Job Discussion Forums

[rickh]

Hi, my first post here. Forgive me if I've posted this in the wrong forum.

I am thinking of going to live in Turkey for at least a year, and looking at my options. I'm a translator and would be continuing that as my main source of work, through existing clients and remotely. But I am also looking at maybe some private tutoring or even a conversation class or two to teach. I have a TEFL certificate, albeit a 100 hour online certificate, so I don't know how useful that would be for me.

But my main question is actually regarding residency. From what I've read, I can pretty much purchase a residency permit that's valid for a year for around 600 or so dollars, is this correct? If so, how would I go about doing that? Could I initiate it from the US, or would I have enter on a tourist visa, then go from there?

Thanks for any help.

R.
==

[CallieWho]

The price for a residence permit just went down to 85USD for everyone. Yes, that's $85. everyone is shocked, believe me. I've been here 3 years.
As far as I know, you still have to have 500USD in your bank account for every month you plan to live here.
As far as getting a residence permit in the States or Turkey - I don't know.

[rickh]

[CallieWho]

Yes, rickh. that's for a year. my friend just got back from the emniyet today. that's the latest report.

[rickh]

[eurobound]

[coffeespoonman]

With a work permit, the residence permit is free, and you don't have to prove any amount of money in the bank.

[maastricht]

[bulgogiboy]

[rickh]

[bulgogiboy]

That was certainly the case for me and my co-workers, not having to prove my bank balance, but that was about 3 years ago, so please don't take it for granted this is still the case. As far as I remember, the only thing you needed for a residence permit was the fee to pay for it.

[CallieWho]

In Antalya you have to prove your bank account. My school puts the money in all their foreign teacher accounts then hauls us to the Emniyet to get our work permits/residence permits. The next day they take the money out. One of my colleagues went through the process a few weeks ago. Since I've been here for 2 years in Antalya I've watched numerous foreign teachers go through this process. YES, you need the money in your bank account and the proof!
AND when I had to go a few weeks ago and get my residence permit, not work permit, I had to prove my bank account. Now it wasn't the full amount of money that I should have had but he stamped me anyway. It doesn't hurt to flirt
BUT when I was living in the village (3 years ago) I went to the local "city" Emniyet and got my residence permit without any proof of a bank account.
Everyone who lives in Turkey knows that rules/laws can be bent and sometimes broken. Nobody seems to care. It's normal. You can give anything a try here. I've gotten away with a lot by playing dumb foreigner. No worries. You'll see when you get here.

[gloomyGumi]

what about first needing to show proof of an address in Turkey? So does one need to rent an apartment before opening a bank account?

[gloomyGumi]

seems too good to be possible that one can simply:

fly into Turkey;

go to the police station;

present a bank book showing sufficient funds in an account outside of Turkey;

pay 85 bucks and get a residence permit for Turkey.


........unless there is more to the story......

[coffeespoonman]

Well, it's a *little* more complicated than that.

You need a tax number, which is free, though you may have to queue for a while. With the tax number, you open a bank account and then deposit or transfer your thousands of dollars/pounds/euros/whatever. THEN you do as you suggested; however, 85 is just the cost of the permit - the book that you have to buy the first time you get one is like another 150 or something.

It's really that easy. Theoretically, if you made your reservation before coming and arrived very early, you could do all of this the day you step off the plane, or your vehicle of choice (some of us don't use airplanes).