According to EU Helpers, the French and Italian visas are listed after the Chinese visa, which was the most sought-after by Russian businesspeople in 2023—even more so than it was before the pandemic.
The top 10 visas that Russians applied for the most in 2023, according to a research by the corporate tourism operator Russian Aeroclub, are as follows:
India, China, France, Italy
Ireland
Switzerland and Austria
Spain's Guinea
Hungary
Greece, Hungary, and Spain, on the other hand, are the Schengen Area nations who issued the most visas in relation to the quantity of applications they got in 2023.
Furthermore, Spain typically provides Russian business travelers with multiple-entry visas that have a longer validity period, whereas Greece and Hungary primarily offer single-entry visas good for the duration of the desired trip.
According to a June 2023 report by EU Helpers, Spain has turned into a refuge for Russian visitors following the imposition of entrance restrictions by several EU Member States as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.
Statistics on Schengen visas show that, of the 603,955 Schengen visas issued, 154,450, or one-fourth, were issued by the Spanish government to holders of Russian passports in 2022.
The other Schengen nations that will grant Russians a lot of visas in 2022 are Finland (105,323), Italy (103,099), Greece (61,840), France (55,285), Germany (38,809), and Hungary (25,081).
The Russian consulate authorities in Hungary, Greece, and Italy were considered the finest places for Russian residents to apply for Schengen visas at the time, according to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).