From 30 July 2022 Estonia's Police and Border Guard Board stopped issuing study visas and temporary residence permits to Russian citizens.
From 30 July 2022 Estonia's Police and Border Guard Board stopped issuing visas and temporary residence permits for study to citizens of the Russian Federation. As at 1 August 2022, 218 Russian citizens were studying at the University of Tartu.
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced the measure on 28 July 2022: the government had approved a sanction limiting Russian citizens from applying for temporary residence permits or visas for the purpose of studying in Estonia (https://vm.ee/en/news/citizens-russia-can-no-longer-receive-visas-or-residence-permits-purpose-studying-estonia). The measure was defined by citizenship, without individual designation.
A University of Tartu notice dated 3 August 2022 states that "On 30 July, an amendment to the regulation of the Government of the Republic came into force, restricting Russian citizens from applying for temporary residence permits or visas for studying in Estonia", and that "According to the amended regulation, from 30 July, the Police and Border Guard Board no longer issues visas or temporary residence permits for study to citizens of the Russian Federation" (https://ut.ee/en/content/government-introduced-restrictions-concerning-students-who-are-russian-citizens). According to the same notice, the regulation applies to bachelor's, master's and doctoral study, including Russian citizens who had already completed a bachelor's or master's degree in Estonia and wished to continue.
Students already holding a legal basis to stay - a long-stay visa, a residence permit for study, or the 270-day right to stay after the expiry of a temporary residence permit - could remain until that basis expired, the notice states. The residence permits of students due to complete their studies at an Estonian institution of higher education were extended by one year, but only on application to the Police and Border Guard Board. Minister of the Interior Lauri Laanemets explained that one-year student extension on 11 August 2022, when the government announced separate restrictions on entry and short-stay visas (https://valitsus.ee/en/news/government-limits-issuing-visas-and-entry-estonia-russian-citizens).
The restriction concerned the issuing of new study visas and residence permits. It is distinct from the restrictions on entry and short-stay Schengen visas that entered into force on 18 August and 19 September 2022. The Estonian Ministry of the Interior listed the 30 July 2022 study restriction among the restrictions then in force in a notice dated 5 July 2023 (https://www.siseministeerium.ee/en/news/estonia-maintains-strict-visa-restrictions-russian-citizens).
Section 3.1 of the EMN Estonia Annual Report on Migration and Asylum 2023 records that on 18 May 2023 the government approved a waiver to regulation no. 42 ("Imposition of sanctions of Government of Republic in connection with aggression of Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus in Ukraine"). It allowed citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus who were in Estonia as students, doctors (including dentists) or researchers before 24 February 2022 to apply for a new residence permit if they had passed all necessary Estonian language examinations or completed an Estonian-language curriculum and were proficient in Estonian at least at level B2. Academic staff were exempt from the language requirement (https://www.emn.ee/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/estonia-arm-part-ii-2023.pdf).
The 30 July 2022 study restriction applied to citizens of the Russian Federation only. The same regulation covers Belarusian citizens in respect of employment and business, and the May 2023 waiver applied to both nationalities.
Sources
Where it stands
Not withdrawn: the Ministry of the Interior still listed the study restriction among the restrictions in force on 5 July 2023, and the status of the measure after that date has not been verified against the current text of the regulation. It was narrowed on 18 May 2023 by the waiver to regulation no. 42, and, from August 2022, by the one-year residence-permit extension available on application to students already due to complete degrees in Estonia. Section 3.4 of the EMN report contains a sentence inconsistent with its own section 3.1; only section 3.1 is relied on here.