender, was welcomed inside and then treated to a wonderful festive dinner paid for by the community. And no, there was no talk of any donations from the bus passengers.

We hadn’t even finished dinner when the next bus pulled up outside the mosque. Such hospitality was astonishing to me, although now I know it’s quite normal. On top of that, in Morocco mosques are generally closed to tourists, except for the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca. So this was a very unexpected and very pleasant experience.

Moroccan cuisine, with its abundance of colors, aromas, and flavors (and more importantly, their most unexpected combinations), is wonderful and not at all limited to countless tagines, couscous dishes, meat pie pastilla, mint tea, and sweets. It’s amazingly diverse, born at an ancient crossroads of trade routes and borrowing the best from Arab, Berber, European, and Central African culinary traditions. But you’ll hear about that much better on a food tour or cooking workshop, so I’ll move on to practical tips and my favorite dishes.

✔️Food in Morocco, including street food, is generally safe. In a dry climate and with a strong hygiene culture, the risk of eating something dodgy is minimal. Still, keep stomach medicine on hand - in the first few days your body may react to unfamiliar food or even water in the most unpredictable ways.

✔️When choosing a restaurant, café, or street-food stall, stick to the golden rule: look where the locals go. They know all the good spots in their city far better than any tourist. If a café is almost full and there’s a line in front of a street-food counter, chances are it’s an excellent place.

✔️A slightly less reliable method is checking Google Maps reviews. But there’s a nuance. For example, American tourists tend to be indulgent and often give higher ratings than a place actually deserves. French tourists, for obvious reasons, are much more demanding. I usually set the review filter to Dutch - thanks to our culture of bluntness, the Dutch generally don’t overrate places but also don’t punish them with low scores over trivial things.

✔️Street food is not only safe - it’s often the only way to try national dishes in their best possible form. With rare exceptions, no restaurant makes méchoui (meat slow-roasted in a special way until it literally melts in your mouth) as well as the professionals in the medinas or in slightly scruffy-looking roadside joints. And yes, don’t walk past the snail soup at street stalls.

✔️The best Moroccan food is homemade. Ideally, you’ll have the chance to be invited to the home of a traditional or food-loving family of middle income or above. And if you ever get the opportunity to sit at a festive table in a Moroccan family, don’t even think of saying no.

✔️It’s best not to drink tap water. The same goes for water served in jugs or glasses at street cafés, unless you’ve made sure it was poured from a factory-sealed bottle. Washing and brushing your teeth with tap water is absolutely fine.

✔️Alcohol is served in tourist restaurants, bars, and clubs, and you can find it in many supermarkets. The staff at your hotel will be able to point you to the nearest one. Don’t buy drinks in shady little shops (if you see one, you’ll instantly understand what “shady” means :)). And don’t miss the chance to try local wines. I’d recommend paying special attention to the wineries Domaine Ouled Thaleb (try Tandem, for example) and Château Roslane.

✔️During Ramadan, cafés aimed at travelers remain open in tourist areas, hotels, and city centers. If you’re heading somewhere less touristy, it’s better to bring sandwiches and water with you. Fasting is hard work, and as guests we can show a bit of understanding — by not eating, drinking, or smoking in the middle of the street or on an open café terrace right in front of people who are fasting. Though in touristy areas, of course, no one will say anything to you.

Equally important: if you get tired of unfamiliar dishes or feel you’ve had enough local wine, here you’ll have no trouble finding French cheeses and éclairs, Italian pizza, Mediterranean restaurants, and excellent cocktail bars.

Maybe I should write about my favorite foodie spots in Marrakech? If you’d like that, let my friends at Snurk.Travel know - they’ll pass your request on to me.

Morocco is a safe country for tourists, including solo travelers. The level of street violence and serious crime here is comparable to that of Southern European countries and several times lower than in the United States (UNODC Research, Global Organized Crime Index). If you follow common-sense safety rules that are accepted worldwide, you have nothing to fear.

Still, Morocco does have a few local quirks you should be aware of. If you get lost in a medina, ask any shopkeeper or artisan for help. People here are generally friendly and may even leave their stall to help a confused tourist. But don’t follow idle passersby who offer to show you the shortest way to a square, mosque, or museum - even if you didn’t ask them. These are “fake guides.” Their goal is to lead a trusting traveler through a maze of alleys for a while and then demand payment for an “ excursion.”

These gentlemen are easy to spot: while “showing the way,” they will always walk about ten meters ahead of you so the tourist police won’t notice that another victim has fallen into their hands. Simply turn around and walk in the opposite direction. If they follow you and demand money, say that you will call the tourist police or ask a nearby shopkeeper for help.

In tourist areas (especially Jemaa el-Fna Square in Marrakesh), local ladies may gently take your hand and immediately start applying a henna design. If paying for this lovely service isn’t part of your plans, it’s best to refuse right away. There’s no need to get nervous - a firm refusal with a smile works perfectly. By the way, chatting with these ladies is a pleasure in itself; they have plenty of stories, some true, some less so.

Don’t be tempted by extremely cheap guides selling their tours on the street. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. These guides don’t earn money from the tour price, but from dragging tourists from shop to shop and pushing them into purchases, earning commission along the way.

Women traveling alone may sometimes be approached with offers to “be friends.” There’s no need to worry. Here’s the thing: In the oral tradition (especially among people who have moved to cities from villages or desert regions and are in need of a social opportunity), there are popular stories about wealthy European women who fell in love with the cousin of a neighbor of a friend of my grandfather and took him off to live with her in a castle in Switzerland. These kinds of “urban legends” create a persistent perception that such a scenario is possible.

As a result, interest in foreign women in this context is not aggressive, but rather pragmatically romantic, reflecting a certain socially conditioned model of expectations. And why not try, after all? 🙂 That said, if you have no matrimonial plans, it’s best to shut such proposals down firmly and immediately.

On the one hand, Moroccan society - especially in cities - is generally quite tolerant of diversity in many areas of human life. Relationships between people of the same sex have also been a natural part of Arab cultural tradition for centuries.

On the other hand, same-sex relationships are formally criminalized in Morocco. In practice, this rarely affects tourists, as long as they remain discreet in public spaces.

Article 490 of the Penal Code (which criminalizes sexual relations between a man and a woman who are not married) has not yet been repealed, although its possible relaxation has been actively discussed in recent years. However, if both partners are foreigners, hotels generally do not ask for a marriage certificate at check-in, and no issues arise.

If one partner is a Moroccan citizen, hotel refusals do sometimes occur. Even then, in large cities such cases are relatively rare.

Most young people in major cities speak English. The older generation and residents of the medinas in Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, and Fes are fluent in French. In the north of the country - in Tangier, Tetouan, and Chefchaouen - Spanish is widely spoken.

Every culture has its own language of communication. What may feel like “pushy” attention to a European or American traveler is, from a Moroccan perspective, normal and appropriate interaction.

If you’re walking alone down the street, this can cause genuine concern for a local resident - where are your friends? your brothers and sisters? your parents, cousins, uncles, and aunts? So… what happened? Why are you on your own? To a local, it’s obvious that you must be lonely and lacking communication 🙂 But seriously, striking up conversations with strangers, asking about your family or your mood is part of a cultural strategy for maintaining social bonds. In fact, it’s more worrying if no one tries to chat with you at all.

If shopkeepers call you into their store, you can pretend you didn’t hear them - or you can politely say, “I’m rushing to meet friends, I’m tired, I’ll stop by tomorrow,” and keep walking. Don’t linger or enter into discussion: for a seller, your hesitation is a signal that you might want to come in, but are probably expecting discounts and a bit of back-and-forth. Both you and the seller know you won’t come back tomorrow, but the main thing is that you didn’t offend a good person or imply that their shop is bad. Yes, in Moroccan culture a small white lie is acceptable - what matters is not hurting or upsetting someone. This isn’t unique: in high-context cultures in general, indirect and respectful strategies are valued, including avoiding direct refusal.

If you want to look around a shop but don’t plan to buy anything, just tell the seller upfront. That way, they’ll know not to spend time and energy on you and can focus on other customers. If you’d like to try your hand at a craft in a workshop or simply chat, keep in mind that the person is spending working time on you - and it’s polite to compensate this with a small tip or donation. Sometimes, if I feel that someone is happy to share their stories with me, I buy tea and sweets or a light lunch at a nearby café and bring it back as a gesture of gratitude and respect. Then we continue the conversation over tea, to mutual enjoyment.

Morocco has a very strong culture of oral communication. Its key features are politeness, openly showing (both verbally and nonverbally) respect for your interlocutor, and the importance of saving face. If you keep this in mind, you’ll almost certainly enjoy many pleasant moments of conversation and hear plenty of remarkable stories - both true and wonderfully fictional.

Bargaining in shops is not only acceptable but expected. It’s not about stinginess or an attempt to cheat someone - this is a part of Moroccan life: a performance, a chance to show a bit of acting talent, share a joke, and enjoy time with good people. A kind of cheerful and respectful (!) communication. Join the game to immerse yourself in local culture and get the most out of the experience. Someone who bargains with flair will certainly earn respect and approving attention from those around.

Toward the end of the day, many sellers in small shops are willing to lower prices significantly. It’s best not to take advantage of this. Sometimes a low price is an act of desperation - the person may not have earned enough that day for food or a place to sleep.

If, during bargaining, you see that the seller is losing their good humor as they lower the price, stop and pay their last offer - or a few dollars more. A couple of extra dollars won’t matter much on a trip, but for a hired shop assistant it can mean whether they get to feed their family that night.

The main thing in bargaining is that everyone enjoys the process and parts with a smile, as friends — rather than being remembered across the whole bazaar as an unpleasant cheapskate 🙂

Let’s be honest, it’s always nice when someone speaks to us in our own language. So before your trip, you might want to pick up a few commonly used words and expressions in Darija — the everyday spoken Arabic dialect used in Morocco. It really helps you connect with people — and it’s also a natural way to show interest in the country and liking for the people who live there.

• Hello – Salaam Alaykum
• Goodbye – B’slama
• Please – A’fak
• Thank you – Shukran
• Yes / No – Ay’ah / La
• How are you? – La’bas?
• Good / Ok – Mz’yan
• Excuse me – Sme’helia (f) / Sm’heli (m)
• Nice to meet you – Mt’charfin
• I don’t understand – Mafhemthsh
• Where is the…? – Fin kein…?
• No problem – Mashi mushkill
• How much (does it cost) – B’shal?

This transcription is definitely not academic 🙂. I wrote it so you can just say the words without thinking too much about pronunciation.

In cities and tourist areas, the rules are the same as in Europe, the US, and elsewhere: if you want to photograph a specific person or a clearly identifiable group of people, it’s important to ask for permission first. In villages, in the mountains, and in Western Sahara, this rule is even stricter. If you’re simply photographing a street or a square - even if it’s full of people - this is generally not a problem in large cities.

And finally - perhaps most importantly - plan at least one excursion with a good (!) guide (if your plans include a multi-day guided tour, that’s great too). Ideally, do this at the very beginning of your trip. And don’t hesitate to bombard your guide with all the questions you may have. In just a few hours of walking through beautiful and interesting places, you’ll also gain an understanding of how things work here, how certain customs and traditions — not always obvious at first glance — took shape, and what it’s like to be Moroccan today. As a result, all the remaining days of your journey will turn into a wonderful adventure rather than a struggle with fears, rumors, and often completely unfounded concerns.

The only thing I can add is that many travellers who have explored the country through private journeys designed around their interests and pace by my friends at Snurk.Travel return to Morocco again and again.