Tag Archives: Visa

Give us EU visa freedom in October or abandon migrant deal, Turkey says

urkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu speaks during a news conference with the Adviser to Pakistan's Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs,

By Michelle Martin and Humeyra Pamuk

BERLIN/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey could walk away from its promise to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe if the European Union fails to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a German newspaper.

His comments in Bild’s Monday edition coincide with rising tension between Ankara and the West following the July 15 failed coup attempt. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch in which 240 people, many of them civilians, were killed.

Europe and the United States have been worried by the crackdown following the coup. Some Western governments are concerned this could affect stability in the NATO member and suspect that President Tayyip Erdogan is using the purges as an excuse to quash dissent.

Asked whether hundreds of thousands of refugees in Turkey would head to Europe if the EU did not grant Turks visa freedom from October, Cavusoglu told Bild: “I don’t want to talk about the worst case scenario – talks with the EU are continuing but it’s clear that we either apply all treaties at the same time or we put them all aside.”

Visa-free access to the EU – the main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in choking off an influx of migrants into Europe – has been subject to delays due to a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism legislation, as well as Ankara’s crackdown.

Brussels wants Turkey to soften the anti-terrorism law, which Ankara says it cannot change, given multiple security threats which include Islamic State militants in neighboring Syria and Kurdish militants in its mainly Kurdish southeast.

European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has said he does not see the EU granting Turks visa-free travel this year due to Ankara’s crackdown after the failed military coup.

Cavusoglu said treaties laid out that all Turks would get visa freedom in October, adding: “It can’t be that we implement everything that is good for the EU but that Turkey gets nothing in return.”

A spokesman for the European Commission declined to comment on the interview directly but said the EU continued to work together with Turkey in all areas of cooperation.

THOUSANDS DETAINED

Selim Yenel, Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, said last week that efforts were continuing to find a compromise with the EU on visa liberalization and he thought it would be possible to handle this in 2016.

Since the coup, more than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended. Turkish authorities blame the failed putsch on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.

Amid rising tension with the West, Turkey has sought to normalize relations with Russia, sparking fears in the West that Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin might use a rapprochement to exert pressure on Washington and the EU and stir tensions within NATO.

Asked if Turkey would leave NATO, Cavusoglu told Bild that while Turkey remained one of the biggest supporters of the 28-nation Western alliance, it was also looking at other options.

“But it’s clear that we also need to cooperate with other partners on buying and selling weapon systems because some NATO partners refuse to allow us to sell air defense systems for example or to exchange information,” he said.

Over the weekend, Turkey summoned Austria’s charge d’affaires in Ankara over what it said it was an “indecent report” about Turkey on a news ticker at Vienna airport.

“Turkey allows sex with children under the age of 15,” read a headline on an electronic news ticker at the airport, images circulated on social media showed.

In a statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry said it was “regrettable” that an international airport at the heart of Europe was used as “a tool … in spreading such irresponsible, twisted and inaccurate messages”.

It said the publication of such “slandering” news reports were encouraged by recent comments from Austrian politicians.

Cavusoglu this month referred to Austria as the “capital of radical racism” after Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern suggested ending EU accession talks with Turkey.

(Additional reporting by Julia Fioretti in Brussels; writing by David Dolan; Editing by Paul Carrel and Richard Balmforth)

EU makes it easier to suspend visa-free travel amid immigration worries

A barbed wire is seen in front of a European Union flag at an immigration reception centre in Bicske

By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union ministers on Friday backed making it easier and faster to suspend visa waiver with third countries and said relaxing travel rules for more states was not imminent amid deepening public concern about immigration into the bloc.

The EU is in politically sensitive talks with Ankara on easier travel requirements for Turks seeking to visit Europe for up to three months and with no right to work.

The 28-nation bloc is planning the concession as part of a deal whereby Turkey helps curb the influx of migrants and refugees to Europe. But some EU states are anxious about opening up to a mainly Muslim nation of 79 million people.

To assuage such concerns, the EU is beefing up a mechanism that allows it to suspend visa waiver with any of some 60 countries that have such agreements in place. The plan, endorsed by 28 EU interior ministers on Friday, enjoys backing in the European Parliament, which must sign off on it as well.

“Visa liberalization has great advantages for the EU and third countries,” said Klaas Dijkhoff, migration minister for the Netherlands, which now holds the bloc’s rotating presidency.

“Yet we need… to make sure that visa liberalization cannot be abused. I’m pleased that we agreed today on a mechanism that makes it easier to act against abuse.”

As well as Turkey, the EU is currently working on lifting visas for citizens of Ukraine, Georgia and Kosovo. Countries which already enjoy such travel benefits include Japan, the United States, South Korea, Venezuela, Israel and Canada.

NO MORE VISA LIBERALIZATION SOON?

German interior minister, Thomas de Maziere, said the EU should not grant visa-free travel to more countries until the suspension mechanism is in place. His French colleague, Bernard Cazeneuve, said more relaxed travel rules for the four countries were not a matter “of the coming weeks and months”.

Dijkhoff said the 28 ministers agreed that the four candidates must meet all criteria given to them by the EU to enjoy visa-free travel and that, while they were capable of eventually doing so, that was not the case yet.

In proposing extending the EU visa-waiver program to the four countries, the bloc’s executive European Commission said Ukraine, Georgia and Kosovo had already fulfilled their requirements, while Turkey was due to meet them by end-June.

But diplomats from EU states differ on whether that is the case, with most agreeing though that at least Georgia has done its homework in full.

Visa liberalization for Turkey, a key puzzle in the broader migration collaboration, has now been pushed back to July or, more likely, the autumn, sources told Reuters.

The new safety mechanism cuts to two months from six now the period after which a country can seek to suspend visa-waiver if it sees a sharp rise in overstays, asylum requests or readmission refusals from a non-EU state that has had travel rules relaxed.

The changes would apply to the countries of Europe’s free-travel Schengen zone, which comprises most EU states and several non-EU ones, such as Norway. Britain and Ireland are not part of the Schengen area and would not be affected. Immigration is a top issue in Britain’s June 23 vote on whether to leave the EU.

(Additional reporting by Tom Koerkemeier, Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Capitol Hill Lawmakers Trying to Use Social Media Profiles in Visa Reviews

Lawmakers say they’re drafting new legislation that would tighten up the visa screening process and give officials the power to review an applicant’s social media profiles in background checks.

The House Judiciary Committee is currently working on the proposed bill, officials said Monday.

There has been widespread call for United States visa program reform in the wake of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 more wounded in San Bernardino, California.

FBI officials have publicly said that the shooters, Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook, were discussing jihad and martyrdom over the Internet in 2013, yet Malik was still allowed to enter the United States on a fiancee visa after these conversations. Malik was living in Saudi Arabia when she met Farook, a United States citizen living in California, on an online dating website.

President Barack Obama has called the shooting an act of terrorism.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia) specifically mentioned the San Bernardino shootings in a statement announcing the proposed legislation, saying that more could have been done to check Malik’s background — including checking her social media pages.

ABC News reported that U.S. officials had a policy not to review applicant’s social media profiles during visa background checks because there were concerns about civil liberties. The news agency reported that immigration officials pushed early last year for social media profiles to be included in background checks, particularly as foreign terrorist organizations used social media to spread their message, but Homeland Security officials ultimately decided against a policy change because they feared there might be a negative public perception if a switch was disclosed.

Homeland Security’s social media posting policy is now under review, ABC News reported. While some pilot programs to review postings are in place, it’s still not a widespread practice.

In his statement, Goodlate mentioned published reports saying that Malik “posted her radical views on social media prior to obtaining a visa, yet it seems that the Obama Administration’s policies may have prevented officials from reviewing her account.” The proposed bill would now require officials to review social media profiles in background checks, as well as other changes.

“As terrorists continue to adapt and evolve in order to carry out their heinous plots, we have a duty to strengthen the security of our immigration system so that we keep bad actors out of the United States,” Goodlatte said in the statement, adding the bill would be introduced soon.

House Overwhelmingly Votes to Tighten Restrictions on Visa-Free Travel

The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to impose new restrictions on travel to the United States, which bill proponents said is designed to prevent terrorists from lawfully entering the country.

The bill, approved by a 407-19 margin, is geared to reform the United States’ Visa Waiver Program, which allows eligible citizens from 38 participating countries to travel to the country for 90 or fewer days without first getting a visa from a United States embassy or consulate.

The list of countries includes Belgium and France, according to the State Department. Those countries were the home of many of the terrorists who executed the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. The legislation is designed to close a loophole that, theoretically, could have allowed any one of those Belgian or French terrorists from entering the United States through the Visa Waiver Program.

The Associated Press reported about 20 million travelers visit America through the program every year. There are some security measures in place, but this bill aims to improve them.

The changes would now require the 38 participating countries to “continually share terrorism and foreign traveler data with the United States,” according to a news release from lawmakers.

“It will also disqualify anyone who has traveled to Syria, Iraq, Sudan, and Iran within the past five years from participating in the program,” Rep. Candice Miller (R-Michigan), the lawmaker who introduced the bill, said on the House floor. “In an abundance of caution, we will now require those individuals to apply for a visa and go through the formal visa screening process.”

In the week before the vote, the House’s Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Michael McCaul (R-Texas), said about 5,000 of the 30,000 foreign fighters currently in Iraq and Syria have Western passports that could have been used to exploit the Visa Waiver Program loophole.

Other proposed changes to the program are geared toward reducing passport fraud.

They include requiring the participating countries to report lost or stolen passports within 24 hours, and screen travelers against INTERPOL records. The changes would also require U.S.-bound travelers to hold chip-enabled “e-passports” like those issued by the United States.

The bill would allow Homeland Security officials to suspend a country’s visa waiver privileges if they don’t comply with the proposed rules, like not sharing information about potential threats. They could also block any country from the program if the country is later determined to be a “high-risk” area in security reviews that would be conducted annually.

“We need to be certain that participating countries are giving us all the information we need from either their own terror watch lists or travel manifests and that the information protocols are being shared,” Miller said on the House floor. “As we know, sometimes it’s not until after the fact that some of the participating countries actually provide us names of individuals who they knew were a terror threat. That is unacceptable.”

Though it was approved by the House, the bill still needs Senate approval and must be signed by the president before it becomes a law. Lawmakers have introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

Miller also called for a “complete, comprehensive review of all our visa programs,” including the fiancee-visa that allowed one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, California, mass shootings to lawfully enter the country. Tashfeen Malik was a Pakistani native living in Saudi Arabia when she met Syed Rizwan Farook, a United States citizen, reportedly on an online dating website.

Last week, the couple killed 14 people and injured 21 more during a party for Farook’s coworkers. The mass shooting has been called an act of terrorism by President Barack Obama, and authorities say they have evidence that the couple had been radicalized for a period of time.

The investigation into the shootings continued on Wednesday.