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My friend obtained his first ever Schengen visa for tourism (single-entry). However, he was unable to make the trip in the end, for personal/health reasons.

I am wondering which of these 3 possibilities will be true regarding his Schengen visa record:

  • Even though he will not actually travel, he successfully applied for and received a Schengen visa. This will be noted positively in his record and might help with receiving multiple-entry visas in the future.
  • No effect on his record since he did not actually travel.
  • Negative effect on his record because he did not carry out the itinerary which he outlined to the Schengen authorities and did not notify them of the cancellation of the trip after receiving the visa.
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If anything, it should increase your friend's prospects of getting another visa but the main reason for that is missing from your question. The important thing is that your friend did not abuse the visa. In other words, it shows that your friend was not waiting for a short-stay visa to immigrate illegally and did not try to have someone else use their passport. That's the main concern and what the system is designed to prevent.

That said, do not overestimate how much time or resources consular officers have to evaluate applications. There is a record of all applications and they can also check an applicant's passport for border stamps but it's not like there would be a detailed evaluation or specific rules on how to interpret it.

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    What point are you trying to make in the second paragraph exactly?
    – hb20007
    Commented Dec 27, 2022 at 10:52
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    @hb20007 as I understand it, it means "it might have zero effect as nobody has time to look into this".
    – Paŭlo Ebermann
    Commented Dec 28, 2022 at 0:04
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    It might have no effect or the effect might even be inconsistent.
    – Relaxed
    Commented Dec 28, 2022 at 19:11
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I am wondering which of those 3 possibilities will be true regarding his Schengen visa record:
...

  • No effect on his record since he did not actually travel.

...

The precondition for a multiple-entry visa is that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used three visas within the previous two years. (Visa Code Article 24 (2)(a)).

Since the visa has not been used, it will have no effect.

Visa Code
Article 24 Issuing of a uniform visa
...
2. Provided that the applicant fulfils the entry conditions set out in point (a) and points (c) to (e) of Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399, multiple-entry visas with a long validity shall be issued for the following validity periods, unless the validity of the visa would exceed that of the travel document:
(a) for a validity period of one year, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used three visas within the previous two years;
(b) for a validity period of two years, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used a previous multiple-entry visa valid for one year within the previous two years;
(c) for a validity period of five years, provided that the applicant has obtained and lawfully used a previous multiple-entry visa valid for two years within the previous three years.

Airport transit visas and visas with limited territorial validity issued in accordance with Article 25(1) shall not be taken into account for the issuing of multiple-entry visas.

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