Ankara Anlaşması, also known as ECAA Visa with Turkey, is a specific visa type designed for Turkish citizens to be eligible working and living in the UK as a self-employed status. Given to the nature of the visa, ECAA has always been bonded with European Immigration laws in the UK as it stands for “European Community Association Agreement”.
After the vote for Brexit, many concerns started to arise regarding the continuation of the visa, whether the Brexit vote would block new Turkish visa applicants’ way to the UK. Although many different scenarios were propounded by different parties, on 20 September 2016, an official statement from the Home Office and Turkish Consulate London clarified the scenario(s) that may affect the prospect of ECAA visas.
According to the press release sent by the Turkish Consulate London, the ECAA team and Turkish Consulate members sat down as a part of their biyearly meetings, the teams met to discuss and clear the air on some speculations that wonder around.
“The process will resume”
Referring to the concerns of the future of Ankara Agreement, the ECAA team said that the normal procedure shall carry on operating unless an unexpected/extraordinary scenario appears. ECAA Team also clarified that until the very certain exit from the EU, the applications will be considered as “normal”.
As for the agreement’s situation for the long run, the authorities said currently the Brexit vote hasn’t and won’t affect the ECAA visas at the moment, however it was said that it may be early to make an exact comment upon what happens after the Article 50 is triggered.
Clearing the air by stating that Brexit has no effect on the examination of applications, ECAA Team stated that there are several reasons why the expectants may be waiting a little too long or seeing their applications resulting in failure.
One of the biggest reasons of refusals was stated as not having the sufficient amount of money for start-ups. The ECAA Team suggested that the future applicants must read the terms of rules of the procedure and make sure they are meeting with the right amount of investment around legal structures.
The second common obstacle was about the applications who are extending their stays for 3 more years (also known as the “second application” or “3 senelik” in Turkish). ECAA team remarked the importance of tax payments and giving their “interim account” details.
The third common trouble was stated as the applications not having authorised translations in the papers, meaning that any legal document that is sent must be translated into English by chartered and registered authorities.
ECAA authorities also stated that although maximum length of waiting phase is for 6 months, the team reassured Turkish authorities that they strive to finalise application results within 6 weeks now.
Turkish Consulate London also expects any concerns, comments or questions to be shared with the ECAA Team via e-mail. For those who would like to get in touch with regards to ECAA Visa applications can contact the Turkish Consulate London at legaladviser@turkishconsulate.org.uk or londra@csgb.gov.tr.