A man who goes by the handle Syk Sykt on Facebook persevered despite being turned down repeatedly and having one appeal denied. As a result, he eventually received his eagerly awaited Schengen visa from the French consulate.

“I have been refused seven times in past four years and I have finally been approved. Cheers! I am so happy!” he wrote on Facebook, sharing his story.

He went on to say that he had previously submitted applications for a Schengen visa to the consular offices of four separate nations: Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. He claims to have applied for a visa once each at the Greek and Dutch embassies, but he actually applied twice at the German and three times at the French embassies. He had initially filed for a Greek Schengen Visa, and was denied for five separate reasons, none of which he has mentioned. Later, though, he was turned down twice by the German government because they had concerns that he would leave the Schengen Area once there. He persisted, though, and submitted a fourth application to the Dutch embassy, which was regrettably also denied, according to SchengenVisaInfo.com. He next went to the French embassy, which twice turned down his application. The second time, the French authorities rejected his application for a Schengen visa without giving him a reason; he then challenged the decision. A unfavorable verdict was reached in the appeal as well.

“On the seventh time, finally again applied for France this month, and I requested from the officer to conduct an interview with me and they did and NOW APPROVED my visa,” he announced, revealing that he had been granted a single-entry visa with a duration of 30 days.

With the rejection rates for Schengen visa applications setting a record in 2022, Schengen Member States have recently come under fire for'mercilessly' rejecting Schengen visa applications. The Member States turned down 17.9% of the 7,572,755 applications for Schengen visas that year, according to publicly disclosed data for 2022. This rate is significantly greater than it has ever been, even during the pandemic years. Two nations—France and Spain—rejected the greatest number of applications last year. They were the two nations that received the most applications, as well. Another 227,712 applications submitted to the Spanish authorities also received negative verdicts, while France rejected 408,876 applications.