Job Discussion Forums

[justme]

Oh, also, Turkey is one of the few countries in the world where you aren't entitled to work because you're married to a citizen-- you're only entitled to live here. Your job would still have to sort out work permission for you, so no help there, really.

[tarte tatin]

Thanks everyone, I will give it some thought. I think the citizenship is not granted until I have been married 3 years anyway and we might have fled to the UK by then (if I have my way).

My work status is a bit of a grey area because we have set up a business here and any money goes straight into my husband's account so actually I probably don't need a work permit.

Do you know if anyone has ever been deported for working on a resident visa?

[dmb]

I mentioned it on another recent thread(can't remember which one though as we hardly ever stay on-topic. )But the case I was thinking about was back in the 90s

[justme]

Hmmm. I don't know how the work visa thing goes if you have your own business... If you're brave, ask on the mymerhaba forums. There're some pretty nasty folks there, though. It's not warm and cuddly like here.

The citizenship's not automatic though-- I mean, you won't become a citizen without knowing about it. There's a lengthy and boring application process, including a language test. I know that process is outlined on the mymerhaba forum somewhere. It's so involved I got bored reading about it!

But if it's your own business, I guess you don't have to worry about the pay cut!

[dmb]

[FGT]

I believe that there is a huge difference in being an American as opposed to being a Brit applying for Turkish citizenship as (correct me if I'm wrong), Americans can't have both. They need to choose one or the other, so, in most cases they would prefer American. Brits can retain their nationality, passport, rights to be flown "home" in an emergency etc. This makes the prospects far more attractive for us (Brits). Is this true? Anybody with insider information?

I agree that Turkish citizenship can affect your pay scale in certain places of employment (suddenly you stop being a native speaker!!!)

If you have your own company here but your husband has the paperwork in his name (and the bank account), you will probably not be considered illegal doing this job.
God forbid that your marriage ends up on the rocks, have you considered what your situation would then be? You should try to secure your position and finances just in case.

[Baba Alex]

[justme]

Americans can be dual citizens, but our system kind of frowns on it and expects you to keep your allegiance more to America. Not sure about people who are dual citizens by parentage, but it is allowed. I read a lot about it for my son, and it seems that technically dual citizenship by choice is not allowed, but the law isn't clear about how one can renounce his/her original citizenship. There have been a lot of cases where people have tried, even through the official channels outlined (Lee Harvey Oswald is a famous one-- he renounced his American passport in Russia, but was still going to be tried as an American), like turning in a passport at a foreign consulate and filling out such and such forms, but in the end it wasn't really recognized and they were still considered citizens. I think they've kept it this way to avoid having someone be a citizen of nowhere.

To become an Americn citizen, you swear that you're no longer a citizen of your own country and pledge alleigiance to America, but you don't have to give up your passport because your own country doesn't accept this oath. For my son, he's stuck as a Turkish citizen automatically because he was born here and his dad's Turkish, so he has to enter and exit Turkey on his Turkish passport, but will enter and exit America with his American passport. It will be interesting for me to figure out which line to stand in at Ataturk airport if it's just the two of us and he's too small to go alone...

As far as I know, Germany is one of the only countries that doesn't allow dual citizenship, even by birth.

[tarte tatin]

Just Me said: [/quote] If you're brave, ask on the mymerhaba forums. There're some pretty nasty folks there, though. It's not warm and cuddly like here.

[justme]

One of the most spiteful psychos, unfortunately, seems to be a lawyer who really does know a lot about citizenship and immigration issues. You're better off trying to search the forums than ask, though, because he'll just angrily go to all the trouble to insult you then tell you to search the forums rather than just give a simple answer.

But I think someone posted the citizenship info from the gov't in Turkish and English on there somewhere...