Registration for filing documents to obtain a Schengen visa for Russian citizens has grown more difficult due to the rise of automated bots that scrape appointment slots and demand 4–7.5 thousand rubles for access. This is the finding of Kommersant, citing participants in the travel market.
Yulia Otvagina, vice president of the visa and immigration department at Continent Express, notes that these bots continuously monitor visa center websites, repeating the search task every minute and effectively blocking legitimate registration attempts.
Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Russian Travel Industry Association, pointed out that the extra load created by these bots compounds the existing limitations on available appointments and pushes visa demand higher.
Industry insiders told Kommersant that problems with registration are most acute when applying at the French visa center in Moscow, and at visa centers in Italy and Spain. Russians may also encounter similar automated interference when seeking visas to Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the United Arab Emirates. As a result, the process can stretch to six months or longer.
According to Kommersant, bot services are promoted on specialized travel forums and advertising sites. Access to French visa centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg is advertised for about 7.5 thousand rubles, with regional offers around 4 thousand rubles. Comparable services have been observed on the Avito platform. Nikita Kulikov, founder of ANO PravoRobotov, explained that customized bots are developed and sold on the DarkNet.
Industry experts advise travelers to begin visa applications as early as six months before planned travel when possible and to consider using VIP lounges in regional offices or designated visa centers to improve chances of securing appointments.
Earlier in 2022, Russian tourists faced travel restrictions and lost access to a number of destinations, highlighting the broader impact of these scheduling disruptions on travel planning and international mobility.