In Russia, the demand for visas to Europe is growing
In the spring, the interest of Russians in the design of business and tourist visas to the EU countries grew by 10–20% of the year by the year. This is due to the growth of tourism activity and the deferred demand, in addition, trips to Europe become more accessible by reducing the cost of flights. But a limited number of slots for a visa record, their short terms of their validity and France refusal to accept an old -style passport restrain a positive trend.
The demand of Russian travelers for business and tourist visas of the European Union countries in March -April of 2025 increased by 12% by the year, and Continent Express was calculated at the business tourism agency. Director of the Rocket Breecution Service Daria Lukyanova-Zubitskaya talks about increasing the activity of the applicants by 17% of the year in the first quarter of this year. Natalya Volkova, head of the Corporate Department of the Smaching House, recorded an increase of 10% of the year in March. The “Aeroroklub” says that the statements for Schengen visas in the first quarter were more than 20%.
In the visa center of Hungary, Kommersant confirmed the growth of interest from Russians in trips to Europe in January -March 2025. The percentage of approval of applications is high, the non -compliance of documents usually leads to refusals with the requirements of consulates. They also drew attention to the fact that the average term for consideration of documents is three to four weeks. In the visa centers of France, Italy and Spain, Kommersant did not quickly respond.
Travel demand for trips to Europe is increasing.
According to Onetwotrip, the May -August of 2025 on the EU countries accounts for 22% of the total reservation of air tickets abroad against 16% a year earlier. The main amount of reservations falls on Italy (3.3%of all tickets sold abroad), Spain (3.2%) and France (2.9%). The same countries, according to Continent Express, are considered by travelers as priority in the design of visas, considering the most loyal. Natalia Volkova notes that tourists practically fail to get long -term entry permits. More often, according to her, visas are issued under the dates of a trip or for several months.
Yandex Travels notes that the overall tourist demand for European directions remains high, but is determined in many ways to the cost of flights and travel conditions. For example, sales of air tickets to Spain in January -April, according to the service, increased by 19% year by a decrease in tickets of tickets by 14%, to 71.7 thousand rubles. Activity is manifested not only by classic, but also by business tourists: they continue to conduct business with European countries, some companies have retained representative offices, says Daria Lukyanova-Zubitskaya. The “Aeroque club” pay attention to the implementation of the delayed demand. Many travelers have completed the validity of the previously issued visas.
But the activity of the applicants naturally restrains a limited number of recording slots. In the Continent Express, there is now only on the end of June, to Italy – at the end of May, to France for the submission of documents for visiting tourist purposes to France. For Hungary and Spain, there are no available slots in principle. Mrs. Volkova notes that the submission of documents for Schengen visas can now also be carried out within the framework of gray schemes, through employees of visa centers.
At the same time, the conditions for submitting documents are tightened.
On April 23, the Association of Russian Tour operators said that the French visa center will stop receiving five -year -old foreign passports of the old -style. No official statements from the visa center or consulate were made. The presence of restrictions was confirmed by the “kommers” surveyed by tour operators. Trivio reminds that Italy introduced a similar practice in 2024, but after four days the measure was canceled. But in this case, the restrictions, according to the company, can be long -term: information about the recognition of only biometric passports appeared on the website of the European Council. Trivio expects that such a decision will eventually be made by all EU countries.
In the visa center of Hungary, they explained that there is no information about the introduction of restrictions on other EU countries yet. The Managing Director of the Aeroklub company Julia Lipatova says that the measure can affect a large number of tourists, especially those who issued a passport in 2020–2021, hoping to use them for some time. In 2022, the Russians also faced difficulties in registering biometric passports, forced to make an old -style personality certificate.
New passport requirements are not the only tightening that tourists face. Julia Lipatova notes that visa centers can now also demand an extract from the Social Insurance Fund with information about labor activity over ten years, to attach expanded bank extracts. But the expert expects that the demand for Schengen visas will remain. Daria Lukyanova-Zubitskaya also does not exclude that according to the results of only 2025, the demand by 10-15% will exceed last year.
