Here at the Foreign Citizens Advice Centre, we have been providing free, independent and confidential advice & support on all aspects of living, working, visiting, buying & selling property and investing in Turkey.
The centre has been set up to assist qualifying foreign nationals with a comprehensive range of free advice and support. We can simply point you in the right direction or, if you prefer, guide you every step of the way.
The advice and support that we offer are given by a mixture of both foreign and local citizens. Between them, they have many years of practical experience in a wide range of professional fields of expertise.
The subjects we cover include:
Residency Applications
Passport Applications
Wills and Inheritance
Buying and Selling Property
Healthcare
Marriage and Divorce
Disputes
Debt Recovery
Property Management
Banking
Investments
A giving and receiving experience
Many of us are volunteers who want to give back to the community; it can also be quite the receiving experience, too. Here at The Foreign Citizens Advice Centre, we not only assist our visitors on a daily basis, we also gain from meeting new people and new challenges every day. Below is an example of one situation I found myself dealing with.
How the Foreign Citizens Advice Centre helped Tony
Lucy, a volunteer at the Foreign Citizens Advice Centre talks about how they helped Tony.
“I had posted on our social media platforms the telephone number to contact if you were to lose your Irish Passport in Turkey.
I had a call from a Turkish friend who said that he was with an elderly Irish gentleman named Tony who could not find his passport and was due to fly home that evening. My Turkish friend did the right thing and took the gentleman to get a police report stating that he lost his passport.
As I live close to Tony, I brought him to my house to try and sort out an Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC) for him. As it was the weekend I knew the Irish Embassy in Ankara would be closed, however, if it is an emergency you can leave a message, which I did. Within five minutes I had a call from them. They were extremely helpful and said that, although he would not be able to travel that evening, they would arrange an appointment with the Irish Consulate in Izmir for Monday.
Meanwhile, Tony contacted his family in Ireland to arrange a new flight for the following Tuesday. As he had no email address, I gave them my details to send the information to. Whilst I was talking to his family, the Irish Consulate in Izmir called and confirmed that an appointment was available for him on Monday morning.
Tony had to take new passport photos, the police report and another form of identification with him in order to obtain an ETC. It is always important to keep your passport in a safe place. Replacing it costs a lot of money (especially if you have to book new flights), you’re at risk of identity theft, it completely messes up any plans you might have had until you get a new one and you’re no longer legally entitled to be travel in our out of the country. Always have copies of the main passport pages with you when you go on holiday and if like Tony you lose your passport while you are in Turkey, please feel free to contact The Foreign Citizens Centre on the details below.“
If you need any advice you can contact the Foreign Citizens Advice Centre on:
00 90 256 612 3207 or 00 90 5318 560 546 (24 hr)
This is a sponsored article in association with the Foreign Citizens Advice Centre
