Hi everyone !!
well i am now happıly marrıed!!! -- and it wasn.t so bad after all -- once all the paper work was complete!
what ı would love ıs some advıce on how to get a resıdency vısa -- where to go . how long ıt takes and the cost !! also wıll my chıldren be able to go to a turkısh school -- looked at englısh ones but horrıbly expensıve!! also ı am stugglıng to know what work to look for -- at the moment ı stıll get my famıly allowance from england for chıldren and have been told that ıf ı go back to england every 8 weeks ı can contınue to get thıs? ı fınd ıt all so dıffıcult -- can someone help me?
ELAINE XX

Congratulations I hope you will be very happy together.

It seems strange though that you haven't thought of all this before getting married? And.... are you suggesting "cheating" the system to get UK taxpayers money? If you can afford the flights back every 8 weeks, then why claim more from the UK government?

Offfffffff maybe you should ignore me, I am an old grouch today !

hi!!! no i am not talkıng about cheatıng the system !!!! ı only want to stay here for 3 more months untıl we have a better chance of my other half gettıng a settlement vısa !! so ı would not be leavıng the uk permanemtly!! ıt seems to me that the uk ıs very happy to help foreıgners but when ıt comes to helpıng theır own people they don.t want to know -- so maybe i am grouchy too!!! all ı want ıs to be wıth my husband and at the moment ı am explorıng every optıon open to us!! but there does not seem to be that many.

Hi there,

I'm new here, but I've been living in Turkey for the past 2 years, yes, married & with residency visa blah-di-blah (which by the way is a whole load of bureacratic trouble to get, going from one goverment office to another, several visits to the police , signing loads of bits of paper etc) but I forgot how much it cost, will ask my hubby later.

I believe you can claim child benifit allowance for a certain length of time while abroad (think it might be 3 months) and then you have to forfeit it...if you're the honest type at least)

Anyway, be nice to chat/exchange notes with some brits in Turkey, I'm surrounded by Turks with just my Hubby and my son and BBC Bleedin Prime to watch (more like BBC Primeval!)

Helen

You can't claim child benefit whilst on holiday? Since when? new one on me.

Nope dont think family holidays count! So you are saying that you go to Majorca for a week you can't claim your family allowance? I think it is if the child is out of the country for more than 12 weeks.

It would cause absolute mayhem if anyone going on holiday for a couple of weeks had to stop their family allowance.

looks like i have started somethıng here --- i am not ın the habıt of beıng dıshonest and before i left vuk i spoke to benefıts agency and it was them that told me 8 weeks but that ıf ı came back for a week and went agaın there was nothıng they could do about ıt . and for anyone else who ıs now poıntıng a fınger at me ı have worked all my lıfe and paıd my uk taxes and now ı just want to be with the person ı love whether it be ın the uk or turkey

OK Guys,

(blimey everyone thinks everyone is on the make, where did innocence til proven guilty go?)

Anyway, to settle it once and for all, I have found the gov site with the rules on Child Benefit YOU CAN CLAIM WHILST ON HOLIDAY FOR UP TO 8 WEEKS! See for yourself:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cbtmanual/CBTM10030.htm

Lets not get all retentive about it now eh?

If you go on holiday, you're taking a break, your kids will one day hopefully earn & pay tax in the UK too, (btw, I've paid tax & NI virtually all my life and NEVER claimed any benefits when unemployed & don't believe you should unless you have no option) ...If you go abroad for the other reasons listed you can claim up to 3 months, then you either come back to the UK or stop claiming.

Hope that clears thing up

HMC

Oh, please dont take my comments personally. I admit to having a grudge against some of the "help" which our government hands out. I have known many young girls who have told me they "decided" to get pregnant at 16 because they didn't feel like working, and why should they when the government will give them nice home, money, and provide all they need for a nice life?!

I am quite happy to be paying for the genuinely poor. However, when someone is driving a nice new car, has the latest plasma tv and having holidays abroad, I do take great exception to them also receiving help from the government BECAUSE they have children. If you have children, you calculate if you can afford them - FULL STOP!

My dissatisfaction also comes from the experience we have had with my father, who worked all his life and then had a brain heamorrhage last year, shortly after retirement. He has been left with brain damage and needs 24 hour care. He cannot be left alone for a SECOND. What help does my mum receive? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. ZERO. She pays for a carer one morning a week, and another is provided by a kind charity another morning a week.

Fair system?

Anyway, forgive me for going off topic (again). I had to get that out of my system!

no offense taken, though I think the worst offenders are MEN who CAN WORK but DONT and sit on their proverbials for half a century doing sweet f.a.

Just to set one thing straight though, I have worked (often slogged) for years, working often 60+ hours a week to make ends meet, NOW, I have 2 kids (one nearly three and a new 3mth old baby....all go AHHHHH!) BUT I HAVE NEVER WORKED SO HARD IN MY LIFE, I now work 24/7, unpaid and unappreciated mostly.

Kids, lets face it, are our only hope of any kind of future govenerment pension, girls who do what you say, frankly are taking the hard road and I do think the Governament tries to encourage a little procreation...it's in all our interests.

Enough of this debate....

Btw, are you British just interested in Turkish/Turkey or married to one or what?

HMC
got to go...baby feeding time