RBC: Russia may increase visa fees for tourists from the EU and Scandinavian countries

The Russian Foreign Ministry has submitted to the government a bill to increase visa fees and cancel visa benefits for citizens of EU countries, as well as Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein who wish to enter the Russian Federation. The document was reviewed and approved by the Commission on Legislative Activities, reported RBC with reference to sources in the Cabinet of Ministers.

The bill should be a response to the actions of the EU, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, which stopped the operation of international agreements with Russia on a mutually simplified procedure for issuing visas. European and Scandinavian countries have also raised their visa fee rates, the publication noted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs proposed in the bill to completely suspend every previously concluded agreement on visa fees.

For example, the fee for a visa under an agreement with the European Union was 35 euros ($36.6 at the exchange rate as of October 2). For urgent visa applications, the rate increased to 70 euros ($73.3). Certain categories of people may not have to pay visa fees. These included close relatives of Russian citizens living in the EU, members of official delegations, as well as officials. The list of exceptions included schoolchildren, students and accompanying teachers who went to the Russian Federation for study or internship.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called for a visa fee to be made for all categories of citizens, and their cost to be increased depending on the urgency in the range of $50–300. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expects that this measure will increase federal budget revenues from visas by 2.8 times.

Russia and the European Union entered into a mutual agreement on the simplified issuance of visas in 2006. The documents were valid for up to three months, and for certain categories of citizens they could be extended many times. On September 12, 2022, the foreign ministers of 27 EU member countries decided to freeze this agreement in connection with the start of a special operation in Ukraine.

When entering the EU territory, the rules that apply to citizens of third countries began to apply to Russians. The cost of obtaining a visa has increased to 80 euros ($83.8), and the processing time for the request has increased to 45 days. The EU has also expanded the list of documents that must be provided by the applicant. According to the new recommendations of the European Commission, tourist visas began to be considered as a non-priority, and the EC also called for Russians to be denied multiple-entry visas with long stays.