“Visa Hotline Project” was launched with the aim of determining the difficulties that Turkish citizens encounter during their Schengen visa application process. Within this framework, the project established an analysis of the classification of documents required for the initiation of the visa application process; procedures applied during the visa application process and any other difficulties that Turkish citizens may have to deal with during this process. The project was conducted for a period of two months. It started on November 17, 2009 and finished on January 18, 2010. 
“Visa Hotline Project” has collected and recorded complaints of Turkish citizens in a systematic way. During the implementation period 944 complaints have reached the team via phone, e-mail, mail and fax. The complaints were received from 52 provinces of Turkey, different professions and age groups. The results obtained reveal the seriousness of the problem encountered especially by Turkish academics, doctors, students and housewives and Turkish citizens in general within their Schengen visa application process. Outcomes of the project have been launched within eight main titles along with related examples. During the project, complaints cover all of the EU Member States but the project revealed the most concerned countries as Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Publication Number 231

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