Question for Turkish couples.

[MPGGPM 0]

By the way....we do not have to worry about the "registration" issue. That morning, my wife was so upset, and the feedback we were getting from the embassy only made it more confusing. But, as time went on , things started to sort out, and I now realize that what the embassy was trying to tell us, when they mentioned the Turkish Consulate in New York, was that they had thought that we needed to have the marriage registered. So, that was why they kept bringing up the issue of us having to speak to the New York Consulate.

However, and thankfully!......2 years ago, my wife (I actually was with her when she mailed it)......sent all that information in to NY in 2005. If she had not, right now it would be a mess....we'd be looking at a 3 month delay (at least).

But, it became clear as the day went on what had happened, and through the confusion, we realized that all we had to do now, was to get that certificate, which she could (and has already) get in Turkey.

So........we were REAL fortunate to have registered the marriage already. 2 years is long enough to wait. We would have a hard time facing another 3 or more month delay.

The only concern we have now....is the certificate........the passport change...............and the mailing of it back in to the embassy.

And from there,we'll just keep our fingers crossed.

[NY_IZMIR 1]

Yeah that's what I meant by amended.

I don't see why there'd be any difference in doing that vs. getting a new one. It's not an uncommon thing to change the passport to reflect new last name, especially if you had a previous visa to some country that was still valid and didn't want to have to re-apply for it. It should be perfectly fine.

Good to hear that you can get that all mailed in, send it via UPS and you shouldn't have any problems and hopefully get your visa within a week or so.

I think the fact that they only look at your packet just when you arrive at the interview is a very bad practice. If they actually looked to make sure everything was good to go, and then call you for an interview just to ask the usual questions, it would be better and people wouldn't feel so terrible traveling all the way to Ankara just to return back with that green sheet of paper.

[MPGGPM 0]

Yeah that's what I meant by amended.

I don't see why there'd be any difference in doing that vs. getting a new one. It's not an uncommon thing to change the passport to reflect new last name, especially if you had a previous visa to some country that was still valid and didn't want to have to re-apply for it. It should be perfectly fine.

Good to hear that you can get that all mailed in, send it via UPS and you shouldn't have any problems and hopefully get your visa within a week or so.

I think the fact that they only look at your packet just when you arrive at the interview is a very bad practice. If they actually looked to make sure everything was good to go, and then call you for an interview just to ask the usual questions, it would be better and people wouldn't feel so terrible traveling all the way to Ankara just to return back with that green sheet of paper.

Yeah...you don't know the half of it (or...maybe since your wife went through this...you do)...

But, before the interview, my wife spent all this time making an "album" with pictures, getting all her pay stubs etc to show her proof of serving 2 years, gathering any kind of document she could find to bring. She told me when she went to the embassy, she had a "bag" full of stuff.

They didn't even look at a thing. She said the interview took 5 minutes. They gave her the green paper......and that was it. Off she went.

It was awful. Spending 4-5 hours traveling to Ankara,(and back) ....the day before the interview she got her hair all fixed up etc.....trying to look the best she could.....waiting outside the embassy all morning, just to eventually get let in, and then find she'll have to wait some more, in a room full of people, until she finally got her interview , one hour later than scheduled.

All was a waste. to get the documents, pictures, and do everything else to get ready for the big day. And then........................in 5 minutes it was done, and they hardly asked her anything and didn't look at any of the stuff she brought.

We thought the same way as you, when we talked later. That......maybe had they at least looked through the documents ahead of time, maybe a "phone call" or something would have been nice. Just a quick call or message letting us know something was missing. It would have been so much better.......and less humiliating for my wife.

I guess the one bright side is...............she doesn't have to go back.

Finally.....just to make sure I made myself clear. The passport..............we are "amending" it and as you said, it should be okay. But to be clear, we are not just changing the name, the passport will have one page that says for example "Susan Johnson".......and then the next page inside will say something like "Also known as Susan Johnson-Smith".

We did that to make sure the name on the front is still the one she applied for the visa with, and then the name on the second page is the married one.

So two separate pages...each with a different name (I believe that's how my wife said they will be updating the passport).

Again......thanks for all your help. It's really appreciated.

Edited April 7, 2007 by MPGGPM

[internetkafe 0]

Yeah that's what I meant by amended.

I don't see why there'd be any difference in doing that vs. getting a new one. It's not an uncommon thing to change the passport to reflect new last name, especially if you had a previous visa to some country that was still valid and didn't want to have to re-apply for it. It should be perfectly fine.

Good to hear that you can get that all mailed in, send it via UPS and you shouldn't have any problems and hopefully get your visa within a week or so.

I think the fact that they only look at your packet just when you arrive at the interview is a very bad practice. If they actually looked to make sure everything was good to go, and then call you for an interview just to ask the usual questions, it would be better and people wouldn't feel so terrible traveling all the way to Ankara just to return back with that green sheet of paper.

It is NVC's known practice that they do not contact petitioner/beneficiary in case of a missing supplementary document. The ones which are in Turkish especially. Birth certificates, military discharge papers, passport copies anything like that..as long as they get a document they do not tell you if it is the right kind or not.

The Consulate however knows it and should notify the people involved before the visa interview to prevent any delays and extra work both for them and the beneficiaries but they do not do it.

[internetkafe 0]

Yeah that's what I meant by amended.

I don't see why there'd be any difference in doing that vs. getting a new one. It's not an uncommon thing to change the passport to reflect new last name, especially if you had a previous visa to some country that was still valid and didn't want to have to re-apply for it. It should be perfectly fine.

Good to hear that you can get that all mailed in, send it via UPS and you shouldn't have any problems and hopefully get your visa within a week or so.

I think the fact that they only look at your packet just when you arrive at the interview is a very bad practice. If they actually looked to make sure everything was good to go, and then call you for an interview just to ask the usual questions, it would be better and people wouldn't feel so terrible traveling all the way to Ankara just to return back with that green sheet of paper.

I told you so months ago that interviews take no more than 5 minutes usually. But you have to have everything with you in case they ask for it. As a precaution.

[MPGGPM 0]

To NY_IZMIR,

I've been trying to get in in touch with the Embassy. (the day before, dialing for 90 minutes straight between 3:30 to 5 am eastern......which is the only time they allow immigrant visa questions......couldn't get through to one person! Terrific system they have there.......... )

I sent an email yesterday, and the Embassy responded this morning, with a short one sentence reply, and said that the documents which we sent back are being "reviewed by a consular officer and my wife will be notified in 2-3 working days ".........of the result.

I had actually written in my email, for them to contact "me" when/if the visa is issued. But in the reply, they said they would contact my "wife".

My questions to you, since you went through something similar, is............................did the Embassy actually contact your wife before they mailed the visa back to her? How exactly did they contact you(or wife) so that you knew the visa was going to be mailed?

Or did they just mail it without saying a word?

Thanks again for the help.

Maybe this will be the end of all this in a few days......maybe it won't be. We'll see. I'm keeping my fingers (and every other part of my body that can be ) ...crossed.

[MPGGPM 0]

(and every other part of my body that can be )

Uhhh.......hmmm.........I think I'd better rephrase that.......to read ........ALMOST every other part of my body.

Edited April 11, 2007 by MPGGPM

[MPGGPM 0]

Forgot one other question.

When you look at your timeline, you "appear" to have sent in the passport and other items they requested on the 22nd of March.

I can't tell by the way it was written if you "sent" it on the 22nd, or if they "received" it on that day. If they did.............then 5 business days to get the visa? (if they got the information on the 23rd......then 4 business days)

Was the 22nd the actual day that they received what you sent to them?

[NY_IZMIR 1]

Hey MPGGPM,

So our interview as on the 21st, I emailed my wife the w-2's that I scanned in that night and she had everything ready and sent the paperwork via UPS on the 22nd. We tracked the UPS package and i think it was delivered on Friday the 23rd. (or perhaps Monday the 26th, I don't exactly remember) They did not inform either of us in any way that they were sending the visa. We would've received everything back on Thursday the 29th if my wife was available for the delivery. They left a notice with her coworkers which, and she called them up later and told them that she'd be at work the next day and gave them her cell # for the delivery guy to call her if she wasn't at her desk.

So 8 days total including a weekend between us sending them everything and getting things back. Hope this helps.

Oguzhan

[MPGGPM 0]

Hey MPGGPM,

So our interview as on the 21st, I emailed my wife the w-2's that I scanned in that night and she had everything ready and sent the paperwork via UPS on the 22nd. We tracked the UPS package and i think it was delivered on Friday the 23rd. (or perhaps Monday the 26th, I don't exactly remember) They did not inform either of us in any way that they were sending the visa. We would've received everything back on Thursday the 29th if my wife was available for the delivery. They left a notice with her coworkers which, and she called them up later and told them that she'd be at work the next day and gave them her cell # for the delivery guy to call her if she wasn't at her desk.

So 8 days total including a weekend between us sending them everything and getting things back. Hope this helps.

Oguzhan

It helps tremendously.

I asked this question in the Embassy forum, but helpful as everyone is and tries to be, it's always hard to give an answer to something that you don't have a personal experience with. So, the answers were more general and speculative.

Nothing is more useful than having someone who not only has gone through something similar, but has also gone through it so recently, that it is all still pretty fresh in their mind....like in your case.

What you wrote confirms a few things. Mainly................that we will not get any word on the result, and I guess what the embassy really meant when they emailed me, was their roundabout way of telling me that we will either get the visa in the mail..............or heaven forbid, some other kind of RFE. But, apparently......they don't plan on letting us know ahead of time, either by a phone call or email ,and we'll just have to find out when we receive whatever it is that they are mailing to us. (although I did send another email today......to keep them on their toes. )

We sent our package back by UPS as well. It was received on Tuesday the 10th, at 11 a.m. (Ankara time).....according to the UPS website. That would mean, by what you wrote......that it is even possible that my wife could get something as early as tommorrow!

I know every situation is different, and the embassy might be busier now than they were in March, but, at least your response gives us hope that there is a slight possibility of getting it so soon.

If my wife were awake now, I'd call her and let her know what you wrote, and to tell her to keep an eye out for the mailman tomorrow, in case. But.....being that it's 2 a.m. over there in Istanbul right now, I think I'd better wait.

I think and hope it is just a matter of a day now....or at worst days (because of the weekend).

In either case, no matter when it happens....................I am very grateful to you and to everyone else who responded on this thread. You all have been very helpful.

[NY_IZMIR 1]

No problem,

Yeah it could be as early as tomorrow. But don't stress if it's not. You both will be jumping up and down in joy soon enough.

As far as contacting the embassy, they were very helpful in the early days before the interview and responded to email very quickly. But when I wrote them a "somewhat" nasty email about how they made a mistake in not granting a visa in the spot for my wife, I never heard anything back I'm glad I didn't send the initial version of that email and calmed myself down and wrote a less toned down one. Otherwise, maybe they would've just kept me in perpetual wait

[MPGGPM 0]

Thought I might mention that................

MY WIFE GOT HER VISA TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We both couldn't believe it. We kept thinking FOR SURE....we wouldn't get it until next week. She actually got it on a Saturday, in Istanbul. Didn't expect UPS to be delivering anything today, especially because I was checking their website, and we were told it would be the same tracking number as the package that we sent to the embassy. Turns out......it wasn't. Even UPS informed us wrong. So, since we didn't see signs of any package coming on the UPS website, we weren't expecting anything.

Was such a shock to my wife this morning. Suprised the heck out of her and the family over there.

I thank ALL of you members from Turkey that helped us along the way, these past 2 years and 1 month..........

All of your help and responses to our questions were really invaluable.

It's really hard to believe it is all FINALLY over!

Been soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long......!

Edited April 14, 2007 by MPGGPM

[NY_IZMIR 1]

AWESOME!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO BOTH OF YOU!!!!!

[phila 0]

Congreatulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been following your stressful thread, and am delighted everything worked out. The information you shared is so helpful for us, particularly the timing of Visa delivery.

I wish you both the best!

Christine

[Dennis & Ezgi 0]

Congreatulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been following your stressful thread, and am delighted everything worked out. The information you shared is so helpful for us, particularly the timing of Visa delivery.

I wish you both the best!

Christine

Congratulations. I am so happy for u guys. Just a note I am going to Istanbul on May 4th and we are having our interview on May 8th. Hope everything goes problem free for us...