Episode 15: A Venezuelan's struggle with Turkey's immigration system

After you read this, I strongly urge you to listen to the whole episode as it provides crucial observations and real-life experiences about the government’s immigration policies. Our guest was Anthony, a Venezuelan Spanish teacher currently residing in Turkey. His experiences are unmatchable. The amount of struggles and hardships he experienced as a foreigner is beyond words. We talked about the inherent discrimination and bias toward foreigners in Turkey’s immigration system and the tendency of government agencies to discriminate against people based on their race or place of origin. He says that if you are American or European, they ask for fewer documents; however, if you are Latin-American, they ask for documents that you can not even provide. He states that the process is worsened to make it unbearable and unsustainable for unprivileged foreigners to come, study, and live in Turkey. He also told me that his experiences as a tourist and as a permanent resident in Turkey completely differ. We also talked about the structural corruption within the education system, along with the incompetence of many government officers in the immigration department. I hope that everyone listens to this as it really enriches your perception of Turkey’s stance on immigration and its relationship with foreigners.