Diplomatic representations of Finland in Russia will consider only 100 applications for tourist visas from all over Russia per day 673w” media=”(max-width: 320px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2), (max-width: 320px) and (min-resolution: 192dpi)” >
< img class="aligncenter" src="https://s0.rbk.ru/v6_top_pics/media/img/7/30/756612436270307.jpg" alt="Finland has reduced the number of tourist visas for Russians" />
On September 1, Finland introduced quotas for the number of tourist visas issued to Russians, reducing the total number of permits to enter the country from 1,000 visas per day to 500. This decision was made by the Finnish government on August 16.
Of these a total of 500 visas per day, only 100 will be for tourists. The remaining 400— for those who apply for a visa for other reasons: work, study, family reasons, etc.
Finland in Russia has an embassy in Moscow, a general consulate in St. Petersburg and its branches in Petrozavodsk and Murmansk. In addition, visa applications are accepted at 22 visa centers in Finland.
In 2019, before the pandemic, Finland was the leader in the number of visas issued in Russia last year among the Schengen countries, the Finnish Foreign Ministry reported. In total, this year, Finnish representations in Russia issued 790,000 Schengen visas, which is 18% more than in 2018. At the same time, 83% of all visas issued were issued in St. Petersburg, their number increased by 19% compared to the previous year.
The issue of the possibility of banning or restricting the issuance of visas to Russians in the European Union began to be discussed after Russia opened its land borders in mid-July. At the same time, Russia does not have air communication with the European Union: it closed the sky for Russian aircraft at the end of February as a response to a special operation in Ukraine. Because of this, the Russians began to use Finland as a transit point to get to other countries of the Schengen agreement, said Jussi Tanner, head of the consular service of the Finnish Foreign Ministry. In total, since the beginning of the year, Russian citizens have submitted almost 60,000 applications for a Schengen visa in Finland, which is more than in the whole of last year, said Jussi Palmen, cultural adviser at the Finnish Embassy in Moscow.
Finnish citizens support the cessation of issuing tourist visas to Russians, according to a Yle survey conducted by the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation in early August. When asked whether Finland should have stopped issuing entry permits to Russian citizens, 58% of respondents answered positively. Quarter— 24%— voted to continue issuing visas to Russians, while 18% found it difficult to answer.
Read on RBC Pro Pro Coffee can go up a lot. What is happening in the market of a popular drink a video game publisher got the rights to The Lord of the Rings p> In addition to Finland, other EU countries have already introduced various restrictions on the issuance of Schengen visas. So, from August 18, Estonia stopped letting Russians into the country with visas that it had issued earlier (but continues to let Russians with Schengen visas obtained in other countries). Poland, Latvia and Lithuania also said they plan to impose restrictions on Russians. On August 31, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland announced that they would consider possible measures to reduce the number of Russians and Belarusians entering these countries, including a ban on issuing visas and crossing borders for those who already have visas from other EU countries.
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