Turkish minister denies claims of visa-free special passport expansion

ANTALYA

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat dismissed recent allegations of expanding the scope of Türkiye’s special passport, known as the "green passport," which facilitates visa-free travel abroad, to encompass new professional groups.

For weeks, reports have been circulating that this passport, which is predominantly issued to senior public officials exempt from visa requirements, would be extended to over 15 additional occupation categories. These reports suggested that new legislative measures, expected to pass in the upcoming parliamentary term, would enable at least 800,000 more individuals to obtain a green passport. Presently, approximately 1.2 million people in Türkiye hold such passports.

"Certain professional groups have been claimed to be included in the green passport scheme through social media disinformation," the minister asserted during a meeting with a group of businesspeople in the southern province of Antalya.

"But this is completely false information, we are not expanding the application, we will not undermine the trust in the green passport” Bolat added.

According to the earlier reports, the plan of widespread issuance of these visa-free passports is a countermeasure to the increasing visa rejections faced by Turkish citizens in recent times. However, this move could result in European countries also requiring visas for Turkish special passports due to large use, the media claimed.

Türkiye was the second-largest source of applications for Schengen visas in 2023, with over 1 million visa applications filed, which takes the expenditure level to 84 million euros, according to Schengen.News.

The number of visas rejected for Turkish applicants has tripled, increasing from 35,971 in 2014 to 169,514 in 2023. The share of rejected visas rose from 4.4 percent to 16.1 percent.