Job Discussion Forums

[coffeespoonman]

Hey, just thought I'd share my recent experiences at your favorite place and mine, the yabancılar ş�besi (the place you go to get your residence permits).

Well, because of a gap between my old employment dates and Y�K's own leisurely schedule, I've had to procure for myself a residence permit for a few months. However, the system has totally changed. For posterity, let me share what you have to do to get in and get out of hell... er... the emniyet nowadays.

1. You have to get an e-randevu.

YOU CANNOT JUST SHOW UP IN THE MORNING ANYMORE. This is very important. Everything is done by internet now (and much less efficiently than you would expect). About 2 weeks in advance of your desired appointment date, you have to go to http://yabancilar.iem.gov.tr/ and click on e-randevu in the top left-hand corner. You can get English after that. If you go without an e-randevu, you can get one at the internet terminal there, for 6 TL... And you'll still have to come back 2 weeks later.

2. Choose a time

You might be tempted to go for that after-lunch slot. DON'T! Get a meeting as early as possible. In fact, I'd suggest not getting one after lunch at all because.... The vezne (where they take your money) closes at 3! If your waiting and negotiating lasts until after 3:00, YOU WILL HAVE TO COME BACK THE NEXT DAY JUST TO PAY. This happened to me, and I was not happy about it. In fact, my fiancee is on her way to pay today for me because I think I'll be detained if I go back there. I'm sure there were some teyzes there who complained about the stream of Turkish swear words coming out of my mouth when I saw the closed sign.

3. You have to print the form IN COLOR

This is sooo Turkish. There's no practical reason that the form has to be in color, but if it's not, your appointment is invalid... If you don't have a color printer at home, just fill out the form and SAVE YOUR REFERENCE NUMBER. You can access your page and print it at your convenience later... with the reference number, and only with the reference number...

4. Your appointment time is a big lie

Actually, the time written isn't for an appointment; it's only for the queue (yes, there is still a queue). Furthermore, all time slots are written as 15 past the hour but are really on the hour. For example, if your time slot is 11:15, that means they will start handing out numbers at 11, and there are dozens of people with the same time slot as you. If you're there, standing by the desk early (which is not the information desk, it's the desk in the waiting room (bekleme salonu)), you'll get your number and wait for maybe 30 minutes. If you come at the time written on your sheet, you'll be at the back of the queue and you'll be like 30 numbers later... Which is about 2 hours. So get there early and go stand by the desk!



I hope this little guide helps. Gone are the days of just going at dawn, waiting in line for an hour, and heading off for a sleepy afternoon in Taksim. Good luck, everyone!

[TeachEnglish]

That place is a nightmare and they seem to try to discourage you from wanting to do business here..or work here.. or live here.. all except spend your money here..

Truly amazing ..

[Otterman Ollie]

Doesn't the idea of taking Turkish citizenship to avoid this annual farce become more attractive as each year passes?

[coffeespoonman]

Oh it would... If it weren't for the possibility that we might get called for military service...

[fishmb]

Thanks for the update! Might have to be doing this soon...

[eclectic]

what am I reading here? Is this after you get an offer and have to a[pply for a work visa?

[fishmb]

No this is for getting a residence visa. With a residence visa you can live in Turkey for 3, 6, 9, 12 months without having to do border runs to renew a tourist visa, but you're still not legally allowed to work.

Does anyone know how much a 12 month residence visa costs?

[eclectic]

so you can be a resident forever as long as they keep renewing that visa, but you cant work. What a weird financial situation to be in.

[fishmb]

Well, people who have got a residence visa should be asking these questions, but I believe you might have to prove you have a certain amount of $ in the bank by printing off a recent bank statement or something like that, but I'm not entirely sure.

[coffeespoonman]

12 month is something like 560 TL, I think, plus about 120 for the book (if you aren't renewing). You're looking at around 700 total, I guess.

And yeah, technically you could keep renewing your residence permit (it's not a visa in that you don't enter the country with it) and sit around Turkey doing nothing for years. However, the more practical side of it is that because Turkish law states that "you must receive your work visa in your country of legal residence", those who posess a Turkish residence permit (i.e. Turkey is already their country of legal residence) are not required to return to their home countries, apply, and reenter Turkey on a work visa after they've been issued a work permit from the department of labor (or the department of higher education for university employees). Thus, people in Turkey who are between jobs or those who are already in the country, but not working legally for whatever reason, can take care of all their paperwork here after getting the permit.

Additionally, many less-than-above-the-board schools will procure these residence permits for their teachers, without ever actually applying for the work permit. This is illegal, but it at least makes the teacher's life easier (they can get tax numbers, open bank accounts and utilities), and teachers with residence permits are much less likely to actually be deported if caught working (though they certainly can be).

And yeah, you need a bank statement (usually it must be issued by the branch where you opened your account) showing that you have 300 USD for each month for which you're applying for residency.

[dagi]

[quote]This is sooo Turkish.[/quote]
This is soooo ignorant.
Really. What is so Turkish about that?
Try to make an appointment with immigrations of your homecountry.
You'd be surprised about the amount of stupidity and non-logic there, too.

[eclectic]

Im not going to take the time to reread the thread to see who said "so Turkish", but what dagi said is true. I was in US Immigration in New Jersey in 2001 sponsoring my wife for her green card, and you wouldnt believe the ignorant, slow, redundant and ludicrous people/procedures there. I think its the same everywhere.

[coffeespoonman]

Dagı, you're right. It's not Turkish. There's nothing Turkish at all about color printing. I should have said 'This is soooooo Turkish bureaucracy.'

Having never dealt with immigration in my own country, I can't comment, but it does seem particularly typical of Turkish bureaucracy to require things to be a certain way despite all logic. In what way is a color printout even vaguely necessary? For what reason does every office need 17 passport photos of me when they've already got a stack of them in the file they've been building on me for the last 4 years?

Again, you're right. Lokum is soooo Turkish. Ayvalık tost is soooo Turkish. Color photocopies have nothing to do with the Turkish people. A thousand apologies.

[Sashadroogie]

I remember only too well the wall of stupidity I encountered from my own country's embassy/consulate when I was trying to get a tourist visa for my Turkish girlfriend of the time. Beyond belief. And the rudeness - shocking. So, I think it is well known that every nation's consular staff can be less than interested in helping people or being straightforward.

The Turkish system has its own weirdness that coffeespoonman highlighted. However, what I would put forward, by way of a half-apology, is that for all its incomprehensibilty, Turkish beauracracy has at least some sort of infomal flexibility built in. Things can be smoothed over, or greased is maybe better. At home, there was only rigid application of meaningless procedure.

Maybe neither is any good. I get so weary of thinking of visa and residency permits sometimes...

[coffeespoonman]

Sashadroogie, thanks for pointing out the other side of things. And thanks for reminding us that for every bit of insanity that occasionally confounds us about this country, there are usually one or two unexpected pleasant surprises to go along with it.

For example, one silver lining about this 'shiny new emniyet' is that the waiting room now has two brand new lcd tvs to make your waiting more pleasurable...

Showing "Garfield: The Movie", over and over again, with no sound.

*shudder*