Visa centers in Russia

Tourism in Russia

Main article: Tourism in Russia

List of visa centers in Russia

• Spanish Visa Application Centres
• VFS Global
• PVS of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia - Passport and Visa Service

Chronicle

2023: Reduction in income of centers issuing visas to other countries

At the end of 2023, four out of five visa centers in Russia serving European countries recorded a decrease in revenue. The observed trend is primarily due to the current geopolitical situation. This is stated in a report released on April 10, 2024.

According to RBC, in 2023, income decreased from VMS (works with the Italian Embassy), VisaMetric (Germany), BLS International (Spain), TLScontact (Great Britain and Switzerland). Only the VFS Global visa center, which serves embassies of more than 20 states, including Hungary and France, increased revenue somewhat. The deterioration in financial performance is associated with restrictions imposed by the European Union, and with the complicated transport links between Russia and European countries.

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VMS (Visa Management Service LLC) revenue in 2023 amounted to 337.2 million rubles, which is 12.9% less than the result for the previous year, when 387 million rubles were received. In turn, VisaMetric (Vizametrik LLC) showed a reduction in revenue on an annualized basis by 40.7% - from 141 million rubles in 2022 to 83.5 million rubles in 2023. The BLS International Visa Center (BLS International Services LLC) faced a fall in receipts by 41.1% - from 262.2 million rubles to 154.3 million rubles. TLScontact (TLSkontakte (RU) LLC) revenue for 2023 fell by 12.5%, amounting to approximately 261.8 million rubles.

At the same time, the VFS Global Visa Center (ViEf Services LLC) in 2023 demonstrated revenue at 1.3 billion rubles. This is 14.1% more than in the previous year, when the company received about 1.1 billion rubles. At the same time, according to the results of the pre-pandemic 2019, the center's revenue amounted to 4.4 billion rubles.^[1]

2022: Revenue growth

In 2022, travel opportunities for Russians sharply decreased - flights were stopped to almost all countries, and Europe some of them banned Russians from entering on tourist visas. Despite this, the income of visa centers has only increased compared to previous years. It affected the fact that during the coronavirus pandemic there COVID-19 were even fewer opportunities for travel. The publication writes about this on May 3, 2023. RBC

In 2021, there was still a relatively low base. People received visas, but there were no flights, the flow was meager. Therefore, such dynamics are most likely due in part to this factor, as well as the influx of those wishing in 2022, - said Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

VFS Global, which works with embassies of 28 countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, France, etc., grew the most revenues. At the end of 2022, the operator's revenue amounted to 1.13 billion rubles, compared with 0.9 billion rubles a year earlier. Nevertheless, this is four times less compared to the pre-pandemic 2019, when the company earned 4.35 billion rubles in Russia.

VMS, serving the Italian Embassy in Russia, almost doubled its revenue, from 0.212 billion rubles to 0.387 billion rubles in 2022. VisaMetric Visa Center, serving the German embassy, increased revenue by 74% to 0.141 billion rubles. The revenue from the BLS International visa center working with Spain increased two and a half times - from 0.099 billion rubles to 0.262 billion rubles. The top five leaders with an indicator of 141 million rubles were closed by VisaMetric (Vizametrik LLC), which serves the German Embassy.

Visa centers, as explained by the general director of the Da Tours travel agency Lilia Feoktistova, charge a fixed fee for their services. The increase in turnover is caused by a number of factors, said Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry, including an increased demand for visas and VIP services.^[2]

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