Turkish Citizenship

Well, I did it. I’m officially a citizen of Türkiye. Here’s the proof.

If you’ve followed me around the world, you know that my husband is Turkish, and we spend half the year there. We have an off-grid (solar) farm located outside Istanbul, with animals, a vineyard, and an orchard. Most of our family, except for our children, is there.

Istanbul is an excellent starting point for exploring the rest of the world. I come and go, and on my last two visits to the country, I violated the tourist visa rules. You can read about those experiences below.

Passport Timelines

Having been in and out of Türkiye for thirty-plus years, I’ve never been worried about overstaying my visa. Never. On one trip, when my daughter was a small child, her passport had expired, and that fact was not caught at the Istanbul airport. It wasn’t until we arrived for a day trip to a tiny island in Greece two months later that we were stopped.

Istanbul to MiamiR. S. Hampton, Thriller Author

Getting a Residency Permit

If you’ve followed along, you’ll know I overstayed the allowed ninety days in Türkiye twice last year. In December, I applied for Turkish citizenship at the Miami Turkish Consulate. The officer seemed to think I would have no issue getting Turkish citizenship, given that we’ve been married for over thirty years, have two grown c…

Istanbul to MiamiR. S. Hampton, Thriller Author

Now What?

Will I live here full-time? Maybe. Who knows. Once I stop traveling, it’s a great place to be.

“Why?” you ask. “Have you lost your mind?” I can see you rolling your eyes. I do not discuss the politics of either of my countries in these posts. No, I don’t care for the political situation of either, but I also know how some things are precarious at this point. There are other ways….

Will I get a third residency or citizenship? Maybe. I don’t like staying in one place for too long, and eventually, my trips back to the U.S. will be fewer. At least now I can breathe a bit easier and not worry about being locked out of one country or another.

I’ve met a lot of dual citizens through Substack and now even more through Author Nation. How many of you out there have citizenship in more than two countries?