Germany dramatically scales back humanitarian visa programme for Russians and Belarusians

Germany has suspended its fast-track procedure for issuing humanitarian visas to Russians and Belarusians who actively oppose their governments, according to activists campaigning for the restoration of the programme on Thursday.

According to Telegram channel SaveHumVisa22, the programme is to remain in force, but its application is to be “extremely limited”, as it was before the fast-track procedure was introduced in June 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

SaveHumVisa22 said the decision meant Germany would only grant visas in exceptional cases that “resonated politically”, and would also limit the number of visas issued to “several unique cases a year”. Applicants who applied for the programme before the changes were implemented will have to re-apply in accordance with the new rules, the activists added.

The humanitarian visa scheme, which, according to SaveHumVisa22, has helped nearly 2,490 Russian and 410 Belarusian activists, politicians and journalists safely relocate to Germany since March 2021, was initially frozen in late July, sparking an immediate outcry from human rights organisations.

However, the German authorities said in August that the programme would be restored, and that the country would once again allow individuals “particularly at risk due to their activities in defence of freedom of speech, democracy and human rights” to enter the country.

Abandoning the “fast-track procedure” essentially means shutting down the programme, activists from inTransit, a human rights project helping anti-war Russians at risk of persecution to leave the country and apply for humanitarian visas, told German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

“Now there will only be cases involving very prominent people with high visibility — a couple of cases a year. But officials are pretending that the programme still works,” the activists said.