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Despite the Dutch authorities easing the visa rules for Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims and promising to prioritise applications filed by this group, only very few people have received a visa to stay with their families in the Netherlands so far.
Lawyers representing earthquake victims from Türkiye and Syria have complained of the processing time taking weeks and have said that the authorities are not revealing data on the matter, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to NL Times, a lawyer said that “sending documents to Türkiye, making an appointment at the consulate, and processing a visa make the whole process take weeks”. The same stressed that of all 40 families he represents, only two of them have received a visa, emphasising that the visa granting rate remains low.
Another lawyer representing more than ten families trying to get a visa under facilitated rules to enter the Netherlands and stay with their family members has also complained about the limited number of visas being granted to Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims.
The lawyer said that he knows of only a family who received Dutch visas last week. The same highlighted that it takes up to a week to make an appointment for the visa and another week for the documents to be sent to those who have applied to obtain the document.
The Netherlands promised earlier in February to ease the visa rules for all Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims who are in need of accommodation and medical help.
Back in February, the Dutch government said it would prioritise visa applications filed by earthquake victims and stressed that all those who obtain the visa would be permitted to stay with their relatives in the country temporarily.
Similar to the Netherlands, some other EU countries, including Germany, have also pledged to ease the visa rules for earthquake victims.
Differently from the Netherlands, which has not shared data on the number of visas granted to Turkish and Syrian earthquake victims, Germany just recently revealed that it had issued over 1,300 visas so far.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Germany had issued 1,333 visas to nationals of Türkiye and Syria affected by the earthquake.
According to the spokesperson, of the total number of granted visas, 1,097 visas have been issued to earthquake victims under the new simplified rules. On the other hand, the remaining part has been issued under existing regulations for family reunification.
Germany is currently using a new procedure aimed at assisting victims of both countries and it requires applicants to submit several documents to be eligible, including proof of address and their passports.
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