Job Discussion Forums

[eclectic]

If a legit school takes a minimum 5 mos. to get the work visa, am I right to wonder if there is any hope whatsoever that a spouse visa will be possible to obtain? Anybody have any spouse visa stories/info for Turkey? Does Turkey even offer a spouse visa to a legally-employed person's spouse?

[keitepai]

Hello,

You can get a spouse 'residence permit' quite easily, but not a 'work visa (permit)' unless the spouse is also applying as a teacher or another profession that has been approved.

My residence or work permits (including spouse and kids) have never taken more than 3 months.....sometimes they take a long time if your paperwork is not in order.

[eclectic]

Sounds great, but still 1 question: just say after a "short" 3 mos. I get my work visa. My wife does not work, and so if it takes another 3-6 mos. for HER spouse residence visa, (and just imagine if someone has a few kids too), that means carting off the whole family once or twice to renew ALL the tourist visas until the rest of the family gets their residence visas. This can be quite expensive, no? 4 or 5 people going to Bulgaria or Greece or wherever to renew tourist visas a couple of times, while waiting for residence visas.

[keitepai]

Yes, true if the school does not get onto the paperwork then it can take a long time.
The gap between residence and work permits should not be months more like a week or two, once you have your initial residence then everything else follows quite quickly.

All our our residence permits were done at the same time then the work permit took a little longer and I had to go back. I would have been really stressed taking a whole family out of Turkey for a border run!!

I hope yours is ok

[eclectic]

thx. My situation is Im finishing up here in Korea after 2 years aand wanting to get the hell out and go straight to Turkey. Im worried about the move as its stable if not anything else here and I am with my wife. I want something on thebooks without any illegal stuff. Therefore I should try to get a job asap upon arrival and hope they sponsor for a work visa, then try to get my wife a spouse visa. What do you think of that strategy?

[tarte tatin]

I would not hold your breath on the work visa front. I have been in Istanbul for 3 years and never had one. The first language school I worked at, promised one but it never materialised, although they did sponsor my residence permit. I also worked at another very reputable language school part-time and only a handful of their staff are on full-time contracts with permits. The bulk of the staff are working cash-in-hand.

A friend of mine has just worked a year at a prestigious state-run university without a work permit or residence visa.

I am about to start a new job where everyone has work permits. I will be happy to be legal and above-board but it has taken a long time.

[eclectic]

good newz 4 u tarte titan. Im not asking where of course, but can u tell me basically what TYPE of school is most likely to make the effort and obtain it for you? Dershanes, public schools, unis, whatever...... I wont waste my time therefore targeting places that will NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS provide a legal path.

[tarte tatin]

Well dershanes are probably the least likely, although you might get lucky.

I have no experience of international schools and private kolejes. Other people on this board would be able to say more about that.

The universities are most likely to, dependent on the approval of Y�K, the higher education board. If this is not forthcoming, teachers have to moonlight until it is.

[eclectic]

thx . Ill go 4 unis then, if my qualifications will allow it. I was just told by WSI Ankara that a 40 hr ONLINE TEFL will suffice! IS this true? IS a CELTA or TESOL cert necessary involving live classroom ?

Some say here that "you can print your own" (I wouldnt dare). "They dont care" (doubt it) or even "whatever cert you have makes no difference in salary" ....... that would really stink if true.

[keitepai]

Sorry, I have been off for a while....yes international schools or uni's are always better at residence and work permit applications. For the simple reason that they cost a lot of money. I suppose dershanes think they might get away without doing it quickly.

At my school there is no chance of a job with just a CELTA, it must be an education degree. That is the schools rule though not the ministry, I think any TEFL qualification is accepted but I am not sure of the finer points sorry.

I thought you had a job already, you may well be in for a border run if you spend 2-3 weeks getting a job then applications start.

Make sure to bring originals and certified copies of all documents, qualification, marriage certificate, passport copies - for some reason I had to show my marriage certificate.

Have loads of passport size photos, (for both of you) as they are needed to start your applications. Although they are very cheap to get taken here and they do quite nice photo shop jobs (it is allowed here for documents)


Good luck