Changes to German humanitarian visa policy put anti-war Russians at risk

Since 2022, nearly 2,500 Russian citizens have received humanitarian visas allowing them to live and work in Germany. However, after the program facilitating their migration was significantly scaled back this summer, an untold number of applicants now find themselves in limbo. In at least 50 cases, visas were approved before the policy change was announced, but since the documents were not affixed to the recipients’ passports before the switch, they suddenly find themselves subject to a review under new rules.

A representative of the NGO Horizons told The Insider that the number of applicants who find themselves “stuck” due to the German government’s decision is in the hundreds.

“In total, more than 400 applications have been submitted to the German Foreign Ministry by various evacuation and aid organizations. The processing of these applications has been suspended due to the current situation. More than 50 people received approval for a visa but did not have time to get it issued. We are currently developing a strategy to support protest-minded Russians. The French humanitarian visa program is still functioning, so we will be directing people there instead.”

The coordinator of another aid organization, InTransit, noted that the French humanitarian visa program differs from the German one, making it inaccessible to some applicants:

“At the moment, according to estimates by aid organizations, some 300 people are stuck, having applied for a German humanitarian visa and still awaiting a response. A significant number have been waiting for a decision for a year, while others have been waiting for six months. Around 50 of them received visa approval before the suspension of the program but submitted their passports to German embassies after May 2025. They still haven’t been issued their visas — their passports are being held at the embassies, with no progress in sight.”

In addition, several Russian-language Telegram channels have claimed that emigrants living in North Rhine–Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, and Berlin are facing cancellations of their appointments with migration offices. The stories assert that such migrants would not be able to extend their residence permits “until a new decree is adopted” after Dec. 31, 2025. Similar reports have also appeared in relevant chat groups.

However, as the Berlin Immigration Office (LEA) told The Insider, the process for obtaining an extension for a humanitarian residence permit has not been meaningfully altered. The only change of note involves some bureaucratic services being transferred to an online format, making it possible for residency permit extension applications to be submitted through a mobile app. Nevertheless, for those seeking to receive a humanitarian visa for the first time, the process has indeed become fraught. The de facto suspension of the issuance of humanitarian visas — which are offered to Russians as well as citizens of Belarus, Turkey, Iran, and other countries — was announced this past summer. A notice appeared on the Interior Ministry’s website declaring a freeze on all humanitarian admission procedures. According to human rights activists, by then, no humanitarian visas had been issued for around two months.

Later, Green Party MEP Sergey Lagodinsky announced on Facebook that the “moratorium on issuing humanitarian visas” had been lifted. However, as human rights defenders explained at a dedicated press conference on Oct. 1, the fast-track humanitarian visa program for Russians and Belarusians — under which most applicants from these countries had received their visas — has been closed for good. Although humanitarian visas have indeed continued to be issued, their number has plummeted. According to German outlet Das Erste, only three humanitarian visas were issued between the time the “freeze” was lifted and early October, and they are now granted only in “exceptional cases,” based on criteria that are not publicly available.

Germany introduced the fast-track humanitarian visa procedure for Russian citizens in May 2022 — after the start of the war in Ukraine and amid conditions of intensifying repression in Russia. Under the program, individuals who were persecuted in Russia for their political or civic activities and who had professional ties to Germany could receive permission to enter the country, receiving a residence permit valid for up to three years (renewable as long as the danger in their home country persisted). The permit gave them the right to work and granted them access to health insurance, social housing, financial assistance, and integration courses. The program differed from political asylum in that applicants had to remain outside the European Union while their cases were being considered, but the waiting period was much shorter — usually a few months instead of several years. Unlike refugees, holders of humanitarian visas retained the right to use Russian consular services and to retain their Russian passports. Over the course of the program, 2,490 people from Russia made use of it. Representatives of the German Interior Ministry explained the decision to close the program by citing an “overload of reception and integration systems.”

As the InTransit coordinator explained, the struggle to find a safe haven for anti-war Russians continues:

“We are continuing our advocacy campaign — both for the 50 people who have already received approval, in an effort to secure visa issuance for them, and for cases deemed particularly significant among those who have applied later. However, no new approvals for German humanitarian visas have been issued since May. Our colleagues from other organizations are not aware of a single precedent of a new visa approval. So far, the relevant authorities have not signaled any movement on the issue.

For those unwilling to wait, we offer assistance in reapplying for French or Polish humanitarian visas, and we are actively submitting such applications. However, these types of visas differ significantly from the German humanitarian visa. Applying for a French humanitarian visa, for instance, is suitable either for people who can support themselves financially in France — which is not the cheapest country — or for those facing political or criminal persecution and are eligible for the political asylum process in France. The same applies to the Polish humanitarian visa, with the added limitation that Poland’s program is open only to journalists and human rights defenders, while asylum applications are currently suspended due to the high volume of requests.

Since a large number of applicants are now being redirected toward the French program, we can expect significant queues and longer processing times there as well. Overall, assistance with evacuating and relocating people under criminal prosecution or at high risk of persecution has become even more difficult than before, while legalization has turned into an extremely lengthy and complex process with no predictable timelines or guarantees of a response. We are facing a situation of complete uncertainty: right now, no one can say whether Germany will approve any humanitarian visas in the next six months, whether the French program will be able to shoulder the additional burden, how many people it will take in over this period, or how much longer all these applicants — currently in unsafe countries and facing growing daily risks — will have to wait.”