Marking the 65th anniversary of the 1961 German-Turkish recruitment agreement, NRW Minister-President Hendrik Wüst departed Düsseldorf on 27 September for a three-day visit to Ankara and Istanbul—the first official trip by a premier of Germany’s most populous state to Turkey. The delegation includes 40 company executives from the automotive, green-tech and logistics sectors and representatives of Germany’s sizeable Turkish diaspora business community. Talks in Ankara will focus on speeding up visa issuance for Turkish technicians assigned to NRW’s manufacturing plants—a long-standing complaint of Mittelstand firms facing tight project timelines. Regional officials will pitch a pilot “express service” under Germany’s Skilled Immigration Act that could cut D-visa processing at the German embassy in Ankara from 10 to 5 weeks for applicants sponsored by NRW-based employers. In Istanbul, Wüst is slated to address a German-Turkish Business Forum and witness the signing of MoUs on hydrogen supply chains and start-up incubation. The visit will culminate in the presentation of a “Tolerance and Reconciliation” award to ex-national-team footballer Ilkay Gündogan—an event designed to spotlight NRW’s diversity credentials ahead of the 2027 International Expo bid in Düsseldorf. For corporate mobility managers, the mooted fast-track visa lane—if realised—could become a valuable template for other German states seeking to fill specialist shortages. Companies with operations in NRW should monitor the follow-up working group, which the state chancellery says will meet before year-end to draft eligibility criteria (likely to include salary thresholds and training commitments). The mission also signals renewed sub-national diplomacy at a time when federal-level relations with Ankara remain cautious. Firms sending staff to Turkey should watch for reciprocal facilitation measures—for example, easier residence-permit renewals for German assignees in Istanbul’s tech corridor—that Turkish officials hinted at during preparatory talks.
Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung (dpa)
