16 Reasons Why Your Visa Get Rejected | Useful Tips

A visa rejection could be one of your worst nightmares. Spending countless hours and effort trying to get a visa, and then seeing it get rejected is an agonising sight. Whatever the visa rejection reasons may be, it not only crashes your hopes of travelling to your destination but also affects your future travel to quite an extent. Well, what can be done to avoid this? you might ask. This is precisely why we have compiled a list of some of the most common reasons for rejection of visa so that you can be careful while applying for your visa.

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Why does Visa Get Rejected?

While rejecting a visa application, in most of the cases, the embassy/consulate or high commission provides a reason for the rejection. This helps you to rectify your application and apply again. The major visa refusal reasons are as follows -

  • Not Following the Visa Rules

When it comes to the visa application, rules are NOT meant to be broken. Immigration is a serious aspect of a country’s safety. As a result, the immigration departments of different nations have drafted the rules and guidelines keeping this in mind.  Overall, most visa applications are rejected because people fail to follow the guidelines. In fact, most of the other visa rejection reasons are a result of not following the rules.

  • Incomplete/Insufficient Travel Itinerary

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A travel itinerary is important to show your exact plan for the visit. Quite often, applicants don’t provide a detailed itinerary. A good travel itinerary should state all the countries/states you plan on visiting. It should also be accompanied by flight tickets and hotel bookings for the same.

  • An Insufficient Explanation for the Purpose

Visas are issued for a particular purpose of visit. For example, a business visa is issued for attending business meetings, conferences, etc. As a result, failing to provide documents or information that explain your purpose of the visit will lead to visa rejection. In the case above, for the business visa, you will have to ensure that the invitation letter from the company in the destination country explains your purpose of the visit clearly.

  • Travel Document Discrepancies

Sometimes, it is the thing right in front of you that is the biggest problem. The passport goes unnoticed a number of times when people are arranging their documents. Submitting an expired/damaged passport, or a passport with no blank pages are grounds for visa rejection. Apart from this, different countries have different requirements for the applicant’s passport. If it fails to meet this, it will be rejected. 

Eg: For Schengen visa applications, you will need a passport that is valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into the destination country. It will also need to have 2 blank pages.

  • Delayed Application

Missions of different companies have different processing times that vary according to a number of factors. As a result, the embassies require that you submit the application with sufficient time left for them to process the application in time for your expected date of travel. Submitting a late application, with less than the embassy recommended processing time left until the travel date will often lead to your visa getting rejected. In a lot of cases, the embassy will also have strict rules on the number of days before your travel date, after which you cannot apply. 

Eg: If the embassy recommended processing time for a visa is 15 days, and you apply for the visa with only 7 days left until your intended travel date, your application will be rejected.

  • Insufficient Funds

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This is one of the most common visa rejection reasons. While travelling to a country, you will be required to show that you have enough funds to support your stay throughout the stay duration. This is to ensure that you do not have a tough time in the country and that you do not become a liability for the country. So, if you do not possess enough funds, your application will instantly be rejected. It can also be rejected if the funds are not easily accessible. 

Eg: If a nation expects you to have at least 50 Euros for each day you stay, and if you are planning a stay of 30 days, your application will get rejected if you do not have at least 1500 Euros. It can also be rejected if you submit a credit card or other forms instead of an account statement.

  • Incomplete Application Form

An application form with blank columns will make your application get rejected. Every column in the application form is an important question. Even if a question is not applicable to you, you will be advised by the form to write ‘N/A’ or something appropriate. Providing wrong information on the application form are also grounds for visa rejection. As a result, check your application form before submitting them.

  • Information Mismatch

If any information mentioned on the application form does not match with your travel documents, your application will be rejected. This is a very common occurrence when people fill the form hastily. Ensure that your details mentioned on the application form is the same as that in the passport. 

Eg: Even if your name is ‘Mugdha’, and it is mentioned as ‘Mughda’ in your passport and other documents, you must use ‘Mughda’ in your application form.

  • Criminal Record

If you have been/are convicted of a criminal offence, you are considered as a threat to the destination country. As a result, your application will almost always be rejected. If you have a clear criminal record,  you will not face any issues regarding this.

  • Poor Visa Interview

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The visa interview plays a significant role in determining the outcome of your visa application. Providing a poor visa interview will almost always lead to visa rejection. This can include being nervous during the interview, provide unnecessary details, not being able to communicate effectively with the interviewer, etc. As a result, ensure that you are well prepared for the interview to be able to answer any of the questions without any hesitation.

Eg: Answering the questions hesitatingly or being nervous will make the interviewer conclude that you have hidden intentions behind your visit.

  • Insufficient ties with the Home Country

For most short term visas, you will have to prove that you have ties in your home country that will ensure your need to return to your home country once you have completed your permitted stay in the country. Failure to provide this or providing insufficient proof of this will lead to visa rejection.

  • Fake Documents

Providing fake and forged documents will lead to an automatic visa rejection. Once you have made an application, the visa authorities will perform a thorough check to ensure your document’s validity. If it is found that the document is fake, they will reject the application and possibly ban you from applying again for a specific time.

  • Documents in Regional Language

Quite a lot of your personal documents will be issued in the local language. However, submitting such documents directly is useless as the authorities will not be able to verify it. This will then lead to the visa getting rejected. As a result, ensure that you get your regional documents translated into the language as per the embassy requirements.

  • Ineligible Sponsor

In cases where you are being sponsored for the visa, the chances of your application being successful will depend on your sponsor as well. The authorities will check the status of your sponsor for aspects such as their legal status, tax obligations, income, etc. If any of this does not meet the standards, you will face rejection.

  • Invalid Travel Insurance

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Though a lot of countries do not mandate travel insurance, most nations including the Schengen nations require you to possess travel insurance. They will also have requirements related to the coverage. If your travel insurance does not meet these conditions, your application will be rejected.

Eg: A Schengen travel insurance will require coverage of at least 30000 Euros, be valid in all the Schengen nations, as well as cover the entire stay duration. If your Schengen travel insurance does not meet this, you will not be issued with the visa.

  • Unfavourable Previous Travel History

Finally, another reason for rejection of visa is a poor travelling history. Your application may be rejected if you have been denied a visa into the country (or other countries) previously, or if you have a history of having overstayed in a country, or if you have performed activities that are not allowed under a particular visa category in the past, etc.

As the old saying goes, “prevention is better than cure”. The same applies to a visa application as well. Granted, a visa application is a really hectic and stressful process. To avoid facing a visa rejection, the least you can do is to make sure that you do not make the above-mentioned errors and follow all the rules. Although, the best option would be to use the services of a reputed visa agency for your application.

By sarang alandkar| 8 Jan, 2020. Posted In visa.

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