VISA DRAMA PART 1: POLISISTAN

Last week while Akin was flipping through my passport he noticed that my current visa looks different than the visa that I was given when I visited Turkey last summer. Little did we know that this casual inspection would send us both into a frenzy that would involve a hours of aimless walking back and forth, a plethora of unanswered phone calls and countless frustration. All of this drama was was set off by the three words, “per 180 days”.

Both visas stated that the bearer was allowed to stay within Turkey for 90 days, but the aforementioned added statement was quite disconcerting. Before you think me an unprepared fool, I would like to assure you that I very thoroughly checked the parameters of a tourist visa before leaving the USA. All the information that I had seen suggested that after a 90 day period had passed an individual simply needed to leave the country for 3 days in order to renew the visa. These additional three words at the end of my visa seemed to suggest that this was not the case. Instead of three days, it appeared that one would be required to leave for three months before obtaining a new tourist visa.

Ideally, it would not matter whether I would be able to obtain a second tourist visa or not as I hope to find a job that will help me to obtain a residence/work permit but doing is a rather involved multi-step process. There are many schools in Turkey that are seeking native English speakers to teach students of various levels. Finding a job would not be problem, but finding a legal job is a bit of a different story. Many of the places hiring English teachers are not willing to put in the effort to fill out all of the paperwork for an actual work permit. These schools will generally take in any wandering hippie who is willing to sit around and chat with kids and live under the radar (yes, this is a hint to those of my friends who might be looking for an adventure). Legally however, in order to hire an English teacher, schools must ensure that all teachers are certified. This means that in order to work for an institution that will help me with a work visa, I first need to go through a certification process...A process that is taking much longer than I originally anticipated.

Needless to say the revelation that I may not be able to obtain another tourist visa for three months upped the stakes on the desire to finish my certification and get a job. This anxiety was even further perpetuated when I learned that if you wish to apply for residency (this does not include working privileges) you must do so within 30 days of arriving in Turkey. I learned this information on day 22 at 4:00 pm on a Friday.

On Monday Akin and I set out on our quest to establish my residency. We reasoned that if the new law would not allow me to get a second tourist visa and I was unable to find a job that would get me a work visa, it would be my only option. All information on the Turkish Consulate’s website as well as the American Embassy’s stated that an individual should do this at their local police department. This was our first stop.....Of course that would have been to easy. This is bureaucracy after all. We were sent to the Istanbul main police station--or should I say, police complex. 

Police headquarters was the size of a small village only with skyscrapers instead of hovels. We were kindly greeted before entering the premises by several officers going about their daily rituals with semi-automatic rifles. These may have been the only individuals in the entire place who actually were efficient at their job...intimidating the hell out of me.

After several levels of security checks we were allowed into Polisistan-they even had a hair dresser in the complex-we were sent to the ‘Foreigners’ Branch’. When we arrived at what seemed to be the correct building, floor and hall we asked the kind man at the ‘Information Desk’ where we ought to be. After looked at my passport it became apparent that he had no idea whatsoever the change in visas meant. When we asked who we ought to talk to he basically told us to ‘Fuck off’. Not such a kind man after all. We then wandered around the complex for a while trying to find where we ought to be, but according to everyone else at there, the original desk was unfortunately ‘where we ought to be’. 

Finally Akin literally just walked past one of the many barriers that were in place for crowd control-- and there were certainly crowds--and opened a random office door and quickly asked the woman behind the desk about my visa and passport before one of the other officers could shoo him away. The lady responded that one only needed to leave the country for 3 days and return in order to get a new tourist visa. 

I had spent the entire weekend researching what the changes were with the tourist visas. What I had learned was that the change did in fact mean that you could only stay in Turkey for a maximum of three months within a six month period, but that the implementation of the new law had been repeatedly delayed. Nowhere on the Turkish Consulate’s page was this mentioned. Rather, most of my information had come from a collection of travel blogs. I figured that my visa stating, “per 180 days,” was all the proof I needed. This woman’s response surprised and completely confused me. Was it possible that she didn’t eve know about the change.

Finally, just before leaving the complex, we were given a website where I could log on and obtain an application form for residency. Once again, this would prove more difficult than one would believe it ought to be...........to be continued