Number of visa applications at Finnish missions on rise right after pandemic

Within 2022, Finland processed completely 166, 001 visa applications and granted 147, 369 visas. In addition , missions associated with other Schengen countries that will represent Finland processed a few, 698 visa applications in order to Finland. During the pandemic, the numbers of visas applied for and visas granted were lower: 152, 543 visa programs were processed in 2020 and only 59, 141 within 2021. In 2019, Finland processed 895, 679 australian visa applications.
The greatest change in the previous years was the large fall in visas granted to Russian nationals. As a reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022, the Finnish Government issued a resolution in September 2022 restricting the entry of Russian nationals to safeguard Finland’s international relations. Finland cut down significantly tourism from Russia to Finland and the issuing of visas to Russian nationals, in accordance with the resolution.  
Regardless of the restrictions on tourism based on the Government resolution, the highest variety of visa applications to Finland were submitted in Russian federation. Russian nationals submitted 113, 769 visa applications in 2022. Altogether 106, 012 visas were granted to Russians, and only about 4 per cent of the applications were denied. The number of visas granted to Russians has dropped significantly (by about 86 per cent) since 2019. In 2019, altogether 786, 407 visa applications were submitted and 783, 444 visas were granted within Russia, while only 0. 7 per cent of the apps were denied.  
The busiest location for visa applications to Finland is still the Consulate General in St Petersburg with 82, 247 applications, followed by the Embassy within Moscow with 11, 476 applications and the Petrozavodsk Office with 9, 712 applications. The Petrozavodsk Office of the Consulate General in St Petersburg handles visa matters in the Republic of Karelia, representing even Sweden and the Netherlands. The fourth busiest location for visa applications within 2022 was Bangkok along with 8, 638 applications, then New Delhi with 7, 716 applications.
 
The number of visas applied for at Finnish missions abroad are on the particular rise again after the pandemic years. However , the number of visas granted was only about 1 fifth of the number of visas granted in 2019, the year before the pandemic started.
A total of fifty two, 232 visa applications had been submitted and 41, 378 visas were granted in other countries. After Russia, the highest numbers of visa applications were submitted in Thailand (8, 638), India (7, 716) plus Türkiye (3, 848). The best increase in the number of visa applications was in India, where the applications increased by as much as 2, 1000 per cent on 2021. Other countries with a high number associated with visa applications to Finland were the United Kingdom (3, 613), Kosovo (3, 364), Tunisia (2, 342), Indonesia (1, 933) and the United Arabic Emirates (1, 847).

Source