Visas for Russian citizens will cost 80 euros and will take longer to obtain

BRUSELAS, 6 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Visas for Russian citizens in the European Union will be more expensive and take longer to obtain, following the European Commission's proposal to suspend the visa facilitation agreement with Russia, following the agreement reached by the Twenty-seven in response to the military invasion of Ukraine.

According to the initiative presented by Brussels this Tuesday, the permits will cost 80 euros -currently their price is 35 euros-, and the term to obtain them will be 15 days, although these times can be extended up to a maximum of 45 days when more information about the applicant is needed. Until now, thanks to the agreement with Moscow, these deadlines were shortened and visas were obtained in 10 days.

Among other obstacles, Russian tourists will no longer enjoy multiple entries in the Schengen area and visas will be obtained with less beneficial conditions, since applicants will have to present more documents to obtain them.

EU foreign ministers agreed at an informal meeting last week to limit the number of visas for Russian citizens in retaliation for the war in Ukraine. The debate on this issue was launched by the Baltic countries and Finland, which have seen an uptick in the arrival of tourists to their borders to travel from there to the rest of Europe.

The agreement represents a middle ground between these Member States that demanded a total veto on Russian tourism and those, especially the recipients of tourism, that requested a more selective measure.

Currently almost a million Russian citizens, 963,000 according to Brussels estimates, have valid visas for the Schengen area. The visa facilitation agreement with Russia had been in force since 2007 and allowed its citizens to enter the EU for a period of up to 90 days.