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The consulate is north of
the city and it is best to
catch a taxi to the door as
it's hard to find. The
opening hours change often
so it's best to ring them or
go to the consulate and see
when they're open, it's
written on the window. They
were open 930-12 and 230-430
Mon to Fri when we went.
As for our experience, it
wasn't great.
We went in on Thursday
afternoon, the man told gave
us the bank deposit form and
told us to pay this then
return Friday first thing
and they'll process it. He
quoted us €66 for Australian
and €150 for UK which he
said would take a week. Or
for the magic fee of €96 for
Australian and €225 for UK
we could get it in a day.
We weren't very happy with
having to pay for the fast
service as most other
research we'd done people
get them on the slow service
within a few days, but we
did.
So we went and paid, the TEB
ATM is the only one that
dispenses Euro's, so get
this and pay at the bank
they specify (name escapes
me) which is on the main
street of Erzurum. They
increased our fee to €100
for the Australian as they
couldn't give change.
Returning next morning at
opening time, we went in
with another gentleman who
was waiting. We waited
around for 30mins before
someone came and took our
forms, photos and payment
receipt and were told to
return at 5pm. We returned
at 3pm and rang the buzzer
at which the response was
come back at 4pm. So we
went back at 4pm, buzzed and
were let in. We sat in the
stuffy waiting room for over
an hour without seeing
anyone, before we buzzed
again to ask why no-one had
come down to see us.
Eventually they came down
and we got our visa.
Overall it was a tiring and
expensive experience. We
doubt it really takes them a
week to process the visa
using the regular service as
we have friends who have got
it the next day in other
places. They also like to
make you wait, which is just
plain rude. I wouldn't
recommend going to Erzurum,
it sounds like people have
better luck at Trabzon. |