Germany Working Overtime to Process Visa Applications Filed by Turkish Nationals, Ambassador Says
The German ambassador to Ankara, Jürgen Schulz, has said that Germany’s representative offices in Türkiye are working overtime in order to process as many visa applications as possible.
The number of Schengen visa applications filed by Turkish nationals started to increase significantly as soon as the Coronavirus measures were dropped and for this reason, the waiting and processing times were prolonged.
However, according to Schulz, now the representative offices of Germany in Türkiye have started to even work on weekends in order to be able to process visa applications as fast as possible, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“Germany’s representative offices in Türkiye are working overtime, sometimes even on weekends, to process a very large number of applications as soon as possible,” the statement of Schulz reads.
Daily Sabah explains that Schulz also stressed that the relevant authorities are also working on finding solutions to cut the waiting time.
The statement of the German ambassador on the efforts that his country’s representatives are making comes not long after the Turkish ambassador to Germany said that Schengen visa-related problems are harming the bilateral ties between the two countries.
The Turkish ambassador to Germany, Ahmet Başar Şen, said earlier this month that if the two countries fail to find solutions for the Schengen visa problems, the bilateral ties between Germany and Türkiye might get harmed.
Şen decided to make such a statement as according to him Turkish nationals continue on facing the same issues as before when it comes to applying for a German Schengen visa.
Saddened about the ongoing situation, Şen further noted that the rules applying to Turkish nationals are unfair and at the same time pointed out that the freedom of travel is blocked because of political reasons, suggesting that Turkish nationals are meeting all the requirements when applying for a visa.
Except for calling the German authorities to be fairer, Şen also required that Germany start issuing multiple-entry visas and said that he expects less strict visa practices for students as well as business people.
Turkish nationals have been facing Schengen visa problems for some time now, not only when planning to reach Germany but other European Union countries too.
Schengen Visa Statistics show that Türkiye registered the highest rejection rates in 2021. Back in 2021, Turkish nationals lodged around 971,700 Schengen visa applications, of which 6.4 per cent were rejected. Such a high rejection rate represented an increase of ten per cent compared to 2017.
>> Turks Travelling To Europe – EU Entry Requirements For Turkish Citizens
