The Turkish visa problem shows no signs of ending

The visa problem is growing increasingly severe.

Schengen visa applications are entrusted to VFS Global.

VFS Global is an Indian company.

More than 100 countries around the world process their visa applications through this company.

Before the pandemic, the American Consulate used to accept between 1,000 and 1,500 visa applications daily.

France was accepting 1,200 applications per day.

Currently, America accepts 300 applications per day, while France accepts 400.

VFS limits individual appointments for agencies and provides appointments through its own company in exchange for 1,000 - 1,500 Euros.

Italy, which used to grant 1,500 appointments daily, now only grants 150.

The situation is the same in the Netherlands and Spain.

The only place where visa procedures were running smoothly was Greece.

Greece handles its visa procedures through the Kosmos visa application center.

While Greece granted 1,500 appointments daily last year, this year it has also started granting only 150.

When the Greek Consulate is asked why they are doing this, they state that it is due to a shortage of personnel to approve visas.

The main issue is the fee charged by the application centers: 50 Euros.

In this situation, visa application companies are not reaching their desired turnover because the number of visa appointments has dropped.

Currently, they are receiving a total of 2,000 visa applications per day.

Their expectation is 6,000.

That is why they have started setting up companies and selling appointments to large firms at exorbitant prices under the table.

The application center for Hungary, Slovenia, and Portugal, As Visa, has reached an agreement with TÜRSAB to authorize only 7 tour operator firms, refusing to accept applications from any other agencies.

In this case, agencies are being victimized.

There are almost no tour operator firms left because they cannot make visa applications.

Visa fees for Schengen are around 250 Euros on average.

America is 400 dollars.

A 10-year visa for the UK is 2,000 dollars.

America has also switched to VFS Global.

For America, they are giving normal appointments for June 2027.

When you get an appointment and qualify for a visa, they charge a shipping fee of 1,010 TL. The amount collected from a family of 4 receiving visas is 4,040 TL. They do not even send them in the same shipment.

The shipping fee charged by Schengen countries is also 15 Euros.

Turkey has become the second country in the world with the most applications to the Schengen area, with 1 million 173 thousand 917 applications, following China.

Visas are currently one of our country's most significant problems.

The visa process used to work without any issues.

The only reason they are causing so many problems for our country in visa procedures during this period is nothing other than the fact that they do not want Turkish citizens to come to their countries.