Switzerland Restricts Schengen Visas for Holders of Russian Passports in Occupied Georgian Regions

Switzerland has decided that individuals from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine and Georgia cannot obtain a Schengen visa as well as cross the external Schengen border with travel documents that have been issued by Russian authorities.

The Swiss Federal Council decision of August 16 2023 says that passports, identity cards, and permits issued by Russian authorities residents of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia occupied by Russia after August 26, 2008, will not be accepted for a Schengen visa.

“Russia declared in August 2008 that it officially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. Very few states have done so, and Switzerland considers these regions as integral parts of Georgia,” the Federal Council said, explaining its decision.

Switzerland also has clarified that it will still grant visas for specific purposes, such as humanitarian cases, to individuals from Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine and Georgia, despite the imposed restrictions.

The decision not to accept Russian documents issued in Russian-occupied regions in Ukraine and Georgia was adopted by the Council of the European Union in December of last year. The decision specifically said that “travel documents of the Russian Federation (Russian travel documents)” issued in the annexed Crimea and the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as “in the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia which are not under the control of the Georgian government”, are not recognized “or are in the process of not being recognized by Member States, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.”

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