Criminal Record Check for Long-term Residence Permit

[Izmir Ted]

I have a few (U.

S.) friends here in Izmir that were issued long-term residencies (expire in 2099) after they applied for SHORT-term residencies.  They have all been here as residents for at least 8 years, which supposedly is the minimum time to be eligible for a long-term residency.  They did NOT provide a criminal record check, as that wasn't (and maybe still isn't) required for SHORT-term residency.

Has anyone else seen or heard of this bonanza ??

[Ken Grubb]

I just talked to a friend of mine from the UK about this. He recently received his long-term residence permit. He's lived in Turkey for 12 years. When he submitted his package for the long-term residence permit, he only provided his criminal record check from Turkey, which he printed off from turkiye.gov.tr. In his interview, they didn't ask him to get a criminal record check from the UK.

Interestingly, they also didn't ask him for any paper from the police showing his entries and exits from Turkey over the last eight years. One of the immigration specialists worked it out using the computer with his previous passport, number, which he entered the country with, and his new passport, which he got while in Turkey.

They also didn't ask for a steady income. He is a teacher and recently stopped working because of some contract issue. But he had some 16,000 TL in a Turkish bank account, and they accepted that as well.

[Izmir Ted]

Very strange.  Congrats to your friend though for getting his long-term residence permit!   

I've noticed that different provinces seem to have different procedures.  Also, the rules change constantly even within the same province.  My experience can be very different from another's, within the same office !

I'll continue to apply for short-term though and hope I win the lottery and get a long-term residence permit.  I just passed the 8 year constant residency mark, would have been sooner but I was going to Greece every 90 days to renew my tourist visa for awhile.

[Ken Grubb]

It actually differs from person to person. I talked to an immigration official and she told me that the process is supposed to go according to each individual person who wants a residence permit. So depending on that person, and even the immigration official's assessment of that person, what they ask for and what they accept will vary.

From reading what you said, it sounds like you are applying for a short-term residence permit, hoping to be given a long-term residence permit. It doesn't work like that... you have to apply for a long-term residence permit specifically. This is done as a first-time application, even if you already have a short-term residence permit. And you can do it at any time, you don't have to wait until your short-term residence permit expires. In fact, it's better to apply well before your short-term residence permit expires, because the long-term residence permits take longer to process.

[Izmir Ted]

Understood.  I was just saying originally that I know several people here who were given the long-term, even though they applied for short-term.  One guy has been here for decades.  And of course they had not provided a criminal records check, as it was not required for short-term.  It would be nice to be so fortunate.......

[Ken Grubb]

Strange... I have never heard of that before. It makes sense though, that is, even if you apply for a short-term residence permit, and qualify for a long-term one, they should be able to just give you one.

[Izmir Ted]

Update....... I decided to try applying for a long-term residence permit, WITHOUT a police record check from US..... and of course, I was shot down.  I had everything else they wanted for it though..... 

So for me at least, police check is required for LTRPs.  So I'll go for a short term again, as a police check requires a trip to the US, which is not in my near future at the moment.

Now I just need to figure out HOW to GET this "record check"....... Also, whether it requires an "apostille" (unknown in US), and whether it needs to be federal (FBI) level or not.  Easy for Europeans though, apparently.

[IbrahimAbi]

Ted how long have you lived permanently in Turkey?

[Izmir Ted]

Since 2010.  Before that I was going to Greece every 3 months to renew my tourist visa, since residencies were ridiculously expensive.  

[Ken Grubb]

I have a friend here in Antalya from the UK who's been working here for like ten years or so. He applied for his long-term residence permit and they didn't ask for a criminal record check. And he got his long-term residence permit. I talked to an immigration officer about it, asking how long a person had to be in Turkey before the criminal record check wasn't needed. The immigration officer said they have the leeway to waive the criminal record check, and sometimes they do. Or if they get the impression that the foreigner might have a criminal record in their home country they'll ask for it. Certainly not intended to disparage you, Ted! I'm just reporting what the immigration officer told me.

The FBI doesn't issue the criminal record checks. You have to get them from the state you're from. A lot of us Americans live in a lot of different states sometimes, so I would assume the best state to get it from is the state that's listed as your place of birth  Incorrect info... see below.

If you get one, it does require an apostille, and it must be translated into Turkish by a sworn translator.

[Izmir Ted]

It's very confusing.  I haven't even lived in the US for over 20 years, not sure what value a police report from there would be; seems to me that a Turkish police check would be more applicable, but I don't make the rules.  

Your friend is fortunate that they did not require it, but I've been told that for UK citizens it is an easy report to get.  

At the risk of boring non-U.

S. readers:  according to the US State Dept, the FBI DOES do record checks.  See the following link:  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/while-abroad/criminal-record-checks.html

 

[Omer Varol]

In the U.

S. you can get a police record from either at the State level or the Feds. I wonder if the embassy here can help assist with that? Or maybe they'll just tell you to scram 

[Ken Grubb]

Thanks for that correction, Ted. I recall reading that the FBI didn't provide them but I should have checked to be sure before posting that! I've crossed out my earlier incorrect comment.

[Dona Timani]

Hi everyone,

My husband got his FBI record mailed last week. We printed out the form and FBI's fingerprints document, then he went to a local police station to have his fingerprints taken (Örnek Polis Karakolu). Then, he sent the application and fingerprints via UPS to the FBI CJIS division and used his parents' NY address as return address. The website warned that the process could take several weeks, but I think we got it back in less than 10 days, and it's apostilled. 

[Dona Timani]

21 hours ago, Dona Timani said:

 it's apostilled. 

Oh no, I stand corrected. It's not apostilled. It just has the FBI seal/authentication.

[Izmir Ted]

Dona, that's good information !  I was wondering how it could be apostilled already.  That is done in another office (I can provide further info).  I will search for that fingerprint form.  Thanks. 

[MEIzmir]

On 12/02/2020 at 14:51, Dona Timani said:

Oh no, I stand corrected. It's not apostilled. It just has the FBI seal/authentication.

Dona, I went to the link:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/while-abroad/criminal-record-checks.htmlIt says:
"An individual requiring an apostille or authenticated copy of his/her FBI Identification Record, or any non-U.

S. national or permanent resident who wishes to request his/her FBI Identification Record must submit a request directly to the FBI CJIS Division. The U.

S. Department of State Authentications Office may then place an apostille document for use in a country that is party to the Hague Apostille Convention. For countries not party to the Hague Apostille Convention, the U.

S. Department of State Authentication Office will place a certification over the FBI seal."

Did your husband request the FBI authentication seal only? Are you required to have a US address, meaning could you have had the document sent to you in Turkey?

[Dona Timani]

1 hour ago, MEIzmir said:

Did your husband request the FBI authentication seal only? 

The FBI request form he had to fill made no mention of apostille or authentication services (I've attached a copy q384893984839334.pdf). I don't know why we assumed it would be apostilled, we probably read many links and got confused between FBI seal and apostille. The record he got was two pages, first was the seal page (plain paper no signature) and the second was his record with an official's signature.

Here's one link that includes a more detailed answer:

https://www.edo.cjis.gov/#/faq

19. Does the FBI provide apostilles*?

 (*An apostille is a certification that a document has been "legalized" or "authenticated" by the issuing agency through a process in which various seals are placed on the document.)

The FBI will authenticate all U.

S. Department of Justice Order 556-73 fingerprint search results by placing the FBI seal and the signature of a division official on the results at the time of submission.

Note: The FBI seal is no longer a raised seal. Documents authenticated by the FBI may then be sent to the U.

S. Department of State by the requestor to obtain an apostille if necessary. Requests to authenticate previously processed results will not be accepted.

1 hour ago, MEIzmir said:

Are you required to have a US address, meaning could you have had the document sent to you in Turkey?

Yes, you can have the document sent to another country, but we didn't want to deal with long delays using US postal service + PTT. It was faster and more secure to have it delivered to a US address and then have relatives send it via international courier services (but of course we should have sent it first to be apostilled!)

There was also the option of making an electronic order and receiving a digital copy (you'd still have to mail the fingerprint form though). So a couple of days ago, I went to DHL and sent it back to an external service (US Authentication Services) to get it apostilled. If we had originally requested a digital copy, we could have emailed it to the company directly and saved some time and money.