Indian nationals may now apply for an Italian Schengen visa at a newly opened Italian visa application centre in New Delhi.

The Italian ambassador, Antonio Bartoli, as well as members of India's Ministry of External Affairs and a number of consuls from the Schengen Area member states attended the opening of VFS Global's new Italian Visa Application Centre in New Delhi.

The Ambassador of Italy, Antonio Bartoli voiced his gladness for the inauguration of the new Visa Center in New Delhi, dedicated exclusively to Italy.

It will allow us to significantly increase the quality of the service offered to the public, continuing to satisfy the growing demand for Italy expressed by Indian citizens. A demand that will grow further, with the implementation of the mobility and migration partnership agreement, signed by Italy and India. Our Embassy intends to reach, by the end of 2024, the record number of visa applications ever processed in Delhi.
--The Ambassador of Italy, Antonio Bartoli

Italy has stepped up its efforts to fulfil the growing number of Indian nationals requesting visas.

In 2022, 67,000 applications were handled in total. Concurrently, in 2023, 91,600 applications were handled by the Italian Consulates General in Mumbai and Kolkata, in addition to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi.

After the new Consulate General of Italy opened in Bangalore in the first half of this year, requests from Italian Visa Offices in India increased by 28%, totalling 54,200 applications, with the possibility of exceeding 100,000 visa applications in India by the end of the year, according to a report from L'Agenzia di Viaggi Magazine.

Several nationalities face difficulties obtaining Italian visas

Applications from a number of African and Asian nations have a lower chance of being approved for a Schengen visa by Italy since their rejection rates are greater than the average of 87.55 percent.

Italy ranked fourth in terms of the total number of visa requests in 2023 with 1.1 million applications, according to SchengenVisaInfo statistics. The same showed that the top three nations are France, Germany, and Spain.