Job Discussion Forums

[dmb]

Make sure you get an international booklet-it's red.

[tarte tatin]

How do I get that DMB? What sort of booklet, do I get it from the consulate?

[dmb]

When I went to see the memure hanim, who will marry us, I asked her about it(someone had mentioned it to me before) she just went to a cupboard and showed me one.

[justme]

I think we just got our red book automatically, but may not always be the case... It's nice because it's all translated into many languages, saving you from having to get notarized translations for all the annoying paperwork you're likely to face now...

Plus the state gave us a book about neurolinguistic proramming and family relationships. I haven't read it.

[yaramaz]

Anything about what to do on your wedding night?

[tarte tatin]

Okay I'm in a post-nuptial haze, I think the term booklet confused me, yes our marriage documents have a red cover and my husband has just told me it is international!

BTW I noticed I mis-spelled my father's name, does that mean we are not legally married????

[tarte tatin]

Just Me, what nationality are you? Did you take Turkish citizenship and did you change your name?

I have decided there may be no advantage to registering my marriage in the UK, it will just mean handing over more money to the consulate I think.

I want to simplify everything as much as possible. Any advice welcome!

Yaramaz, no the booklet gave no advice so I was at a total loss... The doctor did ask my husband if he knew about family planning but she waited until I had been dismissed from the room, think she didn't want me to get an inkling of what was in store for me....

[Golightly]

There is a legal requirement for British citizens to register an overseas marriage with the nearest consular section. That's what the Istanbul consulate told me anyway, as they prised eighty quid (if I remember correctly) from my grasp.

[tarte tatin]

According to the website www.ealing.gov.uk which gives general advice for British citizens marrying abroad there is no legal requirement to register the marriage with the consulate, it is only advisable.

The consular website for Turkey however lists that as the final stage in the procedure but no one at the Istanbul consulate mentioned it to me.

Did you have to go in person to do it and how long did it take?

I live so far from Istanbul or Ankara I fly which adds to the cost of all this considerably. However my husband and I will be in Ist for a couple of days before flying to the UK maybe we could do it then...

[justme]

Tarte tatin-- I'm American. I didn't take Turkish citizenship (nor will I ever, despite in-laws pushing and wondering incredulously why I wouldn't get something as wonderful as Turkish citizenship). Too many disadvantages with that, and though it doesn't entitle you to work, you're still entitled to residency when married to a Turk.

Women's names automatically get changed upon marriage here. A Turkish woman who didn't want to change her name would petition the such-and-such place to get it changed back, but this place doesn't have jursidiction over foreigners, so technically a foreigner cannot keep her name. So now I kind of have 2 identities, or more, actually, given that the Ikamet people were either too lazy to flip to the back of my passport where the name change is noted, or they were too stingy to make a new Ikamet with the new name. On my passport and social security card, I'm 'Embarassingfirstname Justme Americanname Turkishname,' and to be safe, the surnames aren't hyphenated so that in Turkey, I can pass off Americanname as a second middle name. On some Turkish documents (i.e., my private medical insurance, marriage certificate, and son's ID) I'm 'Embarassingfirstname Justme Turkishname,' while on others (i.e., Ikamet and SSK), I'm Embarassingfirstname Justme Americanname. Surely this is likely to cause problems down the road, none of which are my fault, and which Turkish bureaucracies and general inattention to detail make impossible to change, but so far, it's been okay...

I'm not sure about registering the marriage in the States-- I mean, I didn't read anything about it being required. We did a half-as*ed try at the courthouse, and they seemed unsure of what the point was, and told us of a long annoying process which more or less involved getting married again by a judge, so we never did it.

As for our wedding night, the NLP book is in Turkish so it was no help-- probably full of euphemisms. The certificate didn't help either. Actually, we were pretty drunk, and my brothers were in town, so they came back to the flat with us and played Playstation soccer with my husband while I spent 2 hours removing the 60 or so bobby pins from the cake-like hairstyle I'd been given, and trying (somewhat unsuccessfully) to wash the makeup off my face. It eventually all came off after a week or so. Eventually we all drank more and passed out, so wedding night well-spent, I'd say...

[tarte tatin]

Thanks so much for your detailed reply Just Me.

Could you enlighten me about the disadvantages of Turkish citizenship. I thought it would make working here simpler. The application process was more or less started automatically when we got married and I didn't have time to consider it, however, it can always be halted if your information frightens me!

Actually it all sounds a bureaucratic nightmare and I am wishing for many reasons that I had insisted on marrying in my own country! I think it will be easier just to change my name on all my English documents when I go home.

[FGT]

As far as I can ascertain there are no disadvantages for a female Brit getting Turkish citizenship. You retain your British nationality which I consider important but can then work legally without all the hassle of work visas and ikamets. I checked at the British Consulate in Izmir before starting the application process and they positively encouraged me to do it.

[tarte tatin]

Thanks for putting my mind at rest. I was asked when we did our wedding paperwork and it took me off guard but the only thought that ran through my mind was that as I was female and not so young they could not call me up to war so why not!

BTW Bulgogi Boy so sorry for hijacking your thread but this info might be useful for you down the line, you never know what may happen in Turkey, you have already posted a thread about dating Turkish women so go for it

[justme]

I've heard that for Americans taking Turkish citizenship, there are disadvantages like if you go to jail, the consulate can't help you, and if there is some sort of disaster, natural or otherwise, you won't be able to get evacuated with the rest of the US citizenry. Again, it's only what I heard. I'm 90% sure the jail thing is true. I'm not planning to go to jail or anything, but then again this Turkey and things can happen here. I'm not totally sure about the evacuation thing, but with my shiny new son and the military grumbling more than usual about the shenanigans of Erdoğan's government, I don't want to find out how true it is.

It's also possible that if you're a Turkish citizen, schools will use it as an excuse to pay you as a Turk rather than as a foreign native speaker, as much as a 60% drop in pay.

So yeah, it's more convenient in that you don't have to pay to renew your residence permit every year, and you won't need a visa if you want to visit Iran, but honestly, I see Turkish citizenship as a big drop down on the citizenship hierarchy-- I mean, if I were Moldovan or Ugandan, I could see the advantages, but I don't see any reason to do something that might compromise advantages of being American.

[Golightly]

Justme's right about the pay thing: I knew a couple of teachers who took up Turkish citizenship, then found that they were getting Turkish wages....