Overview
- From November 7, Russian travelers must submit a new Schengen application for every trip into the European Union.
- The European Commission cites hybrid threats including drone activity, sabotage, migration instrumentalization and potential visa misuse as the reason for tightening rules.
- Limited exceptions apply for close family of EU residents or citizens, certain transport workers, dual EU nationals and, case by case, vetted dissidents, independent journalists and human-rights defenders.
- Officials say the reform is intended to enable tighter checks and ensure uniform application of visa rules across member-state consulates.
- The step follows the 2022 suspension of the EU–Russia visa facilitation deal, which helped cut issued visas from about 4 million in 2019 to roughly 500,000 in 2023, even as some diplomats report approvals had begun to rise; the Kremlin publicly criticized the move.