(TURKEY) – The European Commission reported on May 28, 2026 that Turkey’s Schengen visa refusal rate rose to 14.6% in 2025, up from 14.5% in 2024, as Turkish applicants remained one of the largest groups seeking entry to Europe.

The figures, published by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, placed Turkey slightly above the global average refusal rate of 14.4% in 2025. Turkish citizens filed 1,268,376 applications, up from 1.17 million a year earlier.

That volume kept Turkey as the world’s second-largest source of Schengen visa applications after China, which recorded 1.8 million. The increase also reinforced a pattern that has drawn attention in Turkey, where demand for travel to Europe remains high even as applicants face stricter screening and mounting costs.

DG HOME said Greece remained the main gateway for Turkish travelers. Greek consulates handled 310,920 applications in 2025, up from 296,377 in 2024, and Greece issued the highest number of approvals for Turkish nationals.

Other Schengen countries produced a more uneven picture. Malta posted a 34.8% refusal rate for Turkish applicants, while Denmark also maintained a higher rejection level, contributing to the overall Turkish outcome.

Of roughly 1 million visas issued to Turkish citizens, 736,556 were multiple-entry visas. That figure showed that many successful applicants still received permission to travel more than once, even as refusals edged higher.

The Commission’s annual release, Schengen Short-Stay Visa Applications Rise in 2025, provided the official count at a time when Turkish access to Europe remains politically sensitive. Turkey has spent years pressing for easier travel terms with the European Union, but visa-free movement has not materialized.

That deadlock persisted in 2026. Turkey still fails to meet 6 of the 72 benchmarks required for EU visa liberalization, leaving negotiations over visa-free travel in a “systemic stalemate.”

The refusal figures carried a financial cost as well. Turkish applicants lost an estimated €13.6 million a year in 2024 and 2025 through non-refundable visa application fees tied to rejected cases.

Appointment shortages added another layer of pressure. Reports in May 2026 described Turkish citizens paying unofficial brokers as much as €1,000 to secure faster visa slots as demand outstripped available appointments.

The pressure around Schengen access sits alongside a tougher climate for international travel screening more broadly. On March 30, 2026, USCIS published Update on USCIS’ Strengthened Screening and Vetting, saying, “Since taking office, President Trump has prioritized national security and public safety by implementing a series of executive orders. that mandate strict screening and vetting of foreign nationals seeking entry or immigration benefits.”

That USCIS notice did not target Turkey alone, but it formed part of a wider set of U.S. actions affecting foreign nationals in early 2026. The language reflected a policy environment in which security reviews and eligibility checks carried greater weight across multiple visa systems.

Earlier in the year, the U.S. government also changed consular operations in southern Turkey. The U.S. Department of State ordered non-emergency personnel to leave the U.S. Consulate in Adana on March 9, 2026 because of safety risks.

The State Department’s Turkey International Travel Information carried the instruction: “The U.S. Consulate Adana has suspended all consular services. Americans should contact the U.S. Embassy Ankara or the U.S. Consulate General Istanbul for consular services.”

That change redirected consular demand to Ankara and Istanbul, two posts that already serve a large share of U.S.-related travel and immigration needs in Turkey. The suspension concerned U.S. consular services rather than Schengen processing, but it added to the sense among travelers that official access points were becoming more concentrated and harder to reach.

Another U.S. measure arrived on January 21, 2026, when Presidential Proclamation 10998 paused immigrant visa issuance for several high-risk countries. The policy aimed to ensure applicants “do not utilize welfare. or become a public charge.”

That proclamation did not govern Schengen visas, which fall under European Union rules, yet it formed part of the same international backdrop of tighter controls. Turkish travelers dealing with European visa procedures in 2025 and 2026 were doing so during a period when major immigration systems on both sides of the Atlantic were leaning more heavily on screening, documentary review and risk assessment.

Turkey’s place in the Schengen system makes those shifts more visible than in many other countries. With more than 1.26 million applications in a single year, even a modest rise in the refusal rate translates into a large number of rejected cases, lost fees and delayed plans for tourism, business, study and family visits.

Greece’s numbers also illustrated how concentrated that demand has become. Its 310,920 Turkish applications made it the leading destination and the leading processor for Turkish nationals, giving Greek decisions an outsized role in the overall Turkish picture.

Malta’s 34.8% refusal rate showed how sharply outcomes can differ from one Schengen state to another. Those national differences matter because Turkish citizens do not apply to a single central European office; they apply through the state that serves as the main destination for their trip, and local consular practices help shape the final result.

The Commission’s figures suggested that stricter outcomes did not reduce demand. Applications rose from 1.17 million in 2024 to 1,268,376 in 2025, keeping Turkey near the top of the global list despite rising rejection costs and appointment bottlenecks.

Multiple-entry approvals offered some relief for successful applicants. With 736,556 multiple-entry visas issued out of about 1 million visas granted, many Turkish travelers who cleared the system received longer-lasting flexibility for future trips.

Yet the refusal rate remained the headline figure in Turkey because it sat so close to the global average while still moving in the wrong direction. A shift from 14.5% to 14.6% was marginal on paper, but it confirmed that the scrutiny Turkish passport holders faced in 2024 did not ease in 2025.

The official data released by DG HOME on May 28, 2026 gave Turkish applicants, travel businesses and policymakers a fresh benchmark for that debate. It showed higher demand, slightly higher refusals, a dominant role for Greece, much tougher outcomes in some smaller states, and a visa regime that continues to shape how Turks reach Europe.