* DOCUMENTS NEEDED*

So before I start the story, I wanted to share info about the documents needed to prepare your trip if you wanted to go to Turkey.

PASSPORT
Whether you want to renew your passport or you want to make a new passport, you will go through on the same steps. The details are as below :

1. Register to the local Immigration Office through WhatsApp to make your appointment, to number +6281 1110 0333 (hopefully it's still the same number, please check again to make sure for the right number, ok!). The format is as below :
#NAME#DATEOFBIRTH#PROPOSEDDATEOFCOME
For example : 
#ARIE#25011987#13082018

2. Once you have submit the registration using the correct format to above number, you will later received a reply from the Immigration Office. If the date time proposed was accepted, then they will sent the confirmation date and informing which time you will need to be there. But if your proposed date was not accepted (mostly because of the quota of the specific date was already full), then the reply would be stating their available date. If you were OK with their advised date, then please confirm. If not, then please propose for another date which later than their advised date, until you can find the proper date.

About the documents needed, you will need to bring : ID, birth certificate, family members certificate, undergraduate / graduate certificate, and marriage certificate, all in copies format. Don't forget to also bring your old passport if you wanted to renew instead of make a new one.

3. On the advised date, please make sure to come to the Immigration Office earlier than the what already mentioned, at least 30 min before to avoid long queue.

4. Bring your support documents and put it on the right counter, and then wait until they call your name. My advise, please also bring the original documents just in case the officers wanted to check on the originality of the copies your bring. This happened to me 👅

5. Once they call your name, they will make a record of your finger prints, and also take on your pictures. A short and simple interview will also addressed to you, but don't worry it's only basic questions. This whole process will take approximately around 2 hours tops.

6. And after that... you are done today! You will only need to pay for the fee (I paid from around IDR 350.000 at that time, please make sure for the updated fee before you register) and come back to Immigration Office to take your passport, around 3-7 working days tops! Voila! You can now go abroad!

VISA
For your visit to Turkey, this country actually has a very flexible regulation for their tourists. 

1. If you only wanted to visit Turkey in a short time (less than 30 days), you can even have your VOA (Visa On Arrival) right after you arrived in Turkey! There will be some kiosks there for you to submit the Visa & you will only need to pay for around 20 USD (please check the updated fee, OK!). 

2. But if you want to have a relaxing trip and avoiding the long queue at the arrival terminal right after you arrived at Turkey, you can always submit the tourist evisa before you got departed. Please check on this web to register : https://www.turkish-evisa.org/eta/en/. Don't forget to pay using credit card instead of cash. By proposing the e-visa, you can actually stay in Turkey up to 3 months in advance of your travel date. Turkish visit visa issued on arrival - are valid on multiple stays up to a max 90 days per stay in a 180 period.

3. While for me, I was proposing for other type of visa since I planned to stay long and with the purpose of accompanying my husband who is going to work here. Please make sure to choose the correct visa type before you submit your pre-application for your visa application. Check this link for the detail types of Visa from Turkish Embassy https://www.konsolosluk.gov.tr/Visa , mine is Other Visa - Family Unification Purpose. After I submit the pre-application through the link above, I will later got a confirmation email and needed to continue on filling a quite a long form. My advise, please be carefully thorough when filling the form because you cannot make any revision after you submit. 

4. Once you are done with the form, you need to submit, and you will received the date & time scheduled by the system for you to come to the embassy.

5. On the date advised, please print your your submitted form & bring all the document needed. The document needed actually more or less are the same with the ones you prepared for your passport. The only significant difference is you also need to prepare Police Clearance Certificate (in Bahasa we call it SKCK - Surat Keterangan Catatan Kepolisian, or also known as Surat Kelakuan Baik).  Oh, and also prepare your updated biometric pic, white color as the background, size 5X5cm, make sure you take off your glasses, and make sure to pull on your hair to the back of your ears, as for European Visa these requirements are quite rigid. No smile needed! hihihi 😎

Please be noted that each type of Visa will have their own specification of needed documents, so make sure you are submitting for the correct type of Visa to avoid any possibility of going back and forth to the Turkish Embassy, especially if you live far from its location (Rasuna Said area, Jakarta).

6. After you submit the documents, you will need to wait. It took only 3 days for my visa to be ready & picked up back at the Turkish Embassy. Alhamdulillah... 

FLIGHT TICKET
If you want to make it easy, you can ask a travel agent to find a suitable ticket with the specifications from you. As for me, I chose a flight with my specifications : best price (almost 5 mio less than the direct flight) / big baggage (max 23kg X 2 per person, so I had total 46kg while for other airlines only give aroud 25-30kg) / a tolarable transit time (it was only 4 hours, so we spent the time with walking thorough the nice airport&took breakfast so we didn't feel bored at all).

OK, I guess that's all for the detaiiiiiiillleeeeddd explanation from me, hopefully it can ease your process when preparing your documents 👄👄👄

goodbye :( hello :)

Hi!

It's been my third week since I arrived here on the 4th of March 2018. To this new country, new city, new place, new environment...

Right after my husband & I received the news about he was going to be appointed here, we spent almost of our night sleepless due to such mixed feelings. Excited, worry, happy, anxious, curious...  We started to prepare the docs needed, packed our things quickly, and most of all - we needed to get mentally prepared hahaha... It's actually quite hard for us because both of us are the youngest kid from each family - so we are so spoiled to each other & more to each family 😂

It is our first experience to live abroad, not for a short visit - not for a short stay - not for (only) a holiday, but to live - literally to LIVE abroad. WOW! So many things were popping inside of my mind, about what if I couldn't live far from my parents, my families & friends, my comfort zone, about what if I couldn't get mingle with the environment, what if I couldn't be settled easily, etc etc etc - TOO MUCH! - almost EVERYTHING! 

And then there were also this part of drama that continued until only few days before we got departed here. OMG, such a drama, I never imagined I would ever experienced such craziness in my life before. CHAOTIC! I, however, wouldn't share you the whole drama that happened. I wanted to keep the sweet memories deep with me. One thing for sure, if I could pick up the silver lining from the whole story is that God have proven (ONCE AGAIN), that I am loved.

And as for you - readers, it would be lovely if I could share the main story, the story about my days here  👀 

Goodbye (for now), my comfort zone :)
Hello, Izmit!


Enjoy reading....