Türkiye, EU to explore ways for visa facilitation

BRUSSELS

Türkiye and the European Union have agreed on searching for new ways and solutions for visa facilitation amid growing challenges Turkish citizens faced through the Schengen visa process, an Ankara and Brussels joint statement has said.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya held talks with EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson at the second Türkiye-EU High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Security in Brussels on Nov. 23.

The Turkish minister drew attention to the escalating visa rejection rates, underscoring the demand for visa facilitation until the completion of the visa exemption process.

“While renewing their common desire to come to a successful conclusion in fulfilling the benchmarks under the Visa Liberalization Dialogue and to intensify cooperation to that end, they will, in the meantime, explore ways on travel facilitation for Turkish citizens through acceleration of visa issuance,” the joint statement noted.

Visa liberalization remains among Türkiye’s top priorities, yet six out of the 72 required criteria are still pending. While the EU openly declares its reluctance to take steps without fulfilling the criteria, Türkiye is actively working on meeting the remaining criteria and ensuring the continuity of the fulfilled ones.

The two sides also exchanged views on their respective policies and actions related to the prevention of irregular migration and discussed common approaches on a number of issues, including border security and the fight against migrant smuggling, the statement read.

The Türkiye-EU meeting also looked at how to enhance the cooperation of their respective migration and law enforcement agencies.

“Parties agreed to meet at the level of technical and senior officials regularly to review the progress on cooperation on the shared interests in the fields of migration and security,” it said.

According to the local media, Yerlikaya highlighted the need to address the root causes of migration, particularly the busting of human traffickers and the illegal migration system.