Last week, two stories became known about the troubles awaiting Russians in the process of obtaining a visa to EU countries. The first story is about a targeted hunt by telephone scammers for tourists who applied to the visa application centers (VC) of the Schengen countries, the second is about waiting for a visa to a European country for more than a year, which ended in nothing.
One business newspaper estimated that after the abolition of the simplified visa regime with Europe in 2022 and the increase in consular fees from 35 to 90 euros, Russians overpaid 5.8 billion rubles for Schengen visas in three years (2022-2024). In total, more than 11 billion rubles were paid. In 2024 alone, more than 500,000 visas were issued.
Such financial activity could not but attract telephone scammers, and they began to purposefully call citizens who had submitted documents to the EC of EU countries. Where scammers have access to citizens’ personal data is an unanswered question (hopefully so far). Callers introduce themselves as employees of embassies or visa centers and address applicants with questions under the pretext of clarifying information on the application. Then everything goes according to a well–known scheme: the tourist is offered to confirm the requested invoice with a “simple electronic signature” – to name the code from the SMS. This is where applicants should be wary, because the messages come from unexpected services. For example, AN-Tourism received messages from recruitment agencies and shoe stores, although the scammers presented themselves as employees of well-known delivery services.
Next, fake notifications begin to arrive on the victim’s phone, allegedly from “Public Services”: about logging into the account, uploading personal data, and later about the power of attorney issued. They also urge you to call back if the user has not performed these actions. If the person does not call back, the scammers call themselves with an offer of various “help”, which will surely end in a real loss of money if you follow the recommendations of the scammers.
We remind you that consular staff can indeed contact visa applicants (AN-Tourism has never received a call in 15 years with a long visa history), but they never ask for any SMS codes or verify their identity, because they call the phone number left by the applicant.
The “hero” of the second story is VC VFS Global, the official partner of the Irish Embassy in Russia. Note that Ireland is a member of the EU, but it is not a member of the Schengen Agreement, i.e. they have their own national visa (fees of 102 euros for a single-entry visa and 142 euros for a multiple-entry visa). So, this VC managed to set an anti-record in terms of visa processing times: it took a couple of applicants from Russia more than a year to return their passports and at the same time … without visas. The story was shared by one popular profile Telegram channel: subscribers of the channel applied for an Irish tourist visa in June 2024, having paid all the required fees. In August 2024, the applicant sent a question about the terms of the review to the post office of the EC of Ireland, to which a short answer followed.: “There are no deadlines for consideration in Ireland.” After waiting for three more months, in November 2024, when all the travel dates had already expired, a request was made for the return of one passport without a visa (temporary, the applicants still hoped to receive something). The Central Bank of Ireland returned one passport.
In March 2025, the applicants requested the status of the application, because it had already been 9 months since the filing, and one of the passports was still under “consideration.” The Irish visa application center did not respond to these requests in any way, but after several letters, the Visa Application Center nevertheless responded and returned the second passport after 13 months without a visa. The applicants note that the paper clips used to attach additional photos to the passports at the time of submission remained in their places. There is an opinion that both applications did not even begin to be processed, they were just lying motionless in the Irish consulate all this time.
But the most interesting thing began after this publication – several more subscribers who found themselves in a similar situation wrote to the channel’s editorial office. The Telegram channel notes that these applicants, when they began to ask about the terms of consideration, were told that “there are no terms for consideration,” and other categories of visas, not tourist ones, were being considered first.
Other visa news
The European Union has finally (well, so they say, although the launch dates have already been repeatedly shifted from the originally planned 2023 year) named the launch date of the new entry / exit system (EES): October 12, 2025. Full implementation will take 180 days (until April 9, 2026). Since EES is an automated biometric procedure, we are interested in how the system will interact with Russian non–biometric 5-year passports. So far, it is claimed that entry into the EU with such documents will be possible, of course, except for those countries that no longer recognize them. There are currently seven such countries: Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, France, the Czech Republic, and Estonia.
We have already written about the “Arab Schengen” of the Persian Gulf countries, which they promise to launch soon, but now there is news about the “Asian Schengen”, which is promoted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes 9 countries. As in the case of the “Arab Schengen”, almost all the countries of the Asian association are visa-free for Russians, but the trend is interesting.
The first penalty for premature lifting
The law, which has been in force in Turkey since May 2025, according to which passengers can be fined up to $70 for standing up, unbuckling their seat belts or opening luggage racks before the plane stops completely and the “Fasten your seat belts” board turns off, has received its first application. It happened on a Pegasus Airlines Sofia – Istanbul flight. According to Turkish media, the passengers on this flight ignored the sound warnings and, getting up from their seats, tried to pick up their hand luggage from the luggage racks, despite the flight attendants’ requests to stay in their seats. As a result, a police squad was called on board, and penalties were applied to passengers who violated the rules.
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Negative Telegraph
Kamchatka. The Ministry of Tourism of the Kamchatka Territory told about the restrictions on visiting natural attractions. At the moment, the following territories are closed to the public: Dangerous Canyon, the foot of Mutnovsky volcano, Gorely volcano and the extrusion (rock massif of unusual shape) Camel at the foot of Avacha volcano. It was also decided to cancel the mass ascent of the Avacha volcano on August 16 (it was included in the celebration of Volcano Day).
Sochi– Trabzon ferry. The launch of the ferry service between Sochi and Trabzon, Turkey, has been postponed again, now indefinitely. The reason is a new presidential decree that tightened the procedure for foreign ships entering Russian ports. Now this requires a special permit, agreed with the FSB. Previously, such restrictions were in effect only in areas bordering naval bases.
Turkish Airlines. The airline has banned the transportation of “smart” suitcases with non-removable lithium batteries. “Smart” suitcases are understood to have the functions of charging external devices, weighing, digital locks, GPS trackers, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc. Now they cannot be carried either in hand luggage or in luggage. If the passenger disconnects the battery and takes it with him as a carry-on, then he will be allowed to check in his luggage. In this case, the battery must be transported in its original packaging or in special packages. The rules were introduced in accordance with the recommendations of the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority on the use of portable batteries. The reason for the ban was the recent case of an Asiana Airlines plane that was deployed to the departure airport due to a passenger dropping a powerbank between the seats.
The Positive Telegraph
Ufa – Chelyabinsk. Russian Railways has launched a high-speed train “Swallow” between Ufa and Chelyabinsk. It takes about 9.5 hours to travel one way from the starting point to the final destination. There are about the same number of passing fast and passenger trains with compartment, reserved and SV cars. Tickets to the Swallow are cheaper, but she makes a lot of stops along the way.
Russian Railways has launched automatic ticket purchase from the “Waiting List”. Now passengers do not need to monitor notifications: the system itself will debit money from the linked bank card and issue a ticket as soon as it appears on the desired train. The user must first specify the trip parameters and the maximum amount they are willing to pay. Previously, the algorithm was as follows: when there were empty seats, the system froze them and sent a signal to the passenger, after which two hours were allocated for the purchase of tickets. The new functionality is currently available only on the company’s web portal and works for long-distance trains.
THE DPRK. A direct flight from Moscow was met at Pyongyang Airport. The flight was performed by Nordwind Airlines on a Boeing 777-200 from Sheremetyevo Airport. The flight has already returned to Moscow, and they plan to continue flying once a month. The Federal Air Transport Agency noted that in case of an increase in demand for tourist and business trips, the frequency of flights may increase.
Flynas. A low-cost airline from Saudi Arabia has completed its first flight between Riyadh and Moscow. In the first phase, Flynas will operate flights on this route three times a week. Next, Flynas plans to expand its flight program to Russia, including other cities.
Moscow air hub. Fines have been imposed in the Moscow region for illegally offering taxi services at airports. Their amount will be 5 thousand rubles for individuals, 20 thousand rubles for officials and 50 thousand rubles for legal entities. These rules will apply at airports located in the Moscow region: Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky.
Southeast ASIA. The Prime Ministers of Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire agreement. On July 24, military clashes and mutual missile strikes began between Thailand and Cambodia over the disputed border area. Amid the escalation, Thailand has completely closed the border and imposed martial law in eight districts.
Bulgaria. The country’s parliament approved the transition to the euro on January 1, 2026. It will take place in several stages. August 8 – October 8, 2025: all stores must introduce double labeling of prices, as well as indicate prices and the total amount in BGN and euro in receipts. Until December 31: it will still be possible to pay for purchases only in Bulgarian leva. January 1 – February 1, 2026: stores will accept both levs and euros, but the change will mainly be given in euros. From February 1: purchases can only be paid in euros.
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Источник: argumenti.ru
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