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Directorate General of Migration Management - Experiences?

 
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2015 10:15 pm    Post subject: Directorate General of Migration Management - Experiences? Reply with quote

Hey everyone, so I just read that this has finally started to deal directly with applicants as of the 18th of this month, May 2015. As many of us are getting ready to renew our residence permits at the end of this summer, I was wondering if anybody had any experiences to share or knew of others' experiences. I was really liking having to deal with the local police stations here in Istanbul, but I'm cautiously optimistic about the creation of this new government body.

Here's where I found the information online:
http://www.expatguideturkey.com/residence-permits/
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2015 9:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, so here are the changes I could gather so far from the link I posted as well as from the actual website where you sign up (https://e-ikamet.goc.gov.tr/), which surprisingly has quite a lot written in English. Please don't take my word for it, and research everything yourself. Also, please correct any mistakes I've made in describing information from the two links or from your own, practical experience.

1. It seems that in at least some situations, you have to do your application online then mail in your documents within 30 days. If some documents are missing, you have to send them in within 10 days. I don't like this because I prefer speaking with a person face-to-face, finding out what I need immediately, then getting it done with a week or two.

2. The time limit within which you’ll receive your residence permit after completing an application is now longer. Rather than your residence permit card arriving from Ankara within 30 days of your applying at your local police station, as was my last experience, it seems that it'll arrive within 90 days, which significantly increases the time period. As it seems more centralized, they'll probably be expecting a large amount of applications, and I can only assume, being that I've been here in Turkey for some time, that they're not adequately prepared to handle that load, which means I expect potentially even more delays.

3. To add, instead of receiving a paper that can be used to exit and enter the country during the interim period between your tourist visa or residence permit expiring and waiting for the first or next residence permit card to arrive, nothing will be provided. This means you're pretty much just stuck in the country in a limbo sort of situation. If you leave, you may pay fines and/or be banned from coming back to the country for a certain amount of time. This is a most terrible change that is extremely illogical and impractical.

4. This government body will probably be stricter about the bank statement. I heard some people were able to use currency exchange slips during this past year after the law changed because it makes sense that a foreigner can't open a bank account without already having a residence permit card (another Catch-22 in the process). There are some exceptions such as certain branches of Kuveyt Türk Bank. Anyways, you were able to pay the currency exchange place something like 20-40 TL to have them print a fake form saying that you have enough money in USD as cash to survive here for a year as a tourist. However, I don't expect them to be making this exception anymore.

5. It seems that the amount expected to be in the bank account per month has also increased, although it says it's different based on each location. I think Istanbul will probably be the maximum since it seems to be the most expensive county here. Instead of 500 USD available in a Turkish bank account per month for the residence permit length, meaning $6,000 total for a full year, it's changed to $1,000 a month, meaning $12,000 for a year. I certainly don't have such saved up nor know of anyone willing to lend me that money to put in my bank account for a quick minute while I get a form printed out at the bank saying I have that money available. It also doesn’t make sense for it to double within a year whereas the Turkish lira is going down in value, and the rate of inflation hasn’t been that high.

I'm wondering what the local branches of this department are exactly because there was mention of them more than once. In other words, are we mailing in our documents to our local city branch (such as Fatih), county branch (such as Istanbul), or to the country's main branch (in Ankara)? For those meeting in person, perhaps including first-time applicants, I also wonder where they'll be going for such appointments.

I was speaking with some Turkish co-workers just this last week about how increasingly difficult it's becoming to stay here in Turkey as a foreigner. Their response? They said that it's also really hard for them to also go to the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and European countries in general, so they like how it's becoming more fair now, i.e., it's more difficult on us. I guess it's a good point in terms of the equality of the situation, but it just sucks for us... I don’t know if their response represents a general sentiment in Turkey, but it may be widespread, especially after the influx of Syrians, who have taken some local jobs.
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Kim Macintosh



Joined: 26 Dec 2013
Posts: 43

PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

3) Under the new system (which has been going into place for the past year) after you apply for your Residence Permit the first thing they do is enter the information into a new computer system. The system/process eventually cranks out your Red Card, but after that first entry they will be able to recognize your legal status whenever you enter/re-enter the country. I re-applied from my city in the provinces in early December and this worked as intended when I exited 2 weeks later. At Atatürk AP the guy had to go over to a different terminal to access the records, but it was no problem.

4) A bank book (cüzdanı [wallet]) will tally your deposits and withdrawals, and it would need to show the $ needed (or Turkish equivalent) for a given province. Istanbul I suspect would peg the high end at $1000. I gather Antalya went with that as well, but the screams from the Chamber of Commerce were so loud they backed-off to $500. They want to see that $ there within a day or two of your application. I know a guy whose school dropped the required TL into his account and he returned it to them a week later.

5) Related to the above, what you REALLY need is evidence you can support yourself, so retirees are fine if the have a statement in the proper form showing the requisite income from US social security, or what have you.

OF COURSE, as a teacher, a Residence Permit is not sufficient; it must be a Work Permit (technically a variation on a more conventional RP that allows work). In which case you are being sponsored by an employer, who must apply with/for you, and who is essentially guaranteeing he'll make sure you are paid enough.
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 4:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for sharing all of the useful information!

3) That's really good to hear. Reason why is I have a friend who applied a little over two months ago, and they still haven't received their residence permit in the mail yet. The local police station said to come to them and pick it up if a month has passed. Well, after May 18th, they basically closed down the office that takes care of such applications. They directed my friend to Fatih's huge police station, which is where I'm guessing all the other police stations are now directing people in Istanbul. What I heard is that it's a mess there. It seems the government made the switch to centralize too quickly or is unprepared for it all. I heard of really, really long lines, huge piles of paperwork, and lots of searching for things. Apparently you're supposed to get a text message from Ankara when they ship it out. No one had any useful information, and, as is usual in inefficient government bureaucracies, had to wait for hours and speak to many different people. In the end, one of the officers did find their information on the system and said it should be okay to travel, but he wasn't sure.
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Any updates? Anybody have any experiences with the new system?
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is from an article that was published today about a recent interview with Atilla Toros, the General Director of the Migration Management Directorate:

Quote:
What other measures could be taken to fight irregular immigration?

Legal entry and departure should be encouraged. In this context, the work permit is now also a residence permit. Therefore, if you already possess a work permit, the necessity to apply for residence is removed. Along with this, since April 11, 2014, there are some instructions from the Ministry of the Interior that we follow. If a person who is currently staying in our country illegally voluntarily goes to a border gate and pays the related fines, we do not impose a ban from entry.

Another important development is the system we call "e-residence," which is about acquiring and renewing residence permits. The system, which came into effect on May 18, 2015, consists of two subsystems: a central appointment system and an e-extension. A foreigner who applies for a residence permit for the first time, after filling out the form in the central appointment section and completing the required documents, uses the appointment system to pick a date and goes to a Provincial Immigration Management Directorate. The e-extension system, on the other hand, provides the possibility to extend their stay in Turkey without going to a directorate in person. The process can be completed if the person fills out the extension form, pays the fee and sends the documents via post to the directorate. We believe that making the acquisition and renewal of the residence permit easy is important in encouraging regular immigration. Fighting against irregular immigration is as important in protecting the immigrants as it is in protecting our country and our society. We try to dissuade irregular immigration, while returning captured irregular immigrants to their countries hastily, yet within the determined standards. If this is not accomplished, we will have to face many inhumane situations, such as abuse.
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 5:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay, so I'll share my own experience applying for and receiving my residence permit. Note that it may be atypical considering I did have help through connections to speed up the process and find out about missing documents the day after my papers arrived. Then again, I now think it's normal to expect help from one's place of employment because this has been my experience in the past.

Since I was only renewing and not a first-time applicant, I filled out the form online, printed it out, then gathered all the necessary documents to mail in to GÖÇ. PTT was then able to deliver my documents within about 24 hours.

Note that the website wasn't working properly for many days leading up until my previous residence permit's expiration date. The problem was that after I finished my application, I couldn't download it in order to print it. I checked at least twice a day for several days and filled out the form so many times I think I memorized the responses and stopped reading the questions. I called GÖÇ and one more than one occasion they answered and were able to answer my questions, which is way better than the situation was when the emniyet were dealing with things. In the end, they told me if it doesn't work a day before my expiration date that I should come to them and fill everything out in person. Thankfully, it didn't have to come to that because it started working a day before. There were plenty of helpful websites that walked me through the online application process, step by step. A simple Google search will have many helpful results, but here's one in particular I'll post here for others' reference:

http://www.istanbulforeignersoffice.com/en/residencepermit/touristic-stay

My contact, who was constantly following up on things, then stepped in and found that I had two missing documents. The interesting thing here is that these two "missing documents" were never requested on my application form nor mentioned on the website, so the main reason for this post is to encourage all applicants to include them because you might not have someone with a friend of a friend on the inside to help your case.

They were:

- a photocopy of my passport page including my last entry stamp into Turkey

- a photocopy of my expired residence permit (I did apply online before it expired, so I was still able to legally remain in Turkey without facing any penalties)

It doesn't seem logical at all to ask for the former from a renewal applicant, especially if someone didn't leave Turkey in the first place. Anyways, do include those two documents just in case the system fails to let you know about your missing documents in a timely fashion, which could happen. I believe missing documents have to be delivered within 30 days of applying online or your documents being received. I did this in person just to expedite the process.

Something new I noted about my pink residence permit card is that it has my picture printed on the lower right-hand corner, which I found neat since it now serves as an official picture ID. This is really recent because I have a friend, who got theirs maybe a month or two before me, and it looked like the old resident permit with no picture or anything. I wonder if that means I don't need to carry around my passport with my residence permit card anymore... At least I've been able to use it at banks with no problems thus far.

When I delivered my missing documents in person, I was told that my residence permit would arrive in about 15 days, but perhaps due to Kurban Bayramı it ended up taking approximately 23 days instead. I would say I had to wait about a month from the time I finished my online application until I received my residence permit.
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nichtta



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 110
Location: Istanbul, Turkey

PostPosted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should add that when I took my rent contract to the noter I was asked again to pay a tax on my deposit, even though I had already paid a tax on the same deposit the previous year since I remained in the same apartment this year and just renewed my contract. Knowing that I'd get a different response depending on the worker and the branch, I literally walked down the street to another noter, who gave me no problems whatsoever. I just said that I paid my taxes already and had the receipts on hand. He didn't even bother to look at them. Of course, things couldn't have been that simple, could they? It's Turkey after all. Laughing Their printer was broken, so I had to go to the closest copy store and make a copy of my contract for the noter to stamp for me and notarize. Maybe the worker's preoccupation with having to tell me that he's going to send me off on an errand distracted him? I don't know, but I guess the disorganization in this country does come in handy sometimes. I write this to help others avoid going to the vergi dairesi (tax office) and paying again for a deposit that didn't change in case you're in the same situation in the future. The best thing to do is not write anything about any deposit on your rent contract. The only problem there is that if your apartment's owner ends up being a crook, well... you have no proof whatsoever that you ever paid a deposit.
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