Visas

With the rising Schengen visa problems experienced by Turkish citizens, a Turkish man from Istanbul will be unable to attend his own wedding in Germany due to the rejection of his application, local media has reported.

Complaints about the Schengen visa, which is required for Turkish citizens to enter European Union member countries, have increased recently.

The Netherlands is not against Bulgaria's entry into Schengen, but expects more progress from the country on the terms of accession. This was stated by the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to Bulgaria's National Television in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, where the Council of Europe summit was opened yesterday.

Will you support Bulgaria for Schengen?

Today, the European Commission presented a new report on the state of the Schengen area, in which it once again expresses its support for the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen by the end of the year, BTA reported.

More than 700,000 Turkish citizens applied for Schengen visa in 2022, placing the country in the first place among the countries with the highest number of visa applications.

Türkiye surpassed Russia in the number of applications and pushed it back to second place for the first time in history, according to the Schengen Visa Statistics data released last week.

Within the framework of the visit to Austria, Deputy Prime Minister for Public Order and Security and Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev held a meeting with his colleague Gerhard Karner, Federal Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Austria. The emphasis in the talks was placed on the recent positive resolution of the issue of Bulgaria's Schengen membership.

Kosovo citizens will be able travel freely to the EU's passport-free Schengen zone by the start of 2024 after European Parliament members approved the removal of the visa regime on Tuesday.

Kosovo passport holders will be able to travel to the EU without visas for 90 days in any 180-day period.

After Austria decided to extend checks on its internal Schengen border yet again, the Italian home affairs minister has assured his Slovenian counterpart Italy is not planning to impose controls on its border with Slovenia despite having declared a state of emergency due to a surge in migrants.

The last border checks in Croatia have been abolished after the country's accession to Schengen.

Internal border control at Croatian airports for flights from member countries of the free movement area was lifted.

Bulgaria will be the subject of a new report summarizing the country's achievements since 2019, when the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism was terminated. This new report should show progress on the rule of law.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer received Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte yesterday in Vienna to discuss the topic of migration. Austria and the Netherlands opposed in December the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area and, it seems, continue to be on the same wave, the Romanian information site "Ziare" commented today, quoted by BTA.