A total of 143,500 visas were granted to Russian nationals by Italy in 2023. This makes Italy the country that issued most visas to Russian applicants, with 93.4 per cent of requests receiving a positive response.
According to data by Schengen Statistics, the number of visa applications filed by Russian nationals has dropped significantly this year, following the EU sanctions introduced after the war in Ukraine, Schengen News reports.
Russian applicants filed a total of 520,000 visa requests in 2023, down by 24 per cent from 687,000 submitted in the previous year.
Poland Had the Highest Approval Rates for Russian Applicants, Although Number of Applications Diped
Around 99.6 per cent of visa applications filed to Poland were granted to Russian nationals, indicating that this EU country has granted the largest share of visas in proportion to the applications.
However, only 257 visa applications were filed by Russians in 2023, showing that the application rates to Poland have decreased significantly. In 2022, Russians filed 2,200 visa applications.
Estonia, on the other hand, rejected most visa applications – with the approval rate being 44.4 per cent. In total 2,800 applications were filed by Russians to this Baltic country.
Italy, as the top recipient of visa applications from Russia, granted around 93.4 per cent of all visa requests, indicating that 134,000 were approved compared to 9,208 visas that were turned down.
Russians Drift to Italy Instead of Spain in 2023
In 2022, Russians’ top destination was Spain, which received 24.2 per cent of all visa requests filed by this nationality. In the following year, Italy became a favourite destination for Russians, although closely followed by Spain.
Spain was the second-largest recipient of Russian applicants, receiving 116,000 requests while the approval rate was 79.4 per cent. France and Germany received 111,000 and 19,000 visa applications from Russians, respectively, granting 89.5 and 78.5 per cent of the requests.
In 2022, Schengen states approved 87.88 per cent of visa requests filed by Russians, accounting for 603,955 issued visas. On average, the approval rate was 84.9 per cent. This has dropped to 82.15 per cent in 2022, with the number of requests approved reaching 448,000.
Countries like Poland, Iceland and Slovakia were more likely to grant Schengen visas to Russians with an approval rate between 93 and 99 per cent. In 2022, Poland and Slovakia are also among countries that grant Schengen visas easily to Russians, in addition to Lithuania which had an approval rate of 96 per cent.
Source: https://schengen.news/italy-granted-most-visas-to-russians-in-2023-surpassing-spain/
