I’ve been in Turkey now for about 6 (six) months, more or less. My brother from the states came here just recently with his wife and kid. He currently has to go through a painful procedure that I had to go through upon my arrival as well. When you go outside the US with a phone you bought from a phone company like AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile you have to make sure your phone is unlocked so you can use it in other countries with other Sim Cards. To get a phone unlocked is the easy part. the hard part is switching the IMEI number of that mobile phone to register and use accordingly with the Sim Card Provider. In Turkey, you have to register your IMEI number to either your temporary visa or your Turkish Identification Card. If you do not do this, your mobile phone will lock. You’re only given 60 (sixty) days to handle this procedure, and this procedure takes a lot of time because various things go wrong.
For example, my brother needs to unlock his phone. However, they need him to pay taxation and register his IMEI number first. After he did all the things he needed to take care of with the taxation (total of 6 days spent) he was told that his phone was a newer model and could not currently be unlocked. He now needs to take it to a bigger city with more experts that may be able to do the job.
I’ve noticed, when starting out life in a different country, things can get quite stressful, no matter how little stress they may cause. Even if it’s a painfully slow process like getting your phone unlocked, events happen fast and they build stress from a minor level to a major migraine.
My advice for the day for those moving overseas:
Get ready to deal with a lifestyle that you’re not familiar with. Every government governs their people differently.
John Lee 