EU to ease Schengen visas for Turkish citizens with clean travel records

The European Commission has finalised and distributed a new framework to EU member states aimed at simplifying and expediting Schengen visa procedures for Turkish nationals, Turkish Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat announced on July 18.

According to Turkish media, cited by Caliber.Az, Minister Bolat outlined the long-standing challenges Turkish citizens have faced in acquiring Schengen visas, highlighting how restrictive practices in recent years have burdened students, academics, businesspeople, and professionals such as engineers, technicians, and transporters. 

He emphasised that Ankara has consistently raised this issue with EU authorities.

He pointed to the latest round of negotiations, held on July 1 in Ankara as part of a high-level Turkey-EU trade dialogue, where Turkish officials again pressed the case for visa facilitation.

“At these talks, representatives of the European Commission informed us that they had prepared a new mechanism to speed up and simplify the issuance of visas, and that it would be published in the near future,” Bolat said.

He confirmed that, as of yesterday, the European Commission had officially completed the new document and circulated it to EU member states.

According to Bolat, the new procedure introduces a phased system allowing for multiple-entry, long-term Schengen visas. Turkish citizens who have previously held visas, travelled regularly to the EU, and returned to Türkiye without any violations will be eligible for increasingly extended visa durations: initially for up to six months, followed by one year, then two years, and potentially up to three and five years in the later stages.

By Tamilla Hasanova