Hi everyone - I thought I'd have some better luck posting in this forum as it seems that AP seems to be more popular in MENA countries and in my opinion, Turkey often falls into that category. I know that it is on the list of 26 predominantly Muslim countries whose visa applicants are scrutinized more closely.

My fiance, Onur, had his interview this morning - seemed to go well, didn't seem as if there were any problems with our case, the CO did not express any concern and skepticism, but old him that he requires further administrative processing and to check the Ankara embassy website for our case number and when it does to send his passport and his green-slip to the embassy. Sounds to me like the typical AP scenario.

I'm assuming there must have been a hit on his name as he has a rather common name in Turkey, but that is just speculation.

In your experience, what is the average wait time for AP? What should I do from here on out? Any advice? I was an emotional wreck all day, but am trying to pull through and stay positive. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

hi guys ..
i am really sory what happened yesterday ,that is just crazy after all those months they still need more check and how come officer just decide that at the interview I do not understand since they have all paperwork before interview and look at them in advance ..did the officer asked something and he did not really answer or what ?how did he decide to go further prosses?
that would be great that if I could get to talk to onur because soon I will have a interview too ...

all the best and goodluck on quick prosess hopefully ..

serdar,

Name checks can be tricky because you have to deal with transliteration due to the different alphabet. The more Arabic the name the more name hits it seems and sometimes it takes a few months to get through all the checks. If his name is more Turkish than arabic that might work in your favor for a quicker AP.

It is really hard because there doesnt seem to be any clues to help determine how long it will last. The best you can do is call the DOS operators and keep checking if the AP is still pending. Wishing you a quick AP!

Onur has a very turkish name, it is not arabic at all. Although, I googled it and it does seem to be a somewhat common Turkish name, but strictly Turkish. Anyway, he emailed the embassy and they told him that the waiting time is a minimum of 2 months. Is that really true or do they just say that to be on the safe side? This is incredibly anxiety provoking, because he has not yet served his military service as he was in school, but if he is still in Turkey after October 29th he will be enlisted and won't be able to leave the country. I am really losing my mind. I can't even begin to think that after all of this it could all be thrown out the window. I wish there was something I could do.

Serdar - I'll PM you with Onur's MSN chat account so you can talk with him. He said the interview seemed to go well, lasted 10-15 minutes and he answered all of the questions correctly and completely (from his perspective). The CO didn't seem to show any concern or skepticism in our case. It seems like this is becoming more common in Turkey, as it is in other middle-eastern countries.

They all seem to have some random time they give (2 months, 30 days, 6 weeks whatever) just to give themselves a buffer. A friend of mine just went through Turkey for a K-1 for her fiance and they had the visa in hand within a week. His name fist name was Arabic, but with a Turkish surname. I know that wont be good news when you are left waiting and waiting

Everyone who goes through this period feel soooo anxious! It definately seems to be the hardest phase of the whole process. You have three months before you have to worry about the military service problem so try your best not to borrow trouble at this point. We are all rooting for you!

mybackpages - is your friend on VJ by an chance or would I be able to get in touch with them in any way? It would be nice to hear about their experience and see if it sheds any light on ours. Let me know. Thanks!

I sent a PM with some info!

well I also searched online about arabic names but I did not see his name inspired from any arabic countries so I really do not understand why this happened but there is nothing nobody can do at this time and I know it is really complicated for him now bc of his military service in turkey and there is no way he can do anything about that I talked to onur last night as well about this but be positive he has got still 3 months to go hopefully he will get his visa before that and you will not have to go through that because it is gonna make everything hard for both of you ..

all the best and hopefully this process wont take long for you ..

serdar,