630,605 Schengen Visas Issued in Russia Amid Post-War Shifts

630,605 short-stay visas were issued by Schengen consulates in Russia across 2025, marking a 14.1% increase over the previous year according to European Commission statistics published on May 28, 2026.

This total represents the second consecutive annual rise in visa issuance since post-invasion restrictions took full effect, though activity remains heavily concentrated among a handful of southern member states. Consulates processed 679,425 applications during the year, averaging roughly 1,700 approvals daily.

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While volume has climbed steadily from the post-invasion trough of 2023, when 459,198 visas were handed out, current figures sit 84.5% below the pre-pandemic peak of 2019, when more than four million travel permits were cleared. Rejection rates also shifted downward, dropping to 6.38% in 2025 from a peak of 10.57% two years prior, falling well under the worldwide average of 14.65%. Out of all submissions, consulates officially refused 42,953 applications.

Year	Applications	Visas Issued	Change in Visas Issued	Visas Refused	Rejection Rate
2019	4,133,100	4,055,698	,	61,863	1.50%
2020	653,764	635,663	−84.3%	16,724	2.56%
2021	536,241	514,655	−19.0%	16,813	3.16%
2022	687,239	604,926	+17.5%	68,753	10.21%
2023	520,387	459,198	−24.1%	54,293	10.57%
2024	606,594	552,629	+20.3%	44,885	7.51%
2025	679,425	630,605	+14.1%	42,953	6.38%

Southern European nations anchor the bulk of these approvals. Italy led all issuing states in 2025 with 163,908 visas, followed by France at 156,814 and Spain at 124,073. Together with Greece, these four countries accounted for 79.9% of all short-stay authorizations issued within Russia.

By contrast, nations sharing direct land borders with Russia processed a tiny fraction of the total volume. Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which collectively handled over a million applications during the baseline year of 2019, issued just 9,433 visas between them through 2025.