Schengen Visa Scandal: Bots Snatch Midnight Slots to Sell Them for €1,000 on Black Market
Turkish citizens dreaming of Europe are being pushed out of the system, not only in obtaining a Schengen visa, but now even in applying for one. Firuz Bağlıkaya, the President of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), made some striking remarks based on the Schengen visa data for 2025 recently published by the European Union (EU) Commission. Bağlıkaya revealed that the limited number of appointments are blocked within seconds by bot accounts, and then sold on the black market at astronomical prices.
The 'appointment' crisis in Schengen visa applications is escalating.
The European Union (EU) Commission has released the Schengen visa statistics for the year 2025. According to the report, the number of visa applications for countries in the Schengen area reached 11,934,106, with a visa refusal rate of 14.8 percent.
In 2025, Turkey maintained its position as the second highest country in the world for Schengen visa applications, with 1,268,376 applications, following China. However, while the refusal rate hovered around 14.6 percent, the most striking decrease was seen in the number of applications.
According to analyses by the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), the number of Turkish citizens able to apply for visas to Italy, which is at the forefront of the countries where travel agencies organize the most intense tour programs, plummeted by a staggering 32.3 percent compared to the previous year. Similarly, visa applications to France also showed a decline of nearly 6 percent.
Firuz Bağlıkaya, the President of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies (TÜRSAB), stated that although there was an 8 percent increase in visa appointments for the Schengen area from Turkey in 2025, there was a decrease in the number of visa applications to countries like Italy and France, where travel agencies organize intense tour programs, despite this rise.
"Appointments become available at the stroke of midnight. They are sold at prices that can escalate up to a thousand euros."
Visa appointments have fallen prey to the black market. These appointments, now a commodity in the black market, are occasionally sold to citizens at astronomical prices.
Firuz Bağlıkaya, the President of TÜRSAB, pointed out the existence of a network exploiting loopholes in the system. Bağlıkaya, noting that appointments are uploaded onto the system at the most unexpected times, made the following remarks:
'Appointments are being opened in the middle of the night, on holiday mornings, or on Sundays. Subsequently, these appointments are being sold at prices that can go up to 300, 500, and in urgent cases, even a thousand euros. This situation must be put to a stop.
Due to the current practices, our citizens are being left out of the system without even having the chance to apply for a visa. The limited number of appointments, which are opened at irregular intervals, are also being blocked through the use of bots.'
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