Finland plans to expand its system of visa centers to southern and central Russia and Western Siberia, YLE reports. The exact locations are to be announced in the near future and the new centers will start accepting applications for visas to Schengen by this summer.
At the current Finland has visa centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Murmansk, Kazan and Yekaterinburg.
The number of visas issued to Russian citizens to enter Finland last year hit a new all-time high of more than 1,3 million. That was 95 percent of all visas issued to Finland world-wide in 2012, BarentsObserver reported.
Murmansk had the sharpest increase among all Finnish visa-offices in Russia last year with a 37 percent growth. 63,488 visas were issued by Finland’s Consulate branch-office, up from 46,364 the previous year. The visa-processing office in St. Petersburg issued for the first time more than one million visas in a year.
