Turkish Consulate says Ankara agreement business visas are now being handled in just four months
Applications by Turkish nationals wanting to work in the UK are being handled faster than ever before, officials have said.
Under European Union rules, Turkish nationals are entitled to bypass all existing visa regulations and set up businesses in the UK – at no charge.
It takes an average of four months for the Home Office to process applications under this so-called Ankara agreement, according to figures given to the Turkish Consulate by Home Office officials.
The arrangement, popularly known as the Ankara agreement, has proved popular with people wanting to start a new life in Britain. It is formally known as the European Community Association Agreement with Turkey.
The four month period compares to processing times in excess of six months just last year.
A statement by the Consulate welcomed the faster turnaround times, which were revealed during a meeting held with the Home Office on 28 April.
It said they had also raised the contentious matter of passport retention with Home Office officials.
“We underlined the importance of switching to a procedure that swiftly returns passports to applicants before their application is processed – particularly to those who have to travel for work,” the statement said. It added that Home Office officials had noted the request.
A common complaint voiced by Ankara agreement applicants has been visa officials holding their Turkish passports for months on end, preventing travel to other countries and depriving them of a vital document for identification.
The Home Office had not responded to a request for comment as Londra Gazete went to press on Wednesday evening.
MORE VISA APPLICATIONS
Immigration lawyers have previously accused the Home Office of having no idea how many Turkish people are working in Britain under a notorious free visa arrangement.
The UK Border Agency, the Home Office body that previously handled visa applications, had told Londra Gazete in 2012 that 22,115 applications were made under the arrangement in the previous five years.
But in a fresh release of data last year, the Home Office claimed just 3780 applications had been made in the last decade.
KC Law director Hakan Camuz told Londra Gazete at the time that he believed the latest figures from the Home Office were too low.
“We witnessed how thousands of Turkish applications kept waiting until 2008 suddenly had to be processed,” he said.
“The European court’s ruling led to an explosion in applications, particularly from those who entered the country illegally.”
