Well. My friends. This has been an indescribable 7 months and 19 days. Two weeks ago Monday I moved out of "my" home in Beykoz and moved to a friends apartment in Taksim where I lived out of a suitcase for over a week. One week later I received the devastating news that I job I have been expecting to being in Italy was not available. So I looked into making a quick Visa run and finding some temporary post in the City at least until Christmas. But as of July 14th Turkey past a law prohibiting the renewal of Multiple Entry Tourist Visas. Now expats such as myself must leave the country for 90 days before we can get another Visa. That means 90 days in 90 days out (I'll be interested to see how this effects the educational system of the Country as most English Teachers seem to me to be Visa Runners such as myself). Faced with unemployment and a rapidly expiring Visa. I made the only practical decision I had left to me, bought a plane ticket and returned home to America.
On to my next big adventure?
While I will keep this blog open and suspect that from time to time I will read or remember something that I may post here--from now on I will be returning to my US blog. If you have enjoyed my anecdotes or incites please join me there and be apart of my search to discover the deeply American soul it too moving to the Great Portal of the East to discover I had.
http://vadamorse.blogspot.com/
Görüşürüz, Arkadaşlarim
Sorry to see you go! I heard about that new visa law, but I didn't realize it had actually taken effect. Too bad.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your next adventure!
I too am sad to hear of your returning to the US and am also shocked to learn this new visa law had been made official. (First it was.. and then it wasn't and now it appears to be the new policy after all. I do wonder how this will effect so many new people coming to Turkey. If nothing else, it was a suitable short-term solution to counteract the slowness of bureaucracy.)
ReplyDeleteAs far as English teachers, I was stunned to hear a talking head on Tv stating that students should not be learning English at all, but Arabic. I'd like to think that ISN'T a sign of the times or times to come.
I'll miss your observations about your Turkish experiences! Take care and keep in touch. Nomad
I am not sure how strictly it is going to be enforced--or if they have even started enforcing it yet. I however could not run the risk of going to Thessaloniki for a couple days then getting trapped on the off chance they ARE taking it seriously already. I was not prepared to be the first expat guinea pig and chance getting trapped in Bulgaria or Greece with nothing but a backpack and a few hundred dollars. If anyone DOES attempt it in the near future I will be curious to hear how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteIf you do--let me know!
I am missing Turkish and beyaz peynir right now. I am actually doing some reaserch to figure out if their is possibly a small Turkish community or grocer in my area. I guess I ended up loving Turkey more then I ever expected or intended to.
From what I understand, the 90/180 visa regulation has been "indefinitely postponed." In addition to my uncle (he's a politician) personally speaking with a Turkish official in DC and being assured of the delay, an expat friend in Istanbul made the visa run earlier this month, and was able to go back to Istanbul without hassle.
ReplyDeleteEdit: 90/180 appears to be in effect now. My uncle's CoS made some calls, and was told that it's now "enforced without question."
ReplyDeleteI guess residence permits need to be in the budget...
did you consider a residence permit or was it not an option for you?
ReplyDeletei have heard of very recent visa runs that were successful but did also not want to take the risk and so i renewed my permit (i had been thinking of letting it stay expired).