Representatives of the European Union countries and the Foreign Ministry of Turkey have held three meetings in Ankara, in order to further ease visa process for Turkish citizens.
According to a report of Hurriyet Daily News, the meetings have been held in order to discuss the steps that should be taken regarding visa facilitation process for nationals from Turkey, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In this regard, embassies have vowed to take further measures in order to solve visa problems.
“We will try to increase the number of our personnel and receive technical support from intermediary visa agencies. We will also open an emergency visa channel, especially for the business world and students,” the embassies in Ankara pointed out in this regard, according to the report.
Following the ongoing meetings held between EU Member States representatives as well as Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs the embassies have stressed that they would increase the number of personnel and also offer solutions for students as well as businesspeople.
Previously, it was reported that Turkish nationals were subject to significant problems with the duration of their Schengen visa applications during their journey to European countries. In addition, it was reported that missions have been considerably postponing the visa appointment dates, thus further making the process more difficult by requesting additional documentation.
A total of 1.2 million visa applications have been received by authorities in European countries, according to ministry officials. Still, the recent data reveals that the number decreased to 200,000 in 2020 during the pandemic, during which period a large number of EU countries closed their embassies or consulates or reduced their personnel in order to prevent an increase in the number of applications.
At the same time, it was reported that the total number of applications this year reached 3.5 million, taking into account also those who did not file an application for a visa for a period of two years and postponed their visit, education, trade and tourism purposes.
Last year, officials from EU and Turkey discussed the visa liberalization process for Turkish nationals. The announcement was confirmed by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Turkey, Faruk Kaymakcı.
The Minister back then added that the visa liberalization process would allow more than 20 million citizens from Turkey to reach European countries for tourism and also get involved in other industries in European countries, including business, and transportation industries. However, such a process has still not been finalized despite continuous attempts taking in this regard.
Source : Schengen Visa
