Job Discussion Forums

[ryanlogic]

Hey all,

My wife and I are both Americans living in Southern Turkey.

Praise God, we just welcomed our first child into the world a little over a week ago. We went to a private hospital, and thankfully everything went well (given the circumstances)...

Anyway, now I'm tasked with figuring out what needs to be done next.

Basically all we left the hospital with were two copies of a "Doğum Repor", an immunization card, and a "birth certificate" printed on pink cardstock decorated with loony tunes and Disney characters all around the border.

I know I need to go to the nearest consulate to get our daughter a passport, but I'm afraid they will want more than the paperwork that I have from the hospital.

The Turks in my area and workplace are not very knowledgable about these kinds of things and continue to insist that our daughter should be granted a residence card that doesn't expire. My research indicates that she will receive a residence permit that simply expires along with ours.

Here's where it gets sticky:

As it stands, I technically have a work visa from Turkish Consulate in New York, but then the work permit was denied in Turkey supposedly because my employer doesn't have 5 Turkish employees for each expat. However, we were all told that this is some kind of glitch because my employer is an international humanitarian organization and that rule doesn't apply.

The smaller govt. offices in Southern Turkey are so swamped with Syrian refugees, apparently no one has really gotten a chance to figure out how the new laws apply to anyone else. Initially, we were getting a myriad of different random answers and no one is willing to help us. When we would call Ankara they tell us we shouldn't be having any problems and direct us to do things according to protocol. It's a big nightmare.

The good thing is, nothing is being hidden and we are working with the local offices, UN agencies, and a Turkish immigration lawyer to make everything right... Because my wife was late(ish) into her pregnancy when we came, I was told to stay in Turkey, but refrain from working in an official capacity. We were instructed to apply for residence permits and wait for everything to get sorted out. Worst case scenario, we get a pretty killer all expenses paid extended vacation.

I guess the final catch is, until now... my wife and I haven't received our official residence permit cards in the mail.

Ultimately what I'm afraid of is the clueless local Turkish offices will want to enter passport information for my daughter in order to register her or give her a residence permit... And the US consulate will want more Turkish paperwork than I already have in order to give her a passport.

Does anyone here have experience in this department? Even if someone could just explain to me how it's definitely supposed to pan out, I'd really appreciate it.

[nomad soul]