Stamp Collection Almost Complete



One of the downsides to getting married in Turkey (instead of being married by Elvis in a convertible in Las Vegas - our 2nd choice) is the paperwork involved. The good news is that by around 4pm yesterday we finally had all the paperwork required for the wedding completed other than the final signatures on the big day. This was a big step and involved a lot of signatures and stamping.

1. British Consulate in Atlanta posted the notice of marriage for 21 days before sending an electronic copy of the unchallenged notice with their stamp and signature to the British Consulate in Istanbul for a not so small fee.

2. At Bedriye and Nuran's urging, Ruth went to the marriage office in Bodrum to confirm the date. This was a good thing because they didn't have it reserved for our wedding despite Ibrahim having done it. Fortunately Vildan was there to help get the whole thing sorted out and the manager, Gazi Bey, was really good. Ruth's Turkish is ok, but it is not up to the task of government bureaucracy (ask Vildan about the woman with the earrings and Nazi tattoo).

3. The British Consulate in Istanbul didn't receive the document from Atlanta, however, with a few emails prompting them and the Atlanta consulate it was located somewhere on a server (no extra stamps, signatures or money required)

4. The US Consulate in Istanbul required Ruth to complete a form in English and Turkish stating that she had never been married and was eligible to marry and had to raise her right hand and confirm this verbally to a consulate employee who was behind an inch of bulletproof glass. They only required a small fee however were outside the center of Istanbul. Thank you Aslan and Zeynep for providing us with a driver for ALL of the Istanbul stuff, we couldn't have done it without Kaya Bey. Also, the security guard at the consulate gave us advice for the wedding... we needed to have raki at the wedding and a belly dancer - whom Ruth should make sure dances with Iain.

5. The British Consulate in Istanbul issued a Turkish translation of the 'Certificate of non-impediment [to marry]' for another not so small fee. This took a few hours since we arrived just before lunch, and lunch was not to be delayed by some paperwork. Eventually the papers were duly stamped and signed.

6. The Turkish versions of the consulate documents had to be taken to the Istanbul mayor's office for official validation of the consular signatures (i.e. more stamps and signatures). This took 3 people in a room around 5 minutes for 3 stamps and 2 signatures on each of our documents. No charge and only a few minutes!! This was the easiest part of the process - one of the officials even managed to wield two stamps in one hand (probably against union rules in most places).

7. A couple of days later in Bodrum we took the stamped and validated documents from the consulates to the city marriage office (Gazi Bey again), where another 2 forms were filled out/stamped and 5 passport sized photographs of each of us handed over.

8. One of the forms from the Bodrum marriage office had to be taken to a city health clinic for authorization. This was a bit of a waste of time as 2 foreigners marrying in Turkey don't require medical checks (Turks marrying get some basic blood test for major diseases and the prospective spouses must see the results). This required one very helpful person to write on the form (in Turkish) that we were foreigners, had declined the tests, understood what we declined and a doctor had to stamp the form and sign it. Oh, yeah, and another small fee. [Btw, Gazi Bey said if we had any trouble we should ask to see Bulent Bey and tell him that Gazi Bey sent us.]

9. Back to Gazi Bey at the marriage office to had over another larger fee (which included the cost of the official attending the wedding) and the final stamps were in place!!

...see why Elvis and the convertible are appealing. :-)

Posted: Sat - September 15, 2007 at 02:02 PM          

©