Passport holders of Türkiye have once again expressed their frustration about Schengen visa procedures.
Differently from before, when visitors were the main ones complaining, this time, businesspeople have said that they have had enough of the strict visa rules and long processing times, Schengen.News reports.
According to them, the rigorous visa application rules and the lengthy processing times that they have been experiencing in recent years when wanting to reach the Schengen Area countries are having a negative impact on their businesses as well as on the overall relationship between Türkiye and the EU.
The head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, Şekib Avdagiç, is one of the Turkish businesspeople who expressed concern and frustration about the Schengen visa matters.
As Daily Sabah explains, Avdagiç said that the EU is being inconsistent as it wants to reduce the influence of China in the market and, at the same time, continues to keep strict visa rules in place for Turkish businesspeople, making it impossible for them to enter the bloc for the purpose of purchasing machinery for their businesses.
He further stressed that the process of obtaining a visa has become an obstacle for many Turkish businesspeople and, at the same time, said that this is pushing them to look to other countries for their needs.
Same People Are Applying for Schengen Visas Multiple Times Due to Short Validity Periods
Commenting on statements made by the EU authorities where it was said that the number of Schengen visa applications filed by Turkish nationals has increased and that they cannot keep up with such a high number of applications, Avdagiç said that this is not the real issue.
As he explained, Schengen member states are issuing visas with a short validity period. Due to this, the same people are applying for Schengen visas again and again in order to be able to carry out business, causing backlogs.
To deal with such difficulties, Avdagiç suggested that the member states should start granting visas that have a longer validity period instead of one-week visas.
Daily Sabah noted that the president of the Union Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye, Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, also complained about the current situation and urged for the issue to be solved as soon as possible.
He said that once the visa is issued, its validity is irrelevant as those who intend to remain irregularly in the EU will do so even with a one-week validity visa. Taking this into account, he asked for longer-validity visas to be issued for businesspeople.
Source: https://schengen.news/turkish-businesspeople-frustrated-with-strict-schengen-visa-rules-long-processing-times/
