as a Turkish citizen i must go thru the same if not more beurocracy to get a visa for most of the countries in europe , us, etc. so once a year is not that bad at least you know how it feels.

Ivan called the Emniyet the Turkish Tower of Babel but he missed the real connnection to the Biblical story. Like the ancient tower , while there are many nationalities, there is only ONE language spoken amongst the officials. In this case of course it's Turkish. Either know Turkish or find someone who does!

ehhhh. that's my country alright ....

Ivan,
First of all Emniyet Mudurlugu is government's Security Department and is so not a smoking room as you describe. It's natural to see people from all around the world in that particular building because those people know and chose to be in Turkey. I still couldn't get over the trauma I had through in Miami Immigration waiting in the line at 4 in the morning.Try to look at things like your friend Jason does, he is more down to earth.

My Grand father was the director of that dapertment from 1957 to 1968. After school I used to go to his office for a cay & simit, being the only grand child of the boss I have great memories of those days in Emniyet Mudurlugu. I am glad there is change in good directions. I wish New York INS (now Homeland security) improves its services too. It took me 3 different visits to get my fingerprint taken. i had to cancel my patients @ NYU dental school.
Still I think Istanbul & NYC are the best places to live.

Thanks

kAYHAAN CIVELEK DDS MS

Great and amusing article, especially for those of us who have actually performed this "rite", versus simply getting on a ferry to Greece for a daytrip every 3 months to renew a tourist visa. I know Brits etc in the coastal Aegean resorts who simply go to Greece routinely versus the hassle and expense of getting a residency, which costs approx $300 a year. Why get one ? A greater sense of security when your house and spouse are Turkish, and not having to worry about it every 3 months. Thankfully the Foreigner's Dept in Izmir is nowhere as crowded as Istanbul appears to be, and it's always full of Bulgarian Turks when I go there. No number system, but the police have been helpful, especially if you speak some Turkish.

I am interrested in building.I think a style of building.
In Turkey, What is building?

I don't think that the author was making disparaging comments about Turkey, but simply giving a colourful picture of ex-pat life. I've dealt with immigration in a variety of different countries and his account of Turkish immigration sounds very similar to many other countries' systems. The worst I've ever had was in Houston where you had to arrive at about 4:00 in the morning to have any hope of being seen. Good article.

I can hardly believe how much that has changed! I went through that building in September 2007 and I spent 5 hours standing in line. Not so terrible of a hassle, but if your papers weren't in order it was quite a task to try to run back to get what you needed stamped over and then negotiate your way back to the front of the line without starting a little riot.

The whole thing was quite a bit more difficult since no one there seemed to speak any English, but I guess it's not my place to expect them to speak [i]my[/i] language in [i]their[/i] home country.

As a Turkish I guess the writer has no idea how hard to get a residency permit in Western World. I have only good experience with British which was earlier then 2000. The rest was that I can remember was waiting days in unhuman conditions. At east they had a place to sit in Istanbul..

Muge Hanim

Interesting response. Is your reasoning that, as certain people's work takes them to Turkey (or, in your words, "they chose to live in Turkey") that they deserve to be punished by an inefficient, illogical and incompetent bureaucracy?

I have to renew my residence visa each year and the Government does not accept renewal applications before a certain date. Each year, I make the renewal application on the first possible day. Last year, the Emniyet Mudurlugu sat on my application for over six months, meaning that when I finally received the new permit, it had only several months to go until it was to expire again.

Our company recently lost a Canadian professional who had worked in Turkey for ten years. As of last year, the Emniyet Mudurlugu began refusing to renew her residence permit. This professional, a woman lawyer, was vital in coordinating efforts, communications and legal documentation with our foreign investor partners. Now she has left for a more sensible country - somewhere far, far away.

On the other hand, I would be the first to admit that (for example) non-U.S. citizens attempting to obtain study visas for U.S. universities also face a slow-moving and rigid bureaucracy, particularly post 9/11.

However, I think Turkey can only lose by driving away foreign investors and capital, foreign brain power and technical assistance by putting up insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles to those who must or who choose to work in this country.

GM

GM,
We're fed up hearing the same treats like "oh if u push me away I'll abandon u!" Trust me Turkey will lose nothing just because u say so!
And yes YOU CHOOSE WHERE YOU WANNA BE! 'cos u always have a chance to say no or yes.

You would think that things would work differently in Europe. In Spain the process is extremely humiliating. The police headquarters in Madrid is an old prison and its patio resembles that of a concentration camp full of desperate people. People have to wait for hours, even days, in unhuman conditions in this awful place. No bathrooms, no shade in extreme August heat, nowhere to sit and nowhere to throw your trash. How can Europeans judge Turks on human rights when Europeans themselves don't even respect these rights on their own soil?

Articles like this bore me. In fact, most ex-pats bore me, especially ex-pats like this one who think that the inane nuances of their lives, just because they're facing them in a country in which they weren't born, actually make for good reading.

Nobody cares except for other boring ex-pats who are desperate to feel like they belong to some select group that is tied together by the unmitigatable suffering of standing in a line once a year. That and laugh at poorly-timed inside jokes hidden in the article: "Heh heh...scantily clad Russian 'animators'...heh heh...that's funny...heh...I miss bacon."

[...] Got an immigration story to share? Post it in the comments! You might take your cue from this CNN article about expats in Turkey. [...]

I personally do not have any experience on obtaining a living permit in a country besides Turkey, but I would also like to comment on the large sums of money one needs to put down for this permit.

For professionals & working expats, it probably is not a concern, but for those who are married to a Turk (with a moderate income) and need a living permit just to be with their family and enjoy their new home, the amounts are almost impossible to pay.

1. I lol at Jason Nash's major fail. If you are incompetent and lose your company a six figure sum overnight then you got your just dessert.
2. I lol at the stereotyped Turkish response 'well if you don't like it here you can go, your choice'... Lose the nationalistic attitude, learn to look inward and stop being hypocritical as you happily criticise similar failings but don't like yabancis doing so.
3. The emniyet is infinitely more effficient than it used to be so stop moaning. This is Turkey, not everything works right. Go to India if you enjoy complaining about fcuked up systems.