Just Turkish

[camistanbul 0]

Yea we are signing him up at the community college for Fall classes to improve his English and then take other courses from there, so hopefully that helps. Another thing that was frustrating for me is that he is afraid to speak for himself regarding jobs and interviews, telephone etc, so I told him he has to just do it as I am getting stressed for being responsible for everything! He kept saying what if I don't understand a long word or something or they speak really fast.....as I fill out the online apps for him as he doesn't want to make a mistake. So tomorrow he has an interview with an employment agency to clean offices...the ONLY call back in the last 16 months, not very hopeful, but it will be good practice for him. I am making him call from a newspaper ad tomorrow for another job. He is very nervous.

I understand... my husband's English is quite good, but it was still difficult for him to "get out there." There is a fairly active Turkish community here in the Bay Area, so I pushed him to do that. That didn't really lead anywhere, but another option we had looked in to was volunteering. If your situation is OK and you want him to go out, interact with people, and start practicing English or networking-- volunteering could be a good thing, too. I was also getting very stressed out from feeling responsible for everything, but you just have to let them do it. I lived in Turkey for 4 years and I went through the same things -- and if someone was willing to help, of course I took them up on it! It didn't help me in the long run though. Not understanding can be incredibly frustrating, but we never learn how to do it if we don't try. Are there ESL classes offered near you? Get him signed up sooner rather than later. It will help a lot!

Hope your husband gets the job! It might not be the best, but it's a job and you're right -- good practice!

[ErikaAndHamit 73]

Hey there!

Yea he has taken the free ones already so it is time to take some community college English courses. He is conversational, but worries a lot if there is a word he doesn't understand, so it is time for some official classes. Yes we did try for volunteering and no one called back from there either! (we have a volunteers agency here). Anyway, we tried Craigslist and there are a lot of jobs there....more so than other places it seems. So he is off tomorrow to go and try and find something. We are scrapping the employment agency as he has better prospects tomorrow we found through Craigslist and the paper today. I read a lot of bad reviews about the agency, as it has a generic name of "Employment Hotline" and it seems like a waste of time, albeit good practice. Thanks for the well wishes cami (I don't know your name lol)!

So you lived there for 4 years? Wow, so how did you survive? Did you work? How was your Turkish by the end of 4 years? Wow! How cool! Aren't you the one with the 4 year old girl? How is she..any pics?

Edited June 21, 2010 by ErikaAndHamit

[ErikaAndHamit 73]

Also, congrats everyone on upcoming interviews, etc! Jenn glad you are doing well-I have been spying on you through your blog! Glad all is well as can be considering! Can't wait till the chemo is finished for you and you can move back into "normalcy"!

[Jenn and Fuat 2]

Also, congrats everyone on upcoming interviews, etc! Jenn glad you are doing well-I have been spying on you through your blog! Glad all is well as can be considering! Can't wait till the chemo is finished for you and you can move back into "normalcy"!

ahhh spying eh :) Well that's what the blog is there for. I've been meaning to post pics of the GI Jenn bald head, but was pretty ill last week and couldn't get them done. Maybe this week.

I hope the job search goes well. Wish we had an amusement park near you that I could send him to. We are always hiring.... I worked as an office cleaner several years ago and it can be a pretty good job, pay well,etc. Except for the fact the hours are in the evening. But I liked it.

Fuat is finally getting to the point where he will order his own food and drinks in a restaurant.. and his English is perfect. I guess it just takes time to get over the fear of making a mistake or not understanding someone.

Good luck with the other jobs. I look fowarding to hearing he found something he really likes.

[ErikaAndHamit 73]

I wish we had an amusement park to go to PERIOD ha ha California is the the closest one...too long of a commute lol An office cleaning job is ideal for him if only he can be so lucky. He will be starting community college ESL classes in the Fall, but he doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up. He is an electrician, but doesn't care for that anymore. Anyway, glad all is well in this neck of the woods and glad to see you here Jenn. Fuat sure loves you and I was touched by that...how sweet

[LoveRaja 0]

Hi guys! Hope everything fine for you and goes well. Actually my friend from VJ ErikaAndHamit helped me out so much. Ty for his/her support. I wanna ask a question if you dont mind to answer.

Yesterday I had my interview at Ankara embassy. And they gave me a green paper which means missing a doc.Consular woman told me that everything is good.But my husband need to summit a bank account which has to have 15k USD on it. (Cuz his income was below for last year) And they made me signed to Ds-230 form and told me that actually they approved my visa but need to send docs first. They gave my passport back. Told me that send your passport with missing doc and green paper. The question is any of you have/had this kind a issue and if any of you got visa after send missed docs? I need your advice.Hope some of you will give me a good news. So I can sleep ..

Thank you in advance.xoxox

[Jon&Sevi 0]

We had an issue with one document. Acquired the document and sent with the passport and green paper. Had the Visa 7 days later....

Good Luck!

Hi guys! Hope everything fine for you and goes well. Actually my friend from VJ ErikaAndHamit helped me out so much. Ty for his/her support. I wanna ask a question if you dont mind to answer.

Yesterday I had my interview at Ankara embassy. And they gave me a green paper which means missing a doc.Consular woman told me that everything is good.But my husband need to summit a bank account which has to have 15k USD on it. (Cuz his income was below for last year) And they made me signed to Ds-230 form and told me that actually they approved my visa but need to send docs first. They gave my passport back. Told me that send your passport with missing doc and green paper. The question is any of you have/had this kind a issue and if any of you got visa after send missed docs? I need your advice.Hope some of you will give me a good news. So I can sleep ..

Thank you in advance.xoxox

[Jenn and Fuat 2]

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy July 4th!

[delicateflower 0]

Hi All!

I am new here. I hope I can help you guys and I can get some advices!

I am Turkish and My husband is American. My husband has been in Turkey for 6 months. We will send all the papers this Tuesday to Ankara (DCF). Before we send it I have a couple questions.

My husband never got the residince permisson! He went to Cyprus every 3 months and renew his visa. When we called the consulate they said it's no problem as long as he has the entries and exits on his passport. We didn't get any resident visa for him because I talked to a few people they told me If he gets it then the consulate causes a lot of problems (like they tell him to go back to the US by himself and prove his resident there) so he only has the tourist visa. Do you guys think it will be a problem?

Also I didn't see anywhere in the form If we need a cover letter but here everybody says they wrote one. Do we need one?

When we pay the 355$ at Fortis bank(Cashier's check) are we gonna say it is for immigrant visa? does my husband (American) or do I have to get the check?

We will send it this week and one of my friends said that it takes for 8 months! is this true? I thought it takes for 3 months.

Thanks for all the answers

[Jenn and Fuat 2]

Hi All!

I am new here. I hope I can help you guys and I can get some advices!

I am Turkish and My husband is American. My husband has been in Turkey for 6 months. We will send all the papers this Tuesday to Ankara (DCF). Before we send it I have a couple questions.

My husband never got the residince permisson! He went to Cyprus every 3 months and renew his visa. When we called the consulate they said it's no problem as long as he has the entries and exits on his passport. We didn't get any resident visa for him because I talked to a few people they told me If he gets it then the consulate causes a lot of problems (like they tell him to go back to the US by himself and prove his resident there) so he only has the tourist visa. Do you guys think it will be a problem?

Also I didn't see anywhere in the form If we need a cover letter but here everybody says they wrote one. Do we need one?

When we pay the 355$ at Fortis bank(Cashier's check) are we gonna say it is for immigrant visa? does my husband (American) or do I have to get the check?

We will send it this week and one of my friends said that it takes for 8 months! is this true? I thought it takes for 3 months.

Thanks for all the answers

Hi.. sorry no one has responded to you yet. I don't know much about DCF... We went the K1 route. It took 5 months from the day we mailed in the application to the day of our interview.

The great news is that we got approved for Permanent Residency yesterday and we are now done with this whole mess for two years. Just thought I would drop in and let everyone know where we were at with things. Hope all is well with everyone.

[Melinda&Necmi 0]

We have an interview date! I asked for the time off work today. I can't take annual leave because two nurses already have the week off:( So I am at the mercy of my manager! She wants a blow by blow of what I will be doing so she knows how many days to give me. It kinda bums me out becuase I would like to spend a few days with him when we get back!!

I have a question though...in packet 3 it states the visa will arrive in 10 business days. did the old packet say 3-4? I can't remember and I deleted it after I got my email with the link to the updated one (complete with the fee change to $355!) I don't want to leave him there to follow me in a few days..I was looking forward to seeing him on a plane for 12 hours without smoking:)

I hope all are well and are having a great summer!!

[Luckywife2007 6]

Hi All!

I am new here. I hope I can help you guys and I can get some advices!

I am Turkish and My husband is American. My husband has been in Turkey for 6 months. We will send all the papers this Tuesday to Ankara (DCF). Before we send it I have a couple questions.

My husband never got the residince permisson! He went to Cyprus every 3 months and renew his visa. When we called the consulate they said it's no problem as long as he has the entries and exits on his passport. We didn't get any resident visa for him because I talked to a few people they told me If he gets it then the consulate causes a lot of problems (like they tell him to go back to the US by himself and prove his resident there) so he only has the tourist visa. Do you guys think it will be a problem?

Also I didn't see anywhere in the form If we need a cover letter but here everybody says they wrote one. Do we need one?

When we pay the 355$ at Fortis bank(Cashier's check) are we gonna say it is for immigrant visa? does my husband (American) or do I have to get the check?

We will send it this week and one of my friends said that it takes for 8 months! is this true? I thought it takes for 3 months.

Thanks for all the answers

Delicate Flower,

MY Hubby and I are going to DCF in Ankara very soon and I have been steadfastly researching and reading the net and VJ (which is a valuable resource) for info on this process. I am attaching the link that I believe you will find very helpful.... How long have you been married and did you marry in Turkey?

Edited July 22, 2010 by Luckywife2007

[camistanbul 0]

Hi All!

I am new here. I hope I can help you guys and I can get some advices!

I am Turkish and My husband is American. My husband has been in Turkey for 6 months. We will send all the papers this Tuesday to Ankara (DCF). Before we send it I have a couple questions.

My husband never got the residince permisson! He went to Cyprus every 3 months and renew his visa. When we called the consulate they said it's no problem as long as he has the entries and exits on his passport. We didn't get any resident visa for him because I talked to a few people they told me If he gets it then the consulate causes a lot of problems (like they tell him to go back to the US by himself and prove his resident there) so he only has the tourist visa. Do you guys think it will be a problem?

Also I didn't see anywhere in the form If we need a cover letter but here everybody says they wrote one. Do we need one?

When we pay the 355$ at Fortis bank(Cashier's check) are we gonna say it is for immigrant visa? does my husband (American) or do I have to get the check?

We will send it this week and one of my friends said that it takes for 8 months! is this true? I thought it takes for 3 months.

Thanks for all the answers

Merhabalar -

You should go to the Embassy website and check the instructions in Turkish:

US Embassy Ankara (Turkce)

I think that will be most helpful to you to double-check you have done everything. My husband and I did DCF in 2008 and we had a cover letter.... the instructions for the check at Fortis Bank are very clear "blok cek" or something like that.... I think it is made out to the Embassy.

I don't think it matters who gets the check, but we went together when we did it.

If you are applying for DCF (which you should, since your husband has been living in Turkey) it will be much faster than any other way. We were done in 3 months I believe (check my timeline!).

Good luck!

[delicateflower 0]

Delicate Flower,

MY Hubby and I are going to DCF in Ankara very soon and I have been steadfastly researching and reading the net and VJ (which is a valuable resource) for info on this process. I am attaching the link that I believe you will find very helpful.... How long have you been married and did you marry in Turkey?

I didn't see any link! How can I see it? Yes we got married in Turkey, it has been 3 months but my husband and I came back from the Us 6 months ago (I was an au pair in california for 2 years) We sent the papers 2 days ago! We really want to go back because We have some personal problems with my family... I read that it sometimes takes 6 months but we will try to d everything to get the visa ASAP! How long have you been married? we are really stressed out and nobody is applying for DCF in Ankara. When will you send your papers?

[delicateflower 0]

Merhabalar -

You should go to the Embassy website and check the instructions in Turkish:

US Embassy Ankara (Turkce)

I think that will be most helpful to you to double-check you have done everything. My husband and I did DCF in 2008 and we had a cover letter.... the instructions for the check at Fortis Bank are very clear "blok cek" or something like that.... I think it is made out to the Embassy.

I don't think it matters who gets the check, but we went together when we did it.

If you are applying for DCF (which you should, since your husband has been living in Turkey) it will be much faster than any other way. We were done in 3 months I believe (check my timeline!).

Good luck!

I tried to read in Turkish but the link is not working! We already sent the papers! I wanna ask you something, what is the receipt number? does it mean they will look at our file soon? We called them today and they said they will send a receipt number tomorrow! 3 months is a very long time for us because we will not have anywhere to stay end of the month :-( Also do you think they will tell my husband to go alone and get a house and a job then I can go? He is self-employed sohe has a job when he goes back also we will stay with his parents plus he has a car in california (we sent the documents for that) We met in california so we have a lot of pics to proof our marriage.. we are just very stressed out...