European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Questions & Answers: Third Report on Progress by Turkey in fulfilling the requirements of its Visa Liberalisation Roadmap

This concerns, firstly, the upgrading the existing biometric passports so as to include security features in line with the EU standards. Given the acceleration of the visa liberalisation process, it is objectively not possible for Turkey to have completely fulfilled this benchmark in time. As an interim solution, as of June 2016, Turkey will issue biometric passports with short validity including both the facial image and fingerprints of the passport holders who wish to make use of visa-free travel to the EU. They will be encrypted to International Civil Aviation Organisation standards. By October 2016, Turkey will issue EU standard passports. This solution in any case means that only Turkish citizens with a biometric passport will be able to enter the EU without a visa.