The European Commission has tightened Schengen visa rules for Russian citizens, limiting most new applicants to single-entest permits, citing security risks linked to the war in Ukraine.
The European Commission states Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has reshaped security risks tied to visa screening, prompting stricter entest rules for Russian nationals.
From now on, most Russian passport holders living in Russia will receive single-entest Schengen visas only.
“The new rules severely restrict the issuance of multiple-entest visas… certain limited exceptions remain,” stated Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert on Friday.
Exemptions include:
Close family members of EU or Russia-based legal residents – eligible for multiple entries up to 1 year
Transport workers – eligible up to 9 months
Case-by-case approvals for applicants such as dissidents, indepconcludeent journalists, human-rights defconcludeers, and civil society representatives
The new policy is not retroactive and applies only to new applications.
Context
Visa restrictions were first tightened after Moscow’s war in Ukraine in 2022, when the EU suspconcludeed its Visa Facilitation Agreement with Russiacreating applications costlier and more complex.
Lammert confirmed the Commission is assessing additional measures with member states, but stressed that a total ban on multi-entest visas has not been formally adopted so far, despite recent media reports.
According to EU data, Schengen visas issued to Russians dropped from over 4 million in 2019 to 500,000 in 2023 following the initial restrictions.
Separately, under the EU’s 19th sanctions package, Russian diplomats must now notify member states before traveling within the Schengen zone, part of efforts to curb “hostile innotifyigence activity.”
A new visa strategy is expected next month, encouraging EU states to apply visa policy as a security tool against countries considered high-risk.
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