Passport Control Terror

Silly me, I never thought the entry rules into Türkiye would change. But in 2024, they did—and I completely missed the memo. In the past, an American citizen entering Türkiye was required to leave every ninety days. Easy peasy. Hop over to a Greek island on the ferry if you’re down south, or drive up north for the weekend into “Southern Macedonia” or the northern part of mainland Greece. I did this for over thirty years.

Now, Türkiye follows the Schengen rule, even though it is not a part of the EU. You cannot stay in the country for more than ninety days out of every one hundred eighty. Ugh. I feel like a digital nomad. How do they keep up with this?

Last year, I violated this rule twice, and no one could tell me why. You do not say to a lawyer, “Just because.” I could not find the rule change online. And twice, I paid a hefty fine for overstaying. You can read about that lovely experience in this post. Last month, I found the new rule, but could not determine when it had changed.

I recently returned to Istanbul once again with my husband. When we reached the passport control officer, my husband offered our passports in the Turkish national line, which is allowed for me since I am married to a Turkish person. However, as we expected, warned by the officer six months earlier when I paid the last fine, my passport was blocked. The officer could not tell me why, but we had to wait on one side while my passport took an airport tour with another officer.

I am thankful that they let my husband stay with me.

Being blocked by Passport Control is terrifying

We waited for what seemed like a half hour or more, but it was probably ten or fifteen minutes. In those minutes, I broke out into a cold sweat, and when my husband tried to make a joke, I cried.

We had planned somewhat for this. All our luggage was in my husband’s name. If I had to return to the States, my computer was in my backpack. All the things for the farm were in a suitcase he could retrieve and take with him.

My Passport Returns From Its Tour to Pick Us Up and Continue

Finally, an officer arrived with my passport, and we were requested to follow him. At first, I thought we were retracing my steps back to the plane where I’d just arrived, but we passed that gate and kept walking. In the center of the airport arrivals section is an elevated police box. He dropped us off there with a third officer. This one checked my passport on his computer, then kicked us to a fourth. At the end of this musical passport trip, we finally received a piece of paper with a red stamp and were told to go to a specific control officer just across from the police box.

But Why?

With each officer, my husband asked why my passport had been blocked. Each officer had a different reason, but none were sure about their reason. The most logical of the officers said that my last fine was paid at the accounting office, but was not registered against my passport in the immigration system. The only thing that was identical with each officer was their question: “Abi, why did you not get her a residency permit?”

It Could Have Been Worse

Through all this, a thought crossed my mind: What if I were denied entry into Türkiye and then, when returning to the States, given a difficult time by immigration there as well? Of course, my ultra-privileged inner voice tells me, there would be no reason for this in the U.S. I have a valid Alabama birth certificate, a new passport, and an updated Florida driver’s license showing my Miami address. But strange things have been happening lately.

I stood in terror for less than thirty minutes. Yet I had no reason to believe I would be detained or arrested, only rejected. Think about those detained in the U.S., or citizens from Canada who have been denied entry for seemingly ridiculous things. Or others in countries I no longer feel comfortable discussing due to the very real lack of freedom of speech. For a very short time, even in my whiteness and elevated economic status, I stood in their shoes.

Now What?

Next week, I will stand in line at the police station or wherever to get my residency permit until my citizenship is granted. If citizenship is not granted, I will have to learn this procedure and repeat it every one to two years. And if residency isn’t granted, I'll leave the country in 90 days, whether I want to or not.

And see what happens on the other side. Wish me luck.