In a letter sent to Parliament, State Secretary for Justice Nebahat Albayrak said from now on official procedure fees for residence permit and extension of residence permit applications by Turkish citizens would be lowered to the same amount required from citizens of EU-member countries, which is 41 euros, the Anatolia news agency has reported.
Albayrak also said in total around 250,000 euros paid by Turkish citizens for said procedures following the announcement of the ECJ ruling would be given back to those citizens, the agency also said.
In a September ruling reached after a Turkish family living in Rotterdam filed a complaint, the ECJ said the high fees asked by the Netherlands from Turkish citizens were “invalid.”
The basis for the court ruling is an agreement signed between Turkey and the then European Community, the Turkish-EC Association Agreement (TCAA), known as the Ankara Agreement. The additional protocol to the Ankara Agreement dated 1973 allows Turkish nationals to set up and run a business or businesses in Britain. The protocol contains a clause, known as the “standstill clause,” which prohibited EU-member states from introducing new rules that would restrict the rights of Turkish nationals as given under the agreement.
The partnership law between Turkey and the EU grants special rights to Turkish citizens, such as being able to take their cases before the ECJ, although Turkey is not an EU-member country.
