Schengen is narrowing for Russians, and a backup plan is best built before 2027

In brief

• Since 6 November 2025 Russians applying in Russia as a rule receive single-entry visas. Multiple-entry visas remain only for close relatives of EU citizens and for transport workers.
• In 2025 Russians received 477,878 tourist Schengen visas. Ministers of several EU states called this a failure of common policy and demanded new restrictions.
• The EU is preparing binding visa measures in the Visa Code. Ministers want the proposals tabled as soon as possible.
• 15 of 29 Schengen states already refuse the five-year passport without a chip.
• A second passport or an EU residence permit takes months. It is worth starting in 2026, while you still have a visa and entry.

What one trip costs

"I used to forget I even had a visa" - I hear this at meetings all the time. Let us take an example of what has changed. Say a family of four: two adults, two children. Before 2022 they held multi-year multiple-entry visas: the sea in summer, mountains in winter, a short spring trip to see friends. The visa was background noise.

After 2022 multiple-entry visa terms began to shrink. Since November 2025, when applying in Russia, the visa is as a rule issued for a single trip. Every trip now starts with a visa centre appointment, an employment letter, statements, bookings and a wait of up to 15 days, sometimes 45.

Do the maths. Four trips a year for a family of four means 16 applications, 16 consular fees of 90 euros, 16 visa centre service fees and at least four days lost to queues and paperwork. And every time there is a chance of refusal, after which the next application only gets harder.

Such a family is not moving and does not want to. They need something else: for a holiday in Europe to be a holiday again, not a project. That is exactly who a backup plan is for.

What has already changed

In short: in four years the EU ended visa facilitation, stopped recognising some passports and almost removed multiple-entry visas for applicants in Russia.

The EU took its first step in September 2022, when the Council fully suspended the visa facilitation agreement. Russians lost the reduced consular fee, the shorter document list and predictable timelines. Consulates gained wide freedom to refuse.

Targeted decisions followed, each hitting the same spot. In May 2023 passports issued in occupied territories stopped being recognised. In November 2025 the European Commission changed the multiple-entry visa rules for applicants in Russia. A one-year multiple-entry visa now goes only to spouses, children and parents of EU citizens and of Russians legally resident in the EU, and only after three correctly used visas in two years. Drivers, seafarers and train crews get one for nine months. Everyone else gets a visa for a single trip.

What this means for you. Every trip to Europe now starts with a new application. The more trips a year, the more the lack of a second document costs you.

What Brussels is preparing

Update of 13 October 2026. On 14 October the Council Visa Working Party will discuss issuing LTV visas to Russians for tourism and other non-essential travel: such a visa is valid only in the states written on it. Germany's proposal for a unified restrictive approach will be discussed too. Germany opposes a full visa ban; on 12 October Finland asked partners to stop tourist visas and accepted LTV visas only as an interim measure. What this means for travel and why residence permits are not affected is explained in "LTV visas for Russians".

In short: binding visa measures against citizens of a hostile state. For now these are ministers' demands and technical work, not law.

In January 2026 the Commission adopted the first EU Visa Strategy. It contains an idea that did not exist before: the Union should be able to impose binding visa measures on a state that behaves in a hostile way.

On 8 June 2026 ministers of several EU states issued a joint statement. They called the 477,878 tourist visas issued to Russians in 2025 a major shortcoming of common policy and demanded three things: binding restrictions in the Visa Code, the multiple-entry ban extended to all Russians wherever they live, and entry closed to former combatants. The ministers want the legislative proposals tabled as soon as possible.

In October 2026 the European External Action Service confirmed that technical discussions on stricter visa checks are already under way. The specific measures still have to be agreed with the member states.

What this means for you. Today this is a discussion, not a law. But in the EU laws are written after statements like these, not before them. I would not count on the subject fading away.

Why I look at 2027

In short: EU laws take months, and a second passport or residence permit takes three months to a year. The two timelines add up.

EU visa rules do not change in a week: a Commission proposal, a Council position, a vote, a transition period. If the proposals are tabled in the coming months, the first binding measures can realistically appear in 2027. Perhaps later. Perhaps softer than the ministers want. But in four years the direction has not changed once.

There is a second reason. A second passport or a residence permit is not arranged over a weekend. Source of funds checks, archive documents, biometrics, processing times: from the first call to the document in hand takes from three months to a year. Whoever starts in 2027 after the news will be gathering documents in the queue with everyone else.

I am not urging anyone to leave and I promise nothing about dates. I am saying a simple thing: plan B is cheapest while you do not need it. Today most of our clients have a valid biometric passport, a visa history and calm time to prepare. In a year any of these three may be gone.

Sergey EvdokimovManaging Partner, BRIDGES

How our clients decide

Among those who come to us about Schengen, three typical scenarios emerge.

• "I need Europe without a visa." Entrepreneurs and families who travel three to six times a year. They need a second passport with visa-free Schengen access. The choice has narrowed: Caribbean passports are under EU pressure, Vanuatu's visa-free access is suspended. That is why so many questions now concern Argentina, which opens applications in Q4 2026.
• "I need to live in Europe." Families with school-age children and those moving a business. They need a residence permit. Some countries do not accept first applications from Russian citizens, so a second passport is often the first step towards European residence rather than a replacement for it.
• "Just in case." People who need Europe once a year but do not want to wake up one day without options. A biometric passport, a clean visa history and a ready document package that can be started within a week is enough for them.

None of these scenarios requires leaving. All three require one thing: starting before it becomes urgent.

What a backup plan is made of

In short: a second passport with visa-free Schengen access, an EU residence permit, or at least a biometric passport and a ready document set.

A backup plan does not mean moving. It is a document that keeps your access to Europe and to banks whatever is decided about the Russian passport. The options differ in price and in purpose.

• A passport with visa-free Schengen access. The most direct answer to visa restrictions. Argentina opens applications in Q4 2026, and its citizens travel to Schengen without a visa. Caribbean passports give visa-free access today, but the EU wants these programmes wound down by 1 June 2028.
• A residence permit in an EU country. It lets you live in Europe and travel in Schengen without a visa. For holders of a Russian passport only, the choice of countries has narrowed; with a second citizenship it is wider.
• A biometric international passport. The basic step. 15 Schengen states already refuse the five-year passport, and applying anywhere with it makes no sense.

What this means for you. First decide what you need from Europe: travel, living or banking. The answer tells you whether a second passport is enough or a residence permit is needed.

When to start

In short: now, while you have a visa, a travel history and time.

While you have a valid visa and a travel history, any documents come together more calmly: consulates see a bona fide traveller, not someone trying to beat a deadline. This also applies to EU residence permits, where your visa history is read during the review.

• Check the passports of the whole family. If even one is a five-year passport, replace it with a biometric one.
• Collect documents that do not expire: birth and marriage certificates with an apostille.
• Prepare source of funds evidence. This is the longest part of any programme.
• Compare two or three options on price for the whole family, not for one applicant.
• Start in 2026 so that by 2027 the document is already in your hands.

What this means for you. If the document is never needed, you spend time on preparation. If it is needed and you do not have it, you lose Europe for years.

Costly mistakes

• Waiting for an official ban. When a ban is announced, demand for programmes will multiply, and so will queues and prices. Those who started earlier will already hold the document.
• Applying for a visa with a five-year passport. 15 Schengen states do not recognise it, and a refusal on formal grounds spoils the visa history.
• Choosing a passport on price alone. A cheap passport without visa-free Schengen access does not solve the problem it is bought for.
• Forgetting the family. Getting a second passport for one person and leaving children and parents "for later" is the most common and most expensive mistake. Adding relatives later is almost always slower and costlier.

What this means for you. A backup plan works only when it is complete: for the whole family, with a clear purpose and with documents obtained before they became scarce.

What to do now

• Do not wait for news of a ban: EU decisions take months, and documents take even longer.
• Replace five-year passports with biometric ones.
• Define the goal: travel, living in the EU, banking.
• Choose an option and start preparing in 2026.
• After obtaining a second citizenship or a residence permit, notify the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs within 60 days.

How this material was prepared

Prepared by Sergey Evdokimov, Managing Partner at BRIDGES. EU decisions were checked against Council and Commission documents and the joint ministerial statement of 8 June 2026 on 11 October 2026. Timing estimates and client scenarios are from our practice.

• Suspension of the visa facilitation agreement - Council Decision (EU) 2022/1500 of 9 September 2022.
• Multiple-entry visa rules for Russians - Commission Implementing Decision of 6 November 2025.
• EU Visa Strategy - European Commission, January 2026.
• Number of tourist visas and the ministers' demands - joint statement of EU ministers of 8 June 2026.
• States refusing the five-year passport - European Commission list of travel documents.
• Argentine programme - official announcement of the Government of Argentina of 2 October 2026.
• Views on timing and preparation - our practice.
• All facts checked on 10 October 2026.

Related: the five-year passport and Schengen, visa-free travel on Caribbean passports, Argentine citizenship by investment, Vanuatu passport and Greek residence.