ATOR did not rule out the termination of the issuance of multiple Schengen visas to Russians

The decision taken in the European Union to cancel the visa facilitation agreement with the Russian Federation will make it much more difficult for Russians to obtain Schengen visas. This was announced on Wednesday in the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

They said that the waiting period for a visa will increase to 6 months, the consular fee will increase by 2.5 times, and the issuance of multiple-entry visas may completely stop.

Now Russian citizens will have to collect more documents for obtaining a visa. The size of the consular fee will increase from 35 euros to 85. In addition, tour operators predict that long-term and multiple-entry Schengen visas for Russians may become much smaller, and perhaps they will no longer exist at all.

It is expected that the “most common” visa option will be “single-entry Schengen, issued strictly for travel dates.”

At the same time, they explained that Russians who already have multiple-entry visas can, as before, enter the EU countries until their expiration date.

To suspend the visa agreement on visa facilitation with Russia, which has been in force since 2007, decided on Wednesday the foreign ministers of the EU countries at a meeting in Prague.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, after this meeting, said that the process of issuing visas to Russian citizens as a whole would become “more complicated and lengthy” and this would lead to a decrease in their number. At the same time, Borrell said that the EU does not want to isolate itself from the Russians and the foreign ministers did not agree on the decision to completely stop issuing Schengen visas.

The Financial Times reported that 5 countries – Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – are ready to take measures at the national level to prevent Russians from using their territories to enter the Schengen zone. They demanded that the European Commission take “visa measures” that would “significantly reduce the flow of Russian citizens entering the EU and the Schengen area.” In the meantime, such measures are not taken, these five countries can impose appropriate restrictions on their own.