#Russia_VisaBan: As of today, the facilitated visa regime is gone, Russian tourists are subject to a more onerous, complicated and longer process and higher prices to get legally to the EU. Money is not a big problem for Russians (80 euros instead of 35 euros).⤵️
The most problematic change is the EU's request to tighten and lengthen application verification procedures and reject any minimally suspicious applicants (probably more problematic for the FSB). The data processing will extend to weeks and even more than a month.⤵️
Visa applications for students, dissidents, media, relatives of EU citizens, etc. will remain a priority, the rest will be treated as low priority. Member States may individually refuse to issue visas or limit their effect to a single country. ⤵️
The effective enforcement of the limited Schengen visa involves many risks, since people move freely within the EU (controls on trains and buses transporting people from one country to another do not check passports).
Tourist travel data for 2022 indicates an almost 8-fold decrease compared to 2019. From 8 million trips in 2019, the flow of Russian tourists decreased to 1.2 million in 2022. Their main destinations this year are Italy, Spain, Greece and France.
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