Cyprus will start charging Russians for the issuance of Tourist Visas as of December 1st

Russian citizens applying for tourist visas will no longer be subject to easier procedures, according to Cypriot authorities.

Beginning on December 1, 2022, the country will begin charging Russians who apply for tourist visas, according to the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the new regulations, which will go into effect in a month, Russian passport holders who are presently free from paying visa fees will have to pay €80 when applying for a tourist visa.

Only adult applicants will be charged the full amount of €80; minors between the ages of six and twelve will only be required to pay €40.

Following the complete suspension of the visa facilitation agreement by the Council of the European Union, Cyprus decided to impose tourist visa fees for Russians. The EU Council announced earlier in September that Russian citizens will henceforth be subject to the general rules of the visa code.

The agreed decision increased the charge for Russians applying for visas from €35 to €80, and it went into effect on September 12, 2022. The decision also necessitated the submission of extra documentation.

Additionally, Russian nationals applying for visas in an EU country that has suspended their visa facilitation arrangement, such as Cyprus in this case, may have longer wait times and stricter rules for the issuance of multiple-entry visas.

While some countries have only recently begun to impose strict regulations on Russian visa applicants, others have stopped giving Schengen visas and have outright banned Russian citizens.

Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic are among the European countries that have entirely closed their borders to Russian tourists.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the four EU nations that border Russia, were among the first to stop giving visas to Russian citizens and now forbid their entry. The foreign ministers of these countries stated that they made the decision to enact measures on the shared ground of defending public policy, internal security, and the security of the Schengen area.

Agnė Bilotaitė, the interior minister of Lithuania, had previously urged all other EU members to follow the Baltic States' and Poland's lead and forbid all Russian visitors from entering their countries. BilotaitBilotaitė emphasized that by implementing restrictions, the EU member states should show a strong backbone to this issue.

By fLEXI tEAM