EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement: Provisions for Third Country Nationals Enter into Force

Additional provisions enter into force today under the Readmission Agreement signed by the EU and Turkey on 16 December 2013. As of today, all Member States (excepting Denmark and Ireland, which decided not to join the Agreement) can also request that Turkey readmits irregular third country nationals who entered the EU directly from Turkey. This is in addition to the provisions for readmission of Turkish citizens which have been in force since 1 October 2014. The entry into force of the provisions related to the readmission of third country nationals was initially scheduled for 1 October 2017. At the Summit of 29 November 2015 the EU and Turkey agreed to advance its application to 1 June 2016 in order to accelerate the visa liberalisation process. A full and effective implementation of the Readmission Agreement is one of the requirements included in the Visa Liberalisation Roadmap for Turkey. Today’s entry into force of the provisions related to third-country nationals under the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement enables Turkey to make another step forward towards completing the fulfilment of the requirements under the visa liberalisation process