🇧🇯 Benin · 🇪🇺 Official EU consulate data
Which Schengen country is easiest to get a visa from Benin?
France issued 71.7% of the Schengen short-stay applications it decided in Benin in 2025; the Netherlands issued 46.6%. That is a 25.1-point gap on the same passport, across 3 states and 15,372 decisions. Area-wide, 70% of applications lodged in Benin were issued. The gap is real and published — but you cannot simply pick the top of this list. The Visa Code sends you to the state where you will spend the most nights, and applying elsewhere is itself a refusal ground.
Source: European Commission — Schengen short-stay visa statistics for consulates (per Schengen state) · 2025 · retrieved 2026-08.
Every Schengen state that decided Beninese applications, ranked
Uniform short-stay (type C) visas only, summed over each state's consulates in Benin. States with fewer than 300 decisions are omitted.
| # | Issuing state | Issued | Refused | Decisions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | France | 71.7% | 28.3% | 13,928 |
| 2 | Germany | 60.9% | 39.1% | 719 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 46.6% | 53.4% | 725 |
Which country you are actually required to apply to
The competent state is your main destination, judged by the length of stay counted in days or by the purpose of the stay. If no main destination can be determined, it is the state whose external border you cross first — your first point of entry. Both rules are in Article 5 of the Visa Code, and consulates test them against the bookings you submit.
So the practical use of the table above is not to pick the top row. It is to know what the consulate you are required to use actually does with Beninese files — and, where your itinerary genuinely spans several countries, to plan the trip knowing which entry point that implies. Booking an itinerary you do not intend to follow in order to reach a particular consulate is visa shopping: a consulate that is not competent returns the application (Article 18), and a stay whose purpose and conditions are not justified is refused (Article 32).
One more thing the gap does not mean: it is not a measure of how welcoming each country is. Consulates see different caseloads — family visits, tour groups, business travel and repeat travellers all carry different evidence and different outcomes — and an aggregate cannot tell you how your own file will be read.
Your own odds, not the average
These are caseload aggregates. Your finances, ties, travel history and any earlier refusal move an individual case a long way from them. The estimator is free, runs in your browser, and asks for no sign-up.
Estimate my oddsFrequently asked questions
Can I just apply to whichever Schengen country approves the most Beninese applicants?
No, and trying is counter-productive. The Visa Code makes the competent state your main destination — judged by the length of stay counted in days, or by the purpose of the stay — and, where no main destination can be determined, the state whose external border you cross first (Article 5). A consulate that is not competent returns the application and refunds the fee (Article 18), and a visa is refused when the applicant does not justify the purpose and conditions of the intended stay (Article 32) — an itinerary that does not match where you applied undermines exactly that. The ranking on this page tells you what to expect from the consulate you are actually required to use, and where a genuinely flexible itinerary might legitimately point.
When does the choice legitimately belong to me?
When your trip really is spread across several countries. If you plan four nights in France and four in Germany, no single state is the main destination, so the rule falls back to your first point of entry — and you choose that when you book your flights. Planning the itinerary first and the application second is legitimate; inventing an itinerary to reach a particular consulate is not.
Why do the rates differ so much between countries?
Different consulates see different applicant mixes. A state with a large diaspora from Benin receives more family-visit applications, which carry different evidence and different outcomes than tour-group applications. Staffing, local outsourcing arrangements and the share of repeat travellers all move the number too. The gap is a fact about caseloads, not a ranking of how welcoming each country is, and it does not predict how any one application will be decided.
Is the visa itself different depending on which country issues it?
No. A uniform short-stay visa is valid across the entire Schengen area whichever state issues it, subject to the same 90-days-in-180 limit. What differs is who assesses your file, how long they take, and the reference amount of money they expect you to show, which each state sets under its own national law.
Where do these figures come from?
The European Commission's per-consulate Schengen visa statistics for 2025, summed over each state's consulates in Benin. The share shown is visas issued — uniform plus limited-territorial-validity — divided by applications decided (those plus not issued), which is the same denominator the Commission uses for its own published refusal rate. States with fewer than 300 decisions in Benin are left out, because a rate on a handful of files is noise.
