By Anthony Marcus for Eurasia Business News, November 8, 2025. Article no 1889

The European Commission has introduced a ban on issuing multiple-entry Schengen visas to Russian citizens residing in Russia, effective in November 2025. Russian nationals must now apply for a new single-entry visa for each trip to the EU. This policy aims to allow closer and more frequent scrutiny of applicants due to increased security risks linked to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, including sabotage, migration weaponization, disinformation, and espionage threats.

Exceptions to this ban include:

  • Close family members of Russians legally residing in the EU and family members of EU citizens, who may receive multiple-entry visas valid for up to one year.
  • Transport workers (e.g., sailors, truck drivers, train crew) can receive multiple-entry visas valid for up to nine months.
  • Those with unquestionable reliability and integrity, such as dissidents, independent journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society representatives, may also be granted multiple-entry visas on a discretionary basis by member states.

The new rules are not retroactive—they apply only to new visa applications—and do not affect Russians holding EU citizenship or residency. The decision builds on earlier EU measures like the suspension of the visa facilitation agreement with Russia in March 2022 and restrictions on Russian-issued travel documents from occupied Ukrainian territories.

The EU foreign policy chief emphasized that traveling to and within the EU is a privilege, not a right, amid ongoing drone disruptions and sabotage blamed on Moscow. The number of visas issued to Russians has notably declined from about 4 million before the Ukraine war to roughly 500,000 in recent years, reflecting the EU’s increasingly restrictive stance.

“Traveling to and freely moving within the EU is a privilege, not a given,” said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, former Prime minister of Estonia (2021-2024) and strong critic to Russia.

In summary, the EU’s ban on multiple-entry Schengen visas for Russian citizens residing in Russia represents a significant tightening of visa policy driven by security concerns tied to Russia’s military aggression and associated risks on EU soil, while allowing limited exceptions for humanitarian and security-cleared cases.

Advertisements

Our community already has 175,000 readers, joins us !

Subscribe to our Telegram channel

Follow us on Telegram, Facebook and Twitter

© Copyright 2025 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1889