Bordering Europe through categorization Implementing, mediating, and navigating the Schengen visa regime in Türkiye

The Schengen visa regime governs short-stay mobility into Europe by categorizing travelers as either visa-free or visa-required, and further sorting applicants into categories of trustworthy and risky. Yet the production of these categories does not happen in policy documents alone; it unfolds through the everyday practices of consulates, visa application companies (VACs), and applicants themselves. This dissertation examines how applicant categorization is implemented, mediated, and navigated within the Schengen visa system, using Türkiye as its empirical site, one of the largest centers of Schengen applications and the only EU candidate country whose citizens remain visa-required. Drawing on fifty-four interviews with visa applicants, consultants, VAC employees, NGO representatives, and state officials, alongside eighty-eight official documents, the study reveals three interlocking dynamics. First, state authorities assess applicants through institutionalized risk indicators including travel history, migration risk, professional status, and family ties, while emerging algorithmic tools, illustrated by the Dutch case, show that nationality and gender further stratify access. Second, VACs function not as neutral intermediaries but as gatekeepers and gateshapers: they regulate access to consulates through emotional labor and performances of indifference, and alter applicants' chances of approval or rejection through documentary guidance or risk flagging. Third, applicants engage in categorization struggles of their own, strategically constructing credibility through document selection and mobility narratives. Together, these findings advance a practice-oriented account of European bordering, demonstrating that mobility hierarchies among prospective travelers are not simply legislated but continuously produced and contested through routine bureaucratic encounters.

Keywords: European Borders, Categorization, Risk, Schengen Visa, Türkiye