According to data obtained by Euractiv, Russian citizens submitted more than 670,000 applications for Schengen visas in 2025, which is 8% more than in 2024. The EU countries have issued over 620,000 visas, which is 10.2% higher than in the previous year.
77% of all visas issued to Russians (over 477,000) were tourist visas. This is 8.4% more than in 2024. France, Italy and Spain accounted for almost three quarters of all applications.
France received the largest number of applications from Russian citizens (an increase of 23%). The number of visas issued by this country has increased by almost 30%. According to official data for 2019, more than 56,000 Russians live in France.
Source: Euraktiv
