Travel to Germany 2026: EES, Visas, and What Has Changed When a Visa Is Refused

Since 10 April 2026, a new digital border control system has been in operation at all external Schengen borders. In addition, a remedy that was previously commonly used in visa proceedings has been abolished without replacement. For Turkish nationals who travel to Germany frequently, who conduct business there, or who have received a visa refusal, this brings about practical and legal changes. The following eight questions set out what has actually changed and what now needs to be borne in mind.

1. Since April 2026, there has been a new system at the border. What is the EES, and does it affect me?

Following the phased roll-out of the Entry/Exit System (EES) since 12 October 2025, the EES has now become fully operational at all external Schengen borders as of 10 April 2026. The EES digitally records the entries and exits of third-country nationals staying in the Schengen area for a short stay of no more than 90 days within any 180-day period, regardless of whether a visa is required or not. It therefore also applies to Turkish nationals entering with a Schengen visa. The system replaces the previous manual passport stamp with a digital record of biometric data and border crossings. Those exempt from the EES include, among others, nationals of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, as well as holders of a national visa (D-visa) or of a residence permit for a longer-term stay in Germany. That said, the EES does not change the actual conditions for entry and stay as such. Rather, it serves to document them fully and comprehensively.

2. What exactly happens on entry and what data is stored?

On first registration in the EES, a facial image, four fingerprints, the data from the traveler’s travel document, and the date, time and place of entry and exit are recorded. Children under the age of 12 are exempt from the fingerprint requirement but are nonetheless registered in the EES with a facial image and passport data. Anyone who has already provided fingerprints during the visa procedure, and had them stored in the Visa Information System, does not need to provide them again on crossing the border. In practice, this means that, because of this data collection, the first registration will initially take noticeably longer than the previous stamp-based check. On subsequent border crossings within the retention period, however, the fact that the data is already stored, and can therefore simply be matched, will considerably speed up the process. According to the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI), the retention period is, as a general rule, three years and one day from the last border crossing and can be extended to up to five years where the permitted length of stay is exceeded or the conditions of entry are otherwise infringed. Further exemptions from EES registration may apply, among others, to family members of Union citizens, provided that specific conditions are met.

3. Do I now also need ETIAS?

No. ETIAS (the European Travel Information and Authorization System) applies exclusively to nationals of visa-exempt third countries who are permitted to enter the Schengen area for a short stay without a visa. Anyone who still requires a Schengen visa to enter (e.g. Turkish citizen) falls outside the scope of ETIAS. The visa requirement continues to apply unchanged. At present, ETIAS is not yet operational in any event. It´s launch is currently scheduled for no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2026.

4. Is anything changing about the 90-day rule?

The substance of the 90/180-day rule itself is not changing. Third-country nationals may still stay in the Schengen area for no more than 90 days within any 180-day period. What is new, is that the EES will in future calculate this automatically based on the recorded entry and exit data, rather than this having to be tracked manually from passport stamps, as before. As a result, border authorities will now notice any overstay of the permitted length of stay immediately on the traveler’s next since the system fully documents all previous border crossings within the retention period. Anyone who has so far relied on the assumption that individual days might "go unnoticed" or be difficult to trace should no longer count on this. In practice, anyone who travels frequently on business between Turkey and Germany, or the rest of the Schengen area, should keep their own careful record of their days spent in the area, to avoid overstaying.

5. I apply for visas on a regular basis. Will it now be easier for me to get a visa valid for several years?

Possibly, yes. By decision of 15 July 2025 (C(2025) 4694), the European Commission introduced a so-called cascade rule for Turkish nationals resident in Türkiye who apply for a Schengen visa there. The rule operates as a multi-stage cascade, with each stage conditional both on the lawful use of the immediately preceding visa and on its own separate application deadline:

• The first visa is issued in the normal way, for the intended trip.
• If this is used properly and the follow-on application is made within one year of its expiry, the second visa can be issued as a multiple-entry visa valid for six months.
• If that visa, too, is used properly and the next application is made within two years of its expiry, a multiple-entry visa valid for one year can be issued.
• Following the same pattern (lawful use, plus an application within two years of expiry), a multiple-entry visa valid for three years follows.
• And finally, again subject to the same conditions, a multiple-entry visa valid for five years.

Each stage therefore requires that the immediately preceding visa was used lawfully and that the follow-on application was made within the applicable deadline after its expiry — this is not a blanket threshold along the lines of "two visas used within three years," but a sequential chain of individual approvals, each building on the one before. Professional truck drivers are excluded from this rule, and it does not create any automatic entitlement to a visa. Every application continues to be assessed individually by the competent diplomatic or consular mission. In addition, the validity of the visa may not exceed the remaining validity of the passport and must end at least three months before the passport expires.

6. My visa was refused. Can I file a remonstration?

No. The Federal Foreign Office abolished the remonstration procedure against visa refusal decisions worldwide with effect from 1 July 2025, for both Schengen and national visas alike. The decision is based on a pilot scheme under which the suspension of the remonstration procedure had already been tested at numerous German missions abroad since 1 June 2023. The evaluation of that pilot found that dispensing with the procedure freed up staff capacity that could be used to process a greater number of visa applications. In any event, remonstration was never a formal remedy governed by statute within the meaning of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure; it was merely an informal, internal administrative review that the relevant embassy or consulate offered on a voluntary basis, carried out by the very same office that had refused the application in the first place. Anyone who, following a refusal, still sends a letter of remonstration to the mission today therefore loses valuable time. The mission will, as a rule, no longer respond to it on the merits, while the time limit for the only remaining remedy (legal action) continues to run in parallel.

7. What can I do instead?

Since the abolition of remonstration, the only remaining legal remedy against a visa refusal is to bring an action before the Berlin Administrative Court, which, under Section 52 of the Code of Administrative Court Procedure (VwGO), has territorial jurisdiction over actions against the Federal Republic in visa matters, regardless of which German mission abroad the application was filed with. Since no objection procedure (Widerspruchsverfahren) takes place against a decision of a diplomatic or consular mission, the time limit for bringing an action under Section 74(1), second sentence, VwGO is one month from notification of the refusal decision. The action is brought against the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Foreign Office, and must set out the grounds on which the refusal is unlawful. Alternatively, a fresh visa application with a properly substantiated case and additional supporting evidence may be considered. This can be the more sensible option in particular where the underlying circumstances have genuinely changed since the refusal, or where documents relevant to the decision were missing beforehand. For either route, the refusal decision itself, all documents submitted with the original application, and any further supporting evidence should be available in full.

8. I travel to Germany for business, or I provide services there. Does anything different apply to me?

In essence, the same legal position applies to business travel and to the provision of services in Germany. Turkish nationals still generally require a Schengen visa, and the EES records entry and exit on business trips just as it does for any other short stay. It has long been disputed whether, for certain narrowly defined activities (see Soysal – C-228/06), Turkish service providers may rely on the standstill clause in Article 41(1) of the Additional Protocol to the EEC–Turkey Association Agreement, and thereby be exempt from the visa requirement, to the extent that no corresponding visa requirement existed as at the relevant reference date of 1 January 1973. In practice, the German authorities have so far taken a restrictive approach to this issue, and it is regularly only resolved by the courts on a case-by-case basis. It is not suited to a blanket reliance without individual legal advice. Anyone posting staff to Germany for projects or the provision of services should always have this reviewed separately.

Conclusion

Because of these reforms, travel and business activity between Turkey and Germany have been documented more comprehensively and digitally than ever before, while at the same time legal protection in visa proceedings has been curtailed. Anyone who travels regularly, has received a refusal, or posts staff to Germany should have their situation reviewed early and on an individual basis, before any time limits expire.