While all this engine work has
been going on, Bob and I have been experiencing the joys of Turkish bureaucracy
in our attempts to stay in Turkey past the 90 day tourist visa. Turkey, like most of Europe, has a 90 days
within 180 days tourist visa.
Unfortunately most of Europe is also under the Schengen Agreement which
means visitors who do not have an EU passport can stay a combined cumulative 90
days within the Schengen Area of 22 countries.
Thus the ‘Grand Tour’ of Europe must be completed in 90 days. This doesn’t leave much time for each country
and for those of us touring by sailboat.
There are ways around this but that is my problem for next year. Not a problem for Bob though, as he has an EU
passport.
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| The Schengen Area |
This year we want stay in Turkey
to sail along the Turkish Coast.
Last
year we met many cruisers who had short term residence permits to stay in
Turkey beyond the 90 day tourist visa.
So last year we made our first enquires from the foreign bureau at the
local police station.
The police told us
before filling out an application we must have a tax file number and a Turkish
bank account.
The tax file number was
easy except for the heart attack inducing steep steps up to the office.
I am quite sure the architect had a remit to
build this office so that those who climbed the steps would pay any amount of
tax to avoid having to return.
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| The steps to the Tax Office in Marmaris |
Getting a Turkish bank account was
another matter. After waiting an hour to
be served at the bank, and finding someone who spoke English we were told that
we could not open a Turkish bank account until we had a residency permit. Back to the police station who said no, that
was not correct and the bank just across the street would let us open an
account. Off we went to spend another
hour waiting to be served in another bank and finding someone who could speak
enough English to understand what we wanted.
Again they could not open an account until we had a residency permit.
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| Turkish Banks ATMs |
We threw our hands up in
frustration and resigned ourselves to not being able to overcome this Catch 22. As people told us the rules were going to
change after the New Year, we decided to wait until 2015 to do the final
application.
While in Bellingen we rang up the
Turkish Embassy in Canberra as one of the websites said that residency
applications will now need to be made in one’s home country. But the officials there said that the new
system was not yet in place and we should go back to the local police station in
Marmaris and apply there. So we printed
out the application form from the website to have ready when we returned.
About a month after arriving in
Marmaris we fronted up to the police station with our completed application
form and all the supporting documentation other cruisers told us we would
need.
This included all the boat papers
– ownership, registration, insurance, transit log – plus a translated copy of
our marriage certificate, proof of income and Turkish health insurance.
At the police station they said everything
was fine but we had to have the application typed not filled in by hand and
printed double-sided.
So back we went to
the boat and found an online version of the application that was able to be filled
in on line.
The next day we went back to
the police station with our typed double sided application form and other
documentation only to be told that as of that morning the office could no
longer take applications for residency and all applications must be on in
Muğla, the provincial capital about an hour away on the bus, but this would not
start until the following Monday.
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| Some of the forms required |
On the following Monday we caught
a bus to Muğla and went to the police station directly across from the Otogar
(bus station). Then we were shown to
another building two doors down who then told us we were still not at the right
place. No one spoke much English so this
was all done with hand gestures and showing papers. Finally they rang someone who spoke a bit
better English who told us we had to go to a building in the centre of
town. We handed the phone back to the
clerk who wrote down the address and with the aid of our lifesaver, Google
maps, we managed to find the place about a 2km away. (I know we use to travel before without smart phones and Google maps but I
can’t imagine getting around without it now.)
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| Muğla |
When we arrived at the office just
before lunch, the building was in chaos – workmen painting, removalists moving
furniture and staff mulling around looking harassed. One of the staff acknowledged us and told us
the application process is now all done on line. He tried to show us the website but his
computer wouldn’t connect (not a good sign).
When we asked a few more questions about the process he continued to
answer that everything was on the website and all would be explained
there. I suspect that this is what he
was told and he himself wasn’t aware of what was really on the website at this
early stage of the new process. We
realised we were not going to get any further at this office and went off into
the centre of town for a lovely Turkish lunch.
Then back on the bus to Marmaris to fill in the new application on our
computer.
The website worked, sort of. When it came to printing out the form, mine
worked but Bob just got a computer error message which we printed out in lieu of
the real thing. The website also gave us
an appointment time in about 10 days hence, saying that there would be no
rescheduling – come or else. The website
also stated that you must come to the appointment with receipts of payment but
did not say where one should make these payments. I tried to make the payment at the tax office
in Marmaris who sent me to the local police station who assured me everything
would be done in Muğla
Back to Muğla on the appointed day
leaving plenty of time before the appointment to do all the usual run around. First we went to the immigration office.
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| New immigration office in Muğla |
Then to the tax office, then to
two different departments within the tax office to pay the fees, then back to
the immigration office where we were given an official sheet of paper that says
we can stay in Turkey for a year and were told we would receive the final card
in the mail within 5 weeks. As the drop
down menus on the computer based form did not allow us to put Yat Marine as our
postal address we don’t hold out much hope of the already dodgy Turkish postal
service delivering the final cards to us.
We tried to explain this to the clerk who shrugged and said if it can’t
be delivered it will be returned to him in Muğla. Odds are on for another trip to Muğla in a
few weeks. But it looks like the one
year residency has been approved.
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| Official now?? |
