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By Olami, AbroadPilot · Reviewed September 2026 · Source: European Commission Migration and Home Affairs
Quick summary: Burundian applicants faced a 53.4% Schengen short-stay (type C) visa refusal rate in 2025, up from 40.0% in 2024 — the highest rate of any nationality the European Commission called out specifically, at 3.7× the 14.6% global average.
The headline number
That’s 3.7× the global average and the highest of the nine nationalities the Commission’s 2025 release named specifically — up sharply from 40.0% in 2024.
What this number does and doesn’t cover
This is the Schengen short-stay (type C) refusal rate — visits of up to 90 days for tourism, business or family visits. It is not a student visa refusal rate. Applicants moving to Europe for a full degree apply for a national long-stay D visa, decided by that specific member state under its own rules, and no public dataset breaks those down by nationality and consulate the way this short-stay data is.
The wider pattern: consulate spread
Across the dataset, the country average is rarely the most useful number — how far apart two consulates in the same city rule on the same applicant pool matters more. In Dakar, for example, Germany refused 25.7% of short-stay applications in 2025 while Portugal refused 82.1%. Applicants generally can’t choose their consulate — the Visa Code sends your file to the state of your main destination, or your point of first entry — but the spread shows a refusal often reflects which national administration reviewed the file as much as anything in it.
Free tools for this
- Visa Refusal Rates by Country and Consulate — compare Burundi against the other 8 tracked nationalities
- Refusal Risk Self-Assessment — map your own file against the actual legal refusal grounds
Frequently asked questions
What is Burundi’s Schengen visa refusal rate in 2025?
53.4%, up from 40.0% in 2024 — the highest of the nine nationalities the European Commission’s release named specifically, at 3.7 times the global average.
Is this the same as a student visa refusal rate?
No. This covers short-stay (up to 90 days) Schengen visas only. Degree students apply for a national long-stay D visa, decided separately by each member state.
Why did Burundi’s rate rise so sharply?
The Commission’s release names the figures but does not publish a country-by-country explanation for the change. Treat the rise as a documented fact, not a fully explained one, and check the primary source for any further detail the Commission adds in future releases.
Official & verified sources
Checked directly against the European Commission’s release on 17 September 2026, covering full-year 2025 data with 2024 shown for comparison. The Commission updates this annually.
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