Foreigner in Turkey

A note on the e-ikamet system for foreigners

25 Comments

This year for the first time I got to use the e-ikamet randevu system. It’s quite nicely done, certainly better than the old system! I found two issues with it which might help others who are struggling to get an appointment:

  1. If you mistype your father’s name in the English version of the site, when you go on to the next page everything is broken. This is because the error string is automatically generated on the server-side unfortunately not escaped properly (the apostrophe in “father’s name”). This probably happens in other places too. To fix this, switch to the Turkish version of the site as they probably tested the error messages better, and Turkish doesn’t typically use apostrophes anyway.
  2. If, after completing the process you need to get a randevu (for example, my passport number appears to be incorrectly entered into their system at present), the ‘Get a randevu’ button should not be greyed out even if there are no randevu available. If it is greyed out it means that you got something wrong on your application process, but they don’t have an error message to tell you about it. In my case, I had set the date of my health insurance to expire before the expiration date of the ikamet I was trying to get. Even though there was no error displayed, when I set the insurance date to further in the future, it allowed me to get a randevu.
  3. Another bug was that the maximum size of photo upload seems to be around 500kb – I uploaded a larger passport photo (or perhaps because it was high resolution) and it only showed the top half of my head but didn’t count this as an error. Also, it only showed this when you went back to the page after the upload; not when you first added the photo. If it only shows a partial image just resize the photo and try uploading again.

25 thoughts on “A note on the e-ikamet system for foreigners”

  1. Thank you! This was very helpful. I should have thought of this because have used same trick of switching to Turkish on other websites like bank when had a problem. But then again, I’m currently in renewal process frustration/panic mode and thinking clearly is a challenge at this point. 😛
    For others: I experienced problem 1. No error message on the English version, but could not proceed to next step (appointment, payment and print options grey/inaccessible). Just by changing the language (you don’t have to re-type everything), I was able to discover what the issue was. In my case, interestingly, related to their misspelling of my mother’s name on first ikamet some years ago that I thought had been corrected, but apparently not…

    Reply

  2. Thank you so much for this post. I had the same problem however I had an error message with “technical failure has occurred in the system” with a long code. Alhamdulilah and thanks to this post I was able to solve the problem by changing the website language to Turkish from the beginning.

    Reply

  3. hi, i’m new in the country and i’m trying to get an appointment for the residence permit. however, the website shows me ”technical failure has occurred in the system followed by many figures” and i’ve been trying since last week but no change. This phrase comes after filling in the Personal Information 2 section. Do you have an idea of a helpful solution on this?

    Reply

  4. I have heard that you need to submit the form in Turkish version of the site and it accepts it now (if not; if you cancel the application and redo int he Turkish side of the site it should work)

    Reply

  5. Thank you so much!!! I was stucked for 2 days after the Personal information step 2, then technical error page shown up. Went back to the home page and switched to Turkish version, it WORKED!!!! But now stuck on the Randevu Bilgier again. : ( Anyway, ur post being super helpful. ^ ^

    Reply

  7. The simplest way is to fill it in Turkish version and it works perfectly. I had same problem “Technical Error”. In case you not know how to understand Turkish. Take a photo shot of the Screen in English Version and then click on Turkish Version and fill the information. If you fill in English version and click proceed in Turkish Version the data will be lost for that active page.

    I only would like to ask if APPOINTMENT by system default or there is a way to select a specific date/time for it.

    Reply

  9. I’m having the same problem with the English version and will switch to the Turkish. How do I cancel the current application? Or will just leaving it be do? Thanks!

    Reply

  10. I’m having a problem with printing the form. I need to take an appointment first but it says all appointments are full and as of today I can take one for 90 days from now. It’s been saying this for a couple of days and I’m approaching my deadline. Is there any way I can print it without setting an appointment?

    Reply

  12. Thank you so much for this post. I had the same problem however I had an error message with “technical failure has occurred in the system” with a long code. Alhamdulilah and thanks to this post I was able to solve the problem by changing the website language to Turkish from the beginning.

    Reply

  15. Hi I am still facing the same problem , when I reached the insurance info , a system failure even when I switchEd to the Turkish language .Any help would be appreciated

    Reply

    1. I ran into the same issue. In my case it was because the dates for the insurance expiry did not register properly. It all got fixed when I started all over again and logged into the Turkish language version of the site.

      Reply

      1. I have the same problem and the insurance company told me because I am using iPad. They said I must use computer for it but I don’t have my laptop with me here. Any solution or ideas on this?

        Thanks so much

        Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *