NRW Prime Minister Wüst announces visa relief for Turkish business people

It's day three of Hendrik Wüst's trip to Türkiye. Right at the beginning, the NRW Prime Minister was surprisingly received by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his palace in Ankara. Wüst then met with cabinet members and members of the opposition.

The CDU politician honored the ex-captain of the German national soccer team Ilkay Gündogan with an order of tolerance. In the evening, Wüst sailed across the Bosporus with Gündogan and invited guests from culture and society. And now it's about economics, economics, economics.

On Wednesday, Wüst spoke at a conference with entrepreneurs and managers from North Rhine-Westphalia and Turkey - and took the opportunity to make a special announcement: visa relief for business people.

"Long and complex visa procedures have slowed down the cooperation between our companies for years. The fact that more Turkish companies will be able to plan their business activities in Germany more reliably in the future creates the basis for new investments and closer partnerships," said Wüst. The easing of visa procedures for business people is “a strong sign and an important step for economic relations between North Rhine-Westphalia and Turkey”.

According to Politico, the whole thing was carefully prepared over the past few weeks and months - the CDU-led Foreign Office obviously left it to the North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister to be the first to deliver the news. Within the federal government, the processes surrounding the issuance of visas for Germany are the responsibility of Wüst's party friend and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.

Turkish business people should get the green light for business trips to Germany more quickly and easily - the existing business fast track procedure for particularly trustworthy companies will be expanded. Around 400 companies can currently use the process. So far the number of applications is around 10,000 annually.

In the past there had often been complaints from the Turkish side about bureaucratic hurdles and long waiting times. The German visa offices in Ankara and Istanbul are considered overloaded.

In the fast-track procedures it works like this: a decision is made immediately, quickly after the applications have been received; fewer documents would have to be submitted, ideally within a week. Application form, travel health insurance and invitation from business partners in Germany are sufficient. Employees of companies that are members of the DEIK business association should now also be able to benefit from the express procedure. However, the prerequisite is a clear connection to Germany.

Deepening economic relations between North Rhine-Westphalia and Turkey was a key goal of the Wüst trip to the Bosphorus. The mutual trade volume amounts to up to twelve billion euros per year. On the sidelines of the North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister's visit, the focus was on declarations of intent for cooperation, particularly in the areas of tourism and energy.