Becoming Legal Aliens, Turkish Style

We knew even before arriving in Turkey that the process for becoming legal residents would be a difficult one, but I don't think we fully grasped the extent of the craziness that is the Turkish bureaucracy until we had lived here for a few weeks.  The longer we stayed in Istanbul, the more we could see that this was not going to be a simple matter of going to the police station for a day to get a few papers stamped.  Here are the rules/events that eventually led to us boarding a non-stop bus for the Turkey-Greece border (more on that later):

1. You must apply for a student visa before arriving in Turkey.  This visa will expire after 30 days...good luck!
2. The international/exchange office in Turkey will help you in obtaining the necessary documents (ie a residency permit).  It will attempt to provide you with the paperwork needed in order to complete the process within 30 days.  You are responsible for getting print-outs of all of the forms, however.  In color.
3. Wait, you have to make an appointment?  And all the appointments are filled until 40+ days after you arrived?  Well, maybe they won't care about that whole 30-day restriction thing.  That's probably just a general suggestion, anyway.
4. Okay, you've made an appointment - great.  Make sure to get there very early in the morning so you can take a number and wait in line.  "Appointment" in Turkish actually translates to "first come, first served."  It's one of those "cultural differences" things.
5. Welcome to the police station!  Now that you've made it through security, given your camera to the guard to babysit for the day, and waited in (possibly) the right line, you can come back after 4.  Yes, 4pm.  You have an appointment for 8?  No, we changed our policy yesterday.  We only help students after 4.  But we are open until midnight, which is convenient since it will definitely take at least 6 hours before you will be able to speak with someone and an additional 2 to find someone who can translate.

Okay, that's about how it went.  Except we weren't too keen on taking the bus/tram one and a half hours each way back and forth later in the day...then again in two days to pay (the pay station is, of course, only open until 3) and maybe, just maybe, pick up the permit on a third day after that. 

This is where the part about hopping on a bus to Greece comes in!  After being thwarted by the Alien Registration Police, Adrienne and I made the slightly impulsive decision to go to Greece for the day to attempt to get tourist visas (which are valid for 90 days).  We successfully navigated to the enormous bus station in Istanbul, bought tickets for the 2.5-hour ride, and embarked on the next stage of the adventure:

Greece or bust

Our feelings about the situation

Buses are really the main form of transportation for getting just about anywhere in the country.  Unlike in the US, they are quite comfortable and very clean, and, as an added bonus, have "flight attendant"-like employees on-board who distribute hand cleaner, hot beverages, and snacks throughout the journey.  Edirne, the place we were aiming for, is a smallish town on the Turkish side of the border.  When we arrived at the bus station there we found a cab that could take us the approximately 20km to the passport control station.  This border crossing was pretty much in the middle of nowhere and therefore very quiet.  Everyone else was going through in cars, but we were able to walk up to the office, get our passports stamped, and pass the rest of the half-mile or so into Greece on foot.  It was kind of a strange experience to walk from one country to the other, but it's definitely fun to be able to say that we spent about 45 minutes in Greece!

Welcome to the Hellenic Republic!

The town on the other side of the border was very quiet - no restaurants open and only a few locals out and about, hanging laundry and chatting with friends.  We wandered around for a little bit before making the trip back to greet the now-familiar guards, who stamped our passports and sold us our highly anticipated tourist visas.  We made the most of our location by exploring Edirne for the rest of the afternoon.  The town was once home to a significant Jewish population, and the old synagogue (which at one time had a congregation of 20,000+) is still partially standing.  There is also a magnificent mosque in the center of the city; it was nice to just sit inside for a while and enjoy the peacefulness of the space.

Interior of the Selimiye Cami

The Dome

Overall it was a good day.  I now have an increased appreciation of everyone who makes it through the bureaucratic processes to settle in a new country (any country); I'm sure that the problems we faced are not isolated to Turkey and that, relatively speaking, we had significant advantages (the financial ability and time to find an alternative, the passports to make it across the border and back, and enough patience and humor to make getting through it all not only bearable, but fun) over many other people who must transition to living in a foreign place.

On the agenda for the next few days: Republic Day tomorrow (akin to Independence Day in the US), Halloween, and the Istanbul Book Fair!  Oh, and some studying and paper-writing as well...

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the new photos on the right!