‼️CLOSING BORDERS FOR RUSSIANS‼️
Dear friends, greetings to all of you!
Many of you follow the news closely and are aware that more and more EU countries are tightening their visa policies for Russians. Estonia has closed its borders to Russians with Schengen visas issued by the republic, with some exceptions.
Lithuania has suspended the issuance of visas to Russian citizens and has proposed to restrict entry for certain categories. Finland has started issuing single-entry visas to Russians more frequently, allowing entry for only 10 days, and is scrutinizing older Finnish Schengen visas in passports more closely. Additionally, Finland intends to intensify its monitoring of Russians using the Finnish Schengen visa for transit to other EU countries.
The Latvian Parliament has halted visa issuance to Russian citizens and has urged all EU countries to do the same for Russians and Belarusians. The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stopped issuing visas to Russian and Belarusian citizens. The Czech Foreign Minister will invite his EU colleagues to discuss the ban on Schengen visas for Russians at a meeting scheduled for the end of August.
Many European neighbors have already closed their borders and are now calling for a collective decision from EU countries. By August 10, the EU officially submitted a proposal to ban the issuance of Schengen visas to Russians. If the proposal is approved, it may be included in the next sanctions package.
According to German Foreign Ministry representative Andrea Sasse, the proposal includes a visa ban not only for Russian tourists but also for representatives of Russian civil society, students, and relatives of EU citizens.
It’s clear that restrictions are tightening more and more. While our team does not believe that all Schengen countries will completely stop issuing Schengen tourist visas, we must acknowledge that the situation will never be the same as before. Perhaps a couple of countries will take on the entire flow of Schengen visas, but they will offer worse conditions, with huge queues for submission (due to a shortage of consular staff), shorter visa durations (from two weeks to a month, even for applicants with a good visa history, which is already happening), and significantly higher costs. Consequently, in the near future, Schengen visas will be primarily accessible to the very affluent. In the best of times, a guaranteed Schengen visa through a consul, with no risk of rejection, used to cost around 2,000 euros. Currently, such a service will cost at least 4-5 thousand euros. This is nearly the price of a fully-fledged European passport.
Consider your options while there is still time and make an investment in your future. In 2023, the program for obtaining Romanian citizenship through ancestry may be closed by a decision of the Romanian government.
Act now and submit a request for a consultation!
