As mentioned in the last few posts, we learned that we had/have a lot more hoops to jump through before being awarded our Turkish passports and citizenship.
Before this last visit, we had to get background checks to ensure that we don’t have criminal records (spoiler alert: we’re goody two-shoes). Which involved additional paperwork and expense.
I didn’t do this, but I was tempted… When they asked if I had a police record, I wanted to tell them no, but I have a Police CD. (Sting and team wrote killer songs. Just a musician’s opinion. Fight me.)
Seriously, tho: We had to get fingerprinted and verified on both the US and Turkish sides. Mr. Becoming Turkish had no problem, but fingerprints have often been the bane of my existence. Why do I have shallow prints? All I can think of is hands in water and solvents too often.
Shout-out to Seattle Fingerprint (Shoreline, WA) for managing to get my fingerprints before the deadline passed. We had tried one of our local post offices, and while the Mr. went through with no problem, they tried every trick in the book to get my prints to show. Warm up hands. Wash hands to get oils off. Different angles. Nope. I was so distraught, hoping that this would not be my barrier to citizenship.
After that little shop captured my fingerprints, I was not out of the woods — I had to do the same in Istanbul. In the weeks prior, I used a lot of lotion on my fingertips (supposedly heals any damage to prints) and avoided hand sanitizer (alcohol can be bad for prints). It took a little back and forth and trial and error, but my prints showed up in Istanbul, and they verified properly in my second appointment.
Can I say — WHEW!!!
So funny that I never thought that fingerprints could be a barrier to my second citizenship. Which got me thinking: what do people with amputated fingers/hands/arms do?