Stricter Visa Requirements For Russians in Finland from September

Finland's visa requirements are becoming stricter for Russian citizens. This was announced by Finland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pekka Haavisto, yesterday. This is reported by Yle.

The number of tourist visas to Russians will be limited to 10 percent from the current level. At the same time, it will become easier for citizens of Russia to come to Finland for work, studies and family visits. The new rules do not require any legislative changes and will come into force in September.

The changes in requirements come in the wake of much debate around this summer's tourist traffic to and via Finland to other European countries.

At the time, there are around 1000 Russian visa applications being processed each day, and this number is to be reduced to around 100 a day.

The Finnish Minister of Foreign Affair is also calling for the development of a new, joint EU approach to questions regarding visas for Russian citizens. The topic will be discussed on EU's meeting of foreign affair ministers at the end of this month.