The E.U. just tightened visa rules for Russians. We read the fine print so you don’t have to.
Stricter visa rules for Russians
The E.U. has further tightened its rules for issuing Schengen visas to Russian nationals, the European Commission announced on November 7. The issuance of multiple-entry visas, valid for up to five years, will effectively be suspended, except in some humanitarian cases. This means Russian passport-holders will generally only be eligible for single-entry Schengen visas.
The move comes “in view of the increased security risks stemming from Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine,” the E.U. said in a press release. The European Commission cited a variety of security concerns linked to Russian visa applicants, including:
Russia’s weaponization of migration, acts of sabotage on the Member States’ territory and on the international waters of the Baltic Sea, causing cyber and industrial espionage threats, and potential misuse of visas for promoting propaganda supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine or engaging in other subversive activities to the detriment of the Union.
“From now on, […] Russian nationals will have to apply for a new visa each time they plan to travel to the E.U., allowing for close and frequent scrutiny of applicants to mitigate any potential security risk,” the E.U. press release said.
The new rules apply to Russian nationals residing in the Russian Federation and do not affect those who also hold E.U. citizenship or legal residency in a member state.
Moreover, the hundreds of thousands of Russians who fled abroad after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the September 2022 mobilization remain formally eligible to apply for multiple-entry visas at E.U. consulates abroad. However, Brussels already tightened its rules in September 2022, making it more difficult for Russian citizens to apply for Schengen visas in third countries such as Kazakhstan, Serbia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The fine print
The European Commission’s exceptions cover several categories of visa applicants, such as:
- The close relatives of Russian citizens legally residing in E.U. countries;
- Transportation workers (including seafarers, truckers, bus drivers, and train crew members) who are applying for a visa in a professional capacity.
In addition, the document states that individual E.U. countries can issue multiple-entry visas “to applicants who prove the need or justify their intention to travel frequently or regularly, provided that they prove their integrity and reliability.” This wording implies that Brussels is still giving national governments the final call, rather than demanding that all E.U. members comply with a blanket ban.
The decision also stipulates that E.U. countries can, at their discretion, continue issuing multiple-entry visas to “dissidents, independent journalists, human rights defenders, representatives of civil society organizations, or other vulnerable categories, and their close family members.”
Since the decision only affects the rules for issuing short-stay visas (including multiple-entry ones), Russian nationals residing in Russia will still be able to apply for long-stay visas (Type D) — including those for working and studying in the European Union.
So what’s going to change exactly?
Some E.U. countries may very well view the European Commission’s decision as a recommendation rather than a directive. On November 6, a day after Politico reported that Brussels planned to tighten visa rules for Russians, the French Embassy in Moscow told RBC that France’s visa policy “remains unchanged.”
After the decision was officially announced, the Russian Travel Industry Union (RST) reported that a “minimal number” of people traveling from Russia to Europe receive multiple-entry visas as it is. “Most often it’s business travelers,” RST said. However, this may be a more recent trend: of the nearly 550,000 Schengen visas granted to Russian citizens in 2024, more than 41 percent were multiple-entry.
While the new rules are designed to make it even more difficult for Russian citizens residing in Russia to obtain Schengen visas, much will depend on how national governments approach implementation. As The Bell noted, when the E.U. tightened visa restrictions in 2023, all Schengen countries got on board in one way or another. Though only 11 went for a full ban, the rest increased processing times or application fees.
The German Foreign Office has already said it plans to comply with the new restrictions on issuing multiple-entry visas to Russians. However, Germany only issued around 1,200 of these visas in 2024. The approach of the European bloc’s biggest visa issuers to Russians — Italy, France, Spain, and Greece — will be more consequential.
How many visas do they issue?
According to European Commission statistics, Russians submitted more than 600,000 Schengen visa applications in 2024. The biggest visa issuers were as follows:
- Italy: More than 152,000 visas issued, including 108,000 multiple-entry
- France: Around 124,000 visas issued, including over 40,000 multiple-entry
- Spain: Over 111,000 visas issued, including 11,000 multiple-entry
- Greece: Around 60,000 visas issued, including over 23,000 multiple-entry
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