What are some reasons for Schengen visa application rejections?
Possibility of immigration intent is the most probable cause for visa refusal along with a doubt that the visitor will be working illegally. Your profile should clearly match your purpose of visit. For e.g if you are a business owner and are looking to expand to European markets you should have some business travel history. Tourists should be able to justify an income which allows them to holiday in Europe, again here a travel history helps to show that you don't have immigration intent and will always return at the end of your trip. Documentation should be flawless, I just remembered something. During one of my earlier Schengen visa application, I had submitted hotel reservations, i usually prefer to book hotels which allow me to pay during check-in. I was called for an interview and it was a bit surprising since I already had travel history to Europe. I thought maybe because they want to reassure that my frequent visits are for business only and i went for the interview. I was more surprised when the consul himself was present for the interview along with the Visa officer. The visa officer went on to ask me questions about my business, how long have I been running it, number of employees, nature of my business and if I have any relatives in Europe. He had a translator, he was asking her the questions and she was conveying it to me and vice versa. The he asks me about what i sell since he did not understand it fully and I reply a bit technically. The translator was not able to understand the technicalities and simply replied to the visa officer that I sell some kind of prodotto chimici (chemical product). I know a few Italian words here and there, I interjected that its not chemical per se. Now the consul himself asks me what is my exact purpose of visits to Europe. I tell him its for business development, I am trying to expand further and setup a direct distribution network for my products in Europe. Then the visa officer turns to me and asks me directly why is my hotel reservation canceled? I was confused and i replied they are not canceled, i just booked them before submitting my visa application (my interview was scheduled for two weeks later from visa submission). He said they checked it, and it shows canceled in the travel portal. I was confused and i said it can't be, and the consul interjects and says that they verified it properly, and they cant issue me a visa without a hotel reservation. He asked me why do i think they got canceled if i booked them. I was dumbfounded. He told me to go back and check this and inform them by reply email what exactly happened. The interview got over then. Out the way out I ask the translator what should i do now, she asked me to just go back and make fresh reservations and send them the same by email along with an explanation of why the previous reservation got canceled. I went back and checked it, i had given my Debit card number during reservation, because that was the card i was looking to pay with during check-in. They tried charging it and it didn't go through. I immediately made fresh reservations and sent it to the Embassy along with an explanation. I got my visa later that week. They had good reason to believe that I was staying with relatives or trying to immigrate in the garb of business visits and it sure looked like it with canceled hotel reservations but a confirmed ticket.