Russians Show Increased Interest in Obtaining Schengen Visas Despite Sanctions Imposed

A rise of 35 per cent in business and tourist visas has been recorded in the last ten months compared to the same period last year. The Hungarian visa centre has confirmed an interest hike by Russian applicants.

Russian Travellers Are ‘Adapting’ to New Barriers

Russian travel industry representatives have revealed that despite several countries refusing to issue visas to Russian nationals, they remain interested in visiting the bloc of 27 countries.

In fact, Russians are increasingly adapting to new barriers. For example, the EU air zone is blocked for Russian planes; thus, no flights from Russia are allowed. However, Russians are taking connecting flights through non-EU countries like Turkiye.

According to travel website OneTwoTrip, flight bookings from Russia to Europe have increased by 30 per cent in September and October. The main destinations were France, Italy and Spain, with 17 to 18 per cent of bookings being recorded in these countries.

Russians Have Always Been Top Schengen Visa Applicants

Russian visa applicants have always been among the top visa applicants for Schengen visas – filing hundreds of thousands or even millions of applications every year.

According to statistics published by EU Helpers, Russians filed 520,387 visa applications in 2023, which is a figure quite impacted by the restrictions imposed by Schengen states. This number ranked Russia as the fifth country with the highest number of visa applications filed to Schengen states for the year.

In 2022, Russians ranked second in the list for filing a total number of 687,239 visa applications. This figure, too, should be interpreted with caution since the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic during this year also made an impact on the number of applications filed. A similar situation was occurring in 2020 and 2021.

However, in pre-pandemic years, in 2019 namely, Russians were the top applicants for Schengen visas. During this year, Russian applicants filed 4.1 million applications, which is one-quarter (24.3 per cent) of all applications filed for that year.

Finland was the Russians’ main destination in 2019, but since then, Russians’ preferences have changed. Spain became a top destination for Russian applicants, but due to restrictions, Italy became a new destination for Schengen Visa applicants from Russia.