Slovakia continues accepting tourist visa applications from Russians

(MENAFN) Slovakia has restarted processing tourist visa applications for Russian citizens, according to BLS, the company that handles visa services for the country. The BLS website confirms that applications for tourism purposes are once again being accepted in Russia.

Previously, Slovakia only granted visas to specific categories of Russians, such as relatives of EU citizens or legal residents, healthcare and agricultural workers, freight drivers, students, diplomats, and senior officials, RBK reported, citing a Russian tourism industry expert.

Like several other EU nations, Slovakia had stopped issuing Schengen tourist visas to Russians in 2022 after the Ukraine conflict escalated. Countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland also imposed similar bans. Moscow criticized the move, calling blanket restrictions on Russian citizens “blatantly xenophobic.”

Earlier this year, Latvia urged other EU countries to follow its lead and ban Russian tourists altogether, arguing that they pose a security risk to the European Union.

While visa rejections for Russians surged in 2022, the situation has since improved. In 2024, only 7.5% of Russian applications for Schengen visas were denied, compared to 10.6% in 2023. Russians submitted over 606,000 visa requests to the EU last year, according to European Commission figures.

Since his election in 2023, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has taken a more independent stance on EU policy, halting military aid to Ukraine and criticizing the bloc’s sanctions on Russia.

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