Ankara Agreement visa holders in dire condition due to coronavirus

Turks staying in the U.K on the Ankara Agreement visa are in dire condition due to an ambiguity in the routine agreement guideline published by the Home Office, a solicitor and visa holders have told Hürriyet Daily News.

The visa scheme is based on the 1963 Ankara Agreement between Turkey and the European Economic Community, a predecessor to the European Union. The scheme has been in use by Turkish businesspeople and their families who moved to the U.K. to establish new businesses. More than 30,000 Turkish businesspeople entered the U.K. on the Ankara Agreement visa (ECCA businesspersons visa) since 2000, according to the official figures.

As the visa regime is set to expire next year as a result of Brexit, the last beneficiaries of the visa face challenges due to coronavirus pandemic.

A visa holder and solicitor who spoke to the Hürriyet Daily News said that although the emergency financial help package - announced by the U.K. government to ease the economic effects of the coronavirus - does not differentiate between the visa types, Ankara Agreement beneficiaries are afraid to apply to the financial help due to discrepancies in the visa guideline.

"The guideline of the Ankara Agreement is announced - renewed - every March 31 of the year, but in this year's guideline, no reference was given to the pandemic. Thus the beneficiaries, who haven't yet obtained their permanent residence permit, are afraid to apply to the financial help package due to the risk that their visas may get annulled," Semira Dilgil, a solicitor from London, has said.

'Schemes self-contradictory'

Earlier, visa holders were afraid that the emergency financial fund announced by the U.K government would not cover the Ankara Agreement as...