Foreigners leave Turkey amid new residence law

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

A high nubmer of Armenian and Georgian people working in Turkey are leaving the country in the wake of a recent law implementation that complicates working permits for foreign people. While workers complain of extreme financial difficulties, Labor Ministry announces that there will be exceptions for house workers

Armenians and Georgians are rushing to exit Turkey before a new law complicating residence procedures comes into effect Feb 1. Many workers from the countries have implored PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to quash the law, saying it will make it impossible for them to continue living in Turkey.

A new law that will make it more difficult for foreigners to continue living in Turkey without a residence permit has prompted an exodus of Georgians and Armenians who want to leave the country before new regulations go into effect Feb. 1. “I am pleading to Turkish Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan [to prevent] this law from going into effect. I am feeding and educating my kids with money that I earn here,” said Sofiya, a 47-year-old Georgian citizen, as she was getting ready to travel back to Tbilisi. “The Law of Foreigners’ Residence and Travel in Turkey” has also put the Emniyet Bus Terminal in Istanbul’s Aksaray district into a frenzy, as Georgians and Armenians who are mainly employed in house labor, babysitting and patient care are rushing to leave Turkey to avoid incurring any penalties. “Bread has no country. Wherever there is bread, we, the economically vulnerable people, go there. We have to live and support our families. We have no other chance,” Hayganuş, an Armenian citizen, said in reference to the tough rhetoric employed by Erdoğan in response to a draft bill on Armenian genocide allegations that came before the House of Representatives in the United States in 2010. RegulationsUntil now, many foreigners have done “visa runs” to neighboring countries, exiting Turkey after their 90-day visa ends and then immediately re-entering with a new 90-day visa. However, the new law prepared by the Labor and Social Security Ministry will only allow foreign citizens entering the country with a tourist visa to stay in Turkey for three months, after which time they will be obliged to wait for another three months abroad before they can return. Authorities have provided one convenience for foreign workers, however, in recognition of Armenian, Kyrgyz and Gagauz home laborers. Such house workers will pay the same premiums as a Turkish citizen and will be allowed to continue working even if a Turkish citizen demands the same job. “Those employed in house labor will continue working by paying premiums like a Turkish citizen,” Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik said. As many Armenian, Kyrgyz and Gagauz residents in Turkey work in such services as home labor and patient care, they will also be able to take advantage of this provision.Foreign citizens who arrive in Turkey by means of a tourist visa and later obtain a work permit will be allowed to extend their stay in the country for a year or more, Çelik added. Foreign workers, however, will then be obliged to pay a hefty premium of 400 Turkish Liras as well, while they will also be barred from obtaining employment in a sector where Turkish citizens demand work. Prime Minister Tayyip Eroğan last year expressed that some 170,000 Armenians live in Turkey. The Armenian Foreign Ministry, however, said only 15,000 Armenian citizens currently reside in Turkey.Armenians in Turkey on the other hand, seem worried.“As Armenian [citizens], we always lived in fear of being sent back. Such a return would mean chaos for my family. I can neither find food nor take a leave for three months and return back, or find a job,” said Hayganuş, who has been taking care of an elderly woman in Istanbul.

Source: here

I did not read the whole article carefully, but can someone tell me how this applies to anyone wanting to stay in Turkey more than 3 months? What if they have their own money, will they have to leave after 3 months, stay away for 3 months before entering again...???

Yes. (That´s my understanding)

Up until now, people would leave Turkia for one day (a short trip to Greece or Bulgaria) and get another 3-month visa at the border.

For those who wants to stay more than 3 months, there may be longer term visas if they are qualifed (I don´t know how exactly though)?

Wow, that doesn´t sound very friendly. It certainly isn´t very hospitable for expats.....and I was considering retirement in Turkey. 

I don´t know well but if you buy buy a property (a house) for living in Turkia, things may be different.

I don´t think that would apply to you in that case. You should be permitted to stay as long as you want with periodic renewals.

You just have to buy your residency permit you can buy up to five years and they have recently reduced the price a great deal, last year I payed 900 lira for one year this year I have just payed 600 lira for five years, you dont need to have bought a property , you can just rent, but you have to prove that you have enough money in your bank account to be able to live on for the amount of years you want residency for, and then you can come and go from the country as you please

Whew, glad to know that Deli, thanks for the info. 

I lived in Turkey for one year and left in July 2011. When I arrived, I arrived on a 90 day tourist visa. I am a US citizen. I immediately began gathering the paperwork and documents for my residence permit because I knew I would be living there indefinitely. I had to open a bank account in a Turkish bank and print a statement of how much money I had in the account. I needed a tax ID number which was free and took about 5 minutes. I had to complete a residence application at the office and I did this on the day I applied for the residence permit. Seems like I needed something else, but I can´t remember.

I had no job and no prospect of a job. I was not married and while I did have a Turkish boyfriend, we had no plans to marry at the time I applied for residency. The government didn´t seem to care as long as I had money in the bank.

When I went to the governement office to get my permit, they looked at all of my documents, bank documents first I might add, and said I could get a residence permit for two years and that I should come back in one week and pick up my permit. All they seemed to really care about was how much money I had in the bank. They told me if I had 10000 USD in the bank, they would have given me a 5 year residence permit. I had 6000USD in my Turkish bank account at the time of application. It was very easy for me as a US citizen to get a residence permit, but it was not cheap.

I paid 100TL for the little blue residence book and any time I traveled I needed to take this book as well as my passport. There is no actual documentation of my residency in my passport. The residence permit cost 1300TL. This was in August 2010. I hear they are much cheaper now because of the new laws, but this is second hand information.

This is just my experience as a US citizen. For other nationalities, I know it is not always so easy to get the residence permit.

The way I understand it is that the new rule is to stop abuse of the tourist visa. Anyone wishing to work and live in Turkey or retire there can apply for the relevant visas/permits. I presume applications will, as a necessity, have to include evidence of the applicant´s ability to support themselves financially.

Exactly!