Europe is generous with visas – Kommersant FM
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It has become “somewhat easier” for Russians to obtain a Schengen visa, the Russian Union of Travel Industry announced this. Some European countries have begun issuing multiple-entry visas more often, and making an appointment to submit documents is now also a little easier. The fastest way to obtain a Schengen visa is at the Swiss consulate; it takes an average of two weeks to process the document.
Croats and French take the longest to obtain short-term type C visas; first of all, problems are associated with registration for application. Natalya Volkova, head of the corporate department of the Visakhod company, notes that Italians and Spaniards issue Schengen visas relatively quickly: “Italy, Spain and France are still the most popular countries in terms of issuing Schengen visas. Visa issuance times vary, as do processing times.
At the Italian Embassy, appointments are available the next business day, but processing times are currently six weeks. The Spanish Visa Application Center also offers next business day appointments and processing times are currently around two weeks. As for France, the recording depth is approximately 21 days, and after submitting documents to the embassy, the processing time is approximately one and a half weeks. Approximately a week in advance, appointments are available at the embassies of Switzerland, Greece and Germany.”
Due to the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Russia lost its simplified visa regime with the EU; it was canceled in September 2022. Against this background, the consulates of some countries have changed the list of required documents. For example, to obtain a German visa you now need to provide European insurance.
At the same time, the validity period of visas has also been reduced; throughout 2023, Russians were often issued permits for travel dates or several months. In winter, the situation improved somewhat, noted Marina Shirokova, head of the MS Visa visa agency: “Italy and France most often issue visas for a period longer than six months, sometimes for a year or two. But, as regards the visa center and the French consulate itself, in Moscow it is still very difficult to get a slot to submit documents; in St. Petersburg it is a little easier.
Spain issues visas for three months, this is the maximum period. The most frequently issued visas for Italy and France are six months, Switzerland sets for the duration of the trip, Hungary – from a month to a year. In principle, everything works in a fairly good mode.
The only thing is that Greek consulates issue visas for the duration of the trip, since they are out of season, and there is also a small number of seasonal refusals from Greeks, but their percentage is very small. There are no groundless refusals, that is, it is almost impossible to get it if everything is in order with the package of documents.”
Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the Czech Republic have completely stopped issuing visas to Russians. Nevertheless, in 2022, European countries issued over 600 thousand permits. This data was provided by the SchengenVisaInfo service. Most often, Russians submitted applications to the consulates of France, Spain and Germany. There are no statistics for 2023 yet.
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