Russian Federation to Germany visa requirements

Russian ordinary passport holders need a Schengen visa before visiting Germany; ETIAS does not replace the visa. Russian ordinary passport holders need a Schengen short-stay visa before travelling to Germany for tourism, private visits or most business visits. Germany is in the Schengen Area, where a short-stay visa allows up to 90 days in any 180-day period across Schengen. The EU-Russia visa facilitation agreement has been fully suspended since 2022-09-12, so the general Visa Code rules apply and Russian applicants pay the standard Schengen visa fee. The European Commission's 2025 visa measures also state that Russian nationals are no longer able to receive multiple-entry visas, meaning a new visa is generally needed for each EU trip unless a narrow exception applies. From 2026-01-01, Russian citizens generally need a biometric Russian international passport to enter Germany; German missions also state that new German visas cannot be issued in non-biometric Russian passports from that date, and VisaMetric stopped accepting non-biometric Russian foreign passports for visa applications from 2025-12-15. Applications in Russia are handled by VisaMetric, the authorized service provider for German representations, and forwarded to the German Embassy in Moscow. Current VisaMetric fees list Russian nationals aged 12+ at RUB 7,290 (EUR 90) plus a RUB 3,160 VisaMetric service fee; St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Novosibirsk submissions also pay a RUB 980 transfer fee. Processing at the German Embassy is generally no more than 45 calendar days after documents reach the mission, but can be extended if additional checks or information are needed.