- EU nations issued over 620,000 Schengen visas to Russian citizens in 2025, marking a 10.2 percent annual increase.
- France, Italy, and Spain remain the top visa issuers despite a significant rise in overall application refusal rates.
- Multiple-entry visas plummeted to record lows following strict new European Commission restrictions implemented in late 2025.
(EU) — EU countries issued more than 620,000 Schengen visas to Russian citizens in 2025, a 10.2% increase from 2024, according to confidential data from the European Commission’s Schengen Barometer.
France, Italy and Spain issued the highest numbers of visas to Russians during the year. Among those countries, France recorded the strongest year-over-year growth.
The rise in overall issuance came with tighter screening. The Russian Union of Travel Industry, citing expert Mikhail Abasov, CEO of VCP Travel, estimated 620,000-670,000 visa applications from Russians in 2025, resulting in 540,000-570,000 visas issued and an 8-9% refusal rate.
That refusal rate stood well above the 1.5% recorded in 2019. RUTI forecast 550,000-600,000 visas issued in 2026.
The increase in total Schengen visa issuance also masked a sharp change in the type of visas Russians received. Multiple-entry visas, once the dominant form, accounted for 80% of all Schengen visas issued to Russians in 2019.
By 2023, that share had fallen to 49%, or 220,900 visas. In 2024, it dropped again to 41%, or 224,000 visas.
Preliminary figures for 2025 showed a steeper decline, with multiple-entry visas falling to 9-18% of all visas issued to Russians, or roughly 50,000-99,000 visas. From January to March 2026, multiple-entry issuances declined 90% year over year.
The European Commission tightened the rules in November 2025. It restricted new multiple-entry visas for Russians and limited most applicants to single-entry visas tied to exact travel dates.
The policy left room for several exceptions. Close family members of EU residents could still receive visas valid for up to 1 year, while transport workers could receive visas valid for up to 9 months. Dissidents, independent journalists and human rights defenders also fell within the exceptions.
Those changes followed earlier EU action taken in 2022, when the bloc suspended its visa facilitation agreement with Russia. That move raised costs and increased requirements for Russian applicants seeking a Schengen visa.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia went further and banned most Russian tourist entries. Baltic and Nordic countries pressed for stricter policies, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine, but larger member states resisted that push.
The split inside Europe appeared in the visa totals themselves. Larger EU countries continued to issue high volumes, led by France, Italy and Spain, even as the rules around repeat travel and discretionary access tightened.
The Commission circulated updated visa data to EU countries in April 2026 after briefly removing it from the Schengen Barometer. The updated figures added another layer to a debate that had already turned on whether Russian citizens should continue to receive broad access to short-stay travel in Europe.
Data from the previous year had already pointed in that direction. In 2024, Russians filed more than 600,000 short-stay visa applications to EU and Schengen-associated countries, and authorities refused 7.5% of them.
The numbers from 2024 and 2025 together showed two tracks moving at once. EU countries issued more visas overall to Russian citizens, while refusal rates climbed and multiple-entry visas receded, leaving more travelers with narrower permission tied to a single trip and exact dates.
