Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Other Local Resorts & Areas => Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum => Topic started by: simpsons on April 12, 2011, 12:43:16 PM
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First, let me say that I am not stupid, nor am I a child, but after spending nearly an hour in the Passport Police office yesterday, I am now questioning my sanity. Having lived here for 5 years, and having taken out residency for the first 2 years, we let it lapse as me and the other half, go back to England occasionally, so just did the 3 month visa. However, we have decided to take advantage of the new cost for residency. Off we go to Passport Police in Fethiye, where we arrived at 12.40pm. There we 2 officers in there (1 male, 1 female) just chatting. We asked for a form and were told to come back at 1.00pm. We sat outside and waited. At 1.00pm we were joined by a few more people waiting for forms. We all went in and were told to wait for another officer. After 10 - 15 mins another woman officer came in. By this time everone was getting irate. When I was was finally dealt with, the 2 female officers demanded to see me and the wifes passports. Then she got the forms out and asked how many years we wanted residency for. As we had not decided, she then snatched the forms from us and shouted in turkish to us, as though we were naughty children. We tried to explain that we had residency in the past, but neither of them could speak english,. Luckely, there was an english woman there who could speak turkish, and she explained this to them. They then demanded to see our blue books, which we said were back at our apartment. After much shouting from the 2 officers, the english woman said that according to the Passport police we did not have fill in any forms, but to bring our blue books in where they will stamp them. Does anybody know if this is a new thing? I know that a lot of english are now doing their residency, causing extra work for the authorities, but I felt we were treated like second class citizens. As a retired police officer myself, I think that on the whole their atitude stinks
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Nightmare! I bet they are being inundated hence their attitude. I think that I would have taken anything and everything that was passport & residency related along with me. Good luck with it all.
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only question i would ask is why didnt you take your blue books with you, if you had gone through the procedure before.
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We didnt think we needed our blue books at this stage as all we wanted was the forms. My daughter has been doing here residency sine we came here as she has to have a work permit,and she has never been asked for her blue book when getting a form for renewal. However, my main concern was the way they treated myself and other people there. They did not seem to know what they were doing. One chap wanted to renew his residency, they gave him a form, but didny know what documents he needed. I know they are probably overworked, but there was no need for their surliness.
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quote:
Originally posted by simpsons
We didnt think we needed our blue books at this stage as all we wanted was the forms. My daughter has been doing here residency sine we came here as she has to have a work permit,and she has never been asked for her blue book when getting a form for renewal. However, my main concern was the way they treated myself and other people there. They did not seem to know what they were doing. One chap wanted to renew his residency, they gave him a form, but didny know what documents he needed. I know they are probably overworked, but there was no need for their surliness.
i agree with you there Phil, unfortunatly we are in turkey and have to go along with it sometimes, and i know its not pleasant, but you will get there, good luck. Des.
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Thats right Des. If you argue or make a complaint then their answer is always "If you dont like it, go back to your own country". Its just infuriating to be treated in this manner. It appears that they can speak to us like idiots, but they dont like it when you reciprocate.
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"We tried to explain that we had residency in the past, but neither of them could speak english,"
How absolutely awful of these policemen not to speak English. We all know that every police officer in England speaks Turkish
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quote:
Originally posted by kaptainkrunchie
"We tried to explain that we had residency in the past, but neither of them could speak english,"
How absolutely awful of these policemen not to speak English. We all know that every police officer in England speaks Turkish
The fact that they could not speak english was not the issue, it was the rude and patronising way they dealt with myself and others. Maybe, you are quite happy to be treated in this manner, but I was brought up to believe civility costs nothing. And we did not expect them all to speak english, it is the fact that Fethiye, with a high number of ex-pats, you would expect at least one being able to communicate. Mugla Police stated last year that english classes were being held for police. In fact KaptainKrunchie, with your attitude, you could qualify to be a Passport copper.
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quote:
Originally posted by kaptainkrunchie
"We tried to explain that we had residency in the past, but neither of them could speak english,"
How absolutely awful of these policemen not to speak English. We all know that every police officer in England speaks Turkish
What a helfull member you are ,a beautiful person that makes me proud to be British. :(
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lets face it, the new fee and resulting dash for applications has made their job a LOT busier.
I dont suppose they have been geared up for it with extra staff and I doubt they are overpaid.
factor in communication issues and really would you be looking forward to going in to work...
Generally it is best to smile , apologise and ask when is the best time to return with the appropriate documentation.
To be honest all the paperwork you need to take with you is freely listed around the internet official sites and forums.
Whilst I am sad you had a negative experience - just be glad you aren't doing it in July or August in the searing heat.
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your right politeness costs nothing. . . And out of interest where might the passport police be found...
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I don't think they are being rude because of the rush caused by recent price changes. They were a miserable pack of sods in 2004 and ever since.
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One of the women officers does speak some English (unless she's moved) The 'sergeant' in there is an absolute plonker who was born rude (and, apparently, been told off so many times by Fethiye Chief). Think it's a typical case of them deciding not to understand you.
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by the marina John
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Yea, look for the crowd of irate english people waving forms.
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If you are not sure about what to say in Turkish how about doing Google Translate with some phrases,write it down and take it with you to the passport office. All you want is a couple of forms and most of the other work is done at different offices. They are all equally "helpful".
Now anyone suggest some phrases to write down.
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"Actually, I was before him"
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"exactly where would you like this paper put"
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"couldn't you have told me when I joined the back of the queue at half past eleven that you would close up at noon and send everyone away"
"are you in miserable attitude training because you ultimately want to work at Dalaman Airport?"
"why does everyone behind me want to see my forms over my shoulder?"
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i dont think i want residence here now i have seen you miserable lot,[passport police]
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'What was the middle bit'
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"Is it because I is Anglo-Saxon"
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And when I went to tax office to pay last year They asked
How much do you need to pay for this?
I told her the price
then she said
I need it in writing from passport police
After going back to customs and got it in writing
She said
Whats the exchange rate today?
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Must say I am a bit bewildered by all these comments as have been renewing my residency every year for the last four years.I have honestly never encountered rudeness or a problem in fact they seem to remember me from year to year and always welcome me and ask me how I am. Perhaps I just got lucky but they have always treated me with respect apart from one lady officer who obviously A/ doesn't like the brits or B/ doesnt like work.In fact they were so nice when I went in last week for a four year visa (main passport runs out after that) that I am going to bake them a cake.Try going in with a genuine smile on your face and a few words of Turkish greeting. I can only speak as I find.
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There is no excuse for rudeness whether you are Turkish, British or come from Mars.
With some expats there always seems to be this expectation that when they go somewhere that the locals must speak English and they seem to get upset if they do not. How many times have I heard it said in the UK those bloody foreigners should learn to speak English and they get upset in government offices when they see signs in various languages.When a foreigner comes to the UK we expect him to speak English. We now have people in the UK wanting that foreigners should have a good understanding of English before they are allowed to stay in the country.If the same was applied to the Brits living in Turkey we all would be on the first boat back.
Many have their own little enclaves that are exclusively expats. The first Turkish class that I went to in Ovacik there was one woman who had lived in Turkey for 3 years and did not know the Turkish for hello, goodbye, please or thank you. I think we are lucky in the Fethiye area because of the number of Turks that speak English. This should not excuse us for not trying to learn the language.
A very good Turkish friend once told me not to be too harsh on those who work in state jobs as they are paid very little..
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In theory I would agree with you, OPD. However, there are a number of immigrants who have lived in the UK for years who do not speak a word of English (granny's, 2nd cousin twice removed etc.) who can't speak a word of English and will never learn because the family translate for them and they don't want to learn the language.
I, personally, am a great fan of the Australians stance on this - if you don't like our language, customs, laws etc, then go home. we didn't invite you, you came of your own free will, bog off if you don't like it.
Even if you have a smattering of Turkish (which I do and I make use of) the passport police ARE obnoxious, bloody rude and incompetent. Especially the Sergeant if he's still there.
And before we down the road of 'they're not paid much' etc. etc. that is no excuse. NO civil servants are paid much. Perhaps if they did their job more efficiently and with a smile they would get promoted.
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That is a good point and covers the UK too. I hear so many times that the reason I receive surly attention (if any at all) in places such as Halfords and the like is "would you put effort into the job if you were on minimum wage like most of them are?". The answer is yes, because I don't want to be on minimum wage any longer than I need to, and up beats out!
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Too true, Scunner. In today's market they're lucky to have a job at all even if it is minimum wage. There's a pretty good chance that one of my children is about to be made redundant for the 3rd time in 18 months (even though he's pretty good at the job so he says ;)) So demoralizing, ended up in a lot of debt because it takes months for the Gov't to cough up anything towards living, is only just getting level financially and this hangs over his head again!!!
An awful lot of BIG businesses are going bust let alone the little independent ones so employed people should be grateful for anything at the moment.
Rant over, many apologies for going off subject.
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No matter what job you do, if you do it better than anyone else then you wont be doing it for long!
I have found (serving) police officers to be miserable gits, everywhere.
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quote:
Originally posted by hubblebubbles
Must say I am a bit bewildered by all these comments as have been renewing my residency every year for the last four years.I have honestly never encountered rudeness or a problem in fact they seem to remember me from year to year and always welcome me and ask me how I am. Perhaps I just got lucky but they have always treated me with respect apart from one lady officer who obviously A/ doesn't like the brits or B/ doesnt like work.In fact they were so nice when I went in last week for a four year visa (main passport runs out after that) that I am going to bake them a cake.Try going in with a genuine smile on your face and a few words of Turkish greeting. I can only speak as I find.
I have to agree. We have not had any problems on either of our visits in 2003 or 2008.Let's hope that continues for 2013.
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We have just had reason to visit Mugla Police Staion which is huge. We had nothing but pleasant treatment from the guard on the door to all the counter staff. They couldnt have been more helpful despite no one speaking English. Is it a Fethiye thing then?
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Have been to passport police to renew our residency .....no problems at all.In fact it was completely painless. There is a new man there who speaks English and just deals with residencies.They are now processed in Fethiye and your passport is only away for 2 weeks.(although I suppose that will depend on how busy he becomes)You need to take your residency book with you in case you have 4 entries in it ...in which case you must pay for a new book (149 lira),which he will put on your application form together with the price of how many years you are applying for.This form you take to tax office and they will know how much you have to pay !Easy peasy
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i had no problems at all with the passport police with regard my residency .. very helpfull ... very polite ...no problems at all .. 9 days from submitting paper work to picking up the residency permit .. im well pleased with there service.
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In my opinion a passport police office that is responsible for dealing with large numbers of English speaking customers should have some English speaking staff, likewise they should have information sheets in English to assist them/us for when we do trouble them for information.It is rubbish that you take their salary amount into account to their return of service, Fethiye passport police, especially the Sgt there have a very bad reputation for customer service, go to Mugla passport police and it is chalk and cheese fantastic staff very helpful and non language barriers are sorted, problem yok!
Those who state well it's Turkey if you don't like it learn the language or leave, I would point out in the UK we would and do supply this multi language service at Council Offices and Police stations up and down the country, I for example had a team of police officers (27) who between us could speak 13 different languages and this is not as unusual in these days across all front line services, and if we did not cover your language we have 24 hour access via phone to language line, we also have a very good, documented, complaint process for poor customer service (Tony Jenkins!).If you don't like the result you can even go independant for a second moan, sorry I mean opinion!
I love Turkey, rough edges and all but I do expect to be assisted at all levels when trying to ensure I follow the process they have set especially when it relates specifically to outsiders like us!
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Who do you complain to, for them being 'miserable gits' because that is what they are.
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I can see both sides of the argument here. Yes, of course we are trying to do the right thing and get our residency, and should be able to expect good customer service, help and advice from those doing the job. Having said that, job training in Turkey does not seem to be anywhere near as comprehensive as the standards we get in the UK, and you have to think about how often the laws change here. If we find it frustrating ourselves, imagine how difficult it must be for those doing the job to keep up with all the changes. Added to that, because of the new lower residency fees, there are so many more applications being made, and I would think the powers that be have not thought about the fact that more staff might be helpful at this time. I think I might be abit stressed and miserable if I was doing that job right now.
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that's fine Minimoo but don't take it out on your 'customers', take it out on the people responsible.
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sorry to go against the grain of this discussion but I totally agree with Patwev`s comments. Did residency last week and was seen by a man who spoke excellent English, was happy to help, & importantly was a nice human being. We could not thank him enough for making our life so much easier, as official documentation in Turkey is usually not easy.
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Just to update. Went back to the Passport police on Thursday. Saw a different man, who was dressed in civies,doing the residencies. He spoke good english, and was helpful. Got the forms and was in and out in 10 minutes. Do you think they have been reading CBF?