Turkey: US Embassy confirms limited visa processing

By Meltem Bulur

ANKARA

U.S. missions in Ankara and Istanbul on Wednesday confirmed that they have resumed limited processing of all non-immigrant visa services, with priority to special cases.

"Pleased to confirm limited resumption of ALL non-immigrant visa services in Ankara and Istanbul with priority to students, medical, humanitarian travel," the U.S. Embassy in Ankara posted on Twitter.

The announcement is another sign of the waning of a nearly month-long bilateral row.

The row was sparked on Oct. 8, when the U.S. Embassy announced the suspension of non-immigrant visa services to Turkish nationals. That move followed the arrest of a local employee at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, prompting a tit-for-tat response from Ankara.

Metin Topuz, a long-standing consulate employee, was arrested over alleged ties to the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, the group behind last year’s defeated coup attempt in Turkey.

This Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Turkey announced visa applications were again being processed on a limited basis at its diplomatic missions in Turkey.

Following the U.S. move, Turkish missions in the U.S. also resumed processing visa applications of U.S. citizens at its diplomatic and consular missions in the U.S., also on a “limited basis.”