Finland cannot completely stop issuing tourist visas to Russians

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland cannot completely stop the issuance of tourist visas to Russians or terminate their validity, since there are no legal grounds for this, declared Jussi Tanner, head of the consular department of the country’s Foreign Ministry, told Iltalehti.

“The basis of the system and the rule of law is that the situation of each applicant is considered individually,” he said.

According to Tanner, obtaining a visa will require more investments from Russian residents, both monetary and temporary, as the cost has increased from 35 euros to 89 euros, and the application processing time has increased from 10 to 15 days. Thus, the Russians no longer enjoy the benefits, and “issue visas in the same way as citizens of Uzbekistan or Mongolia,” said the head of the consular department of the Foreign Ministry.

At the same time, Tanner noted that he is skeptical about the path taken by the Baltic countries, which implies a complete ban on tourist visas for Russians. According to him, the legality of the introduction of such restrictions requires decisions taken at the level of the European Union, including amendments to the current Schengen rules. Therefore, he considers the introduction of such severe restrictions at the level of the entire union unlikely.

9 September Council of the European Union accepted decision to completely suspend the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia. European Commission recommended Union member countries to increase the terms for issuing visas to Russian citizens up to 45 days against the current 15, issue them only for travel dates and check all applications for possible security threats.

The decision to abandon the simplified visa regime with Russia in the EU was made following an informal meeting of the EU foreign ministers, which took place on August 31 in Prague. At the same time, the Baltic countries, as well as Poland and Finland, insisted on a complete halt in the issuance of visas for Russians. However, a number of countries, including Germany, Greece and France, opposed this initiative.

Later, the foreign ministers of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said they intended to take additional measures on their own. They have already agreed on restrictions on the entry of Russians into the Schengen area through their land borders. The restrictions will come into effect after September 19.