VZCZCXRO0505
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHGI RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIT #1143/01 1771340
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261340Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5315
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHVV/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 001143 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: CVIS CASC KFRD SOCI PREL TU
SUBJECT: FROM THE VISA LINE: SUMMER WORK AND TRAVEL ISSUE 
 
ISTANBUL 00001143  001.3 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  From the Visa Line is a reporting vehicle 
encompassing vignettes, anecdotes and observations from Istanbul 
Consular officers' daily interactions with applicants.  In this 
issue, we focus on the Summer Work and Travel (SWT) program. 
Istanbul's Consular Section processed more than 3,750 SWT applicants 
during March-May, 2006, compared to just over 3,000 for all of 
Turkey in FY 2005.  An analysis of refusal and fraud rates--which 
were low -- will follow septel.  End Summary. 
 
-------------------- 
The Kids are Alright 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SWT applicants are university students who travel to the 
United States for seasonal jobs, generally in the service and 
tourism sectors.  The program -- which we work hard to promote -- 
often enables Turkish university students of limited means and life 
experience to broaden their horizons and improve their English. 
Absent SWT, it is unlikely that many of them would be able to visit 
the United States at an early stage in their lives. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Most of these students are the first in their families to 
attend university.  Many hail from parts of our Consular district 
that are underrepresented in terms of travel to the United States. 
Generally less sophisticated than their Istanbul-born peers, these 
are the children of Turkey's middle and lower-middle classes.  New 
to an academic setting, a large number of them struggle with their 
studies while working part time to help support themselves and their 
families.  Interestingly, history courses appear to give students 
the most trouble, with those covering Ataturk's political thought 
the most frequently failed.  We believe the SWT students, taken as a 
whole, present a rich and compelling portrait of Turkish youth. 
 
------------------------- 
Appearances and Standards 
------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Some of our SWT students appeared for their interviews 
impeccably dressed, freshly coifed, and obviously uncomfortable. 
One male, informed that he would receive a visa, immediately yanked 
off his clip-on tie and said "now I can give this back to my 
father!"  Two female classmates who had appeared primly at the 
window with their hair tied back into neat buns were observed 
gleefully pulling their tresses into disheveled mops after being 
told they were going to the United States.  Most Istanbul SWT 
applicants, however, adhered to the jeans-and-t-shirt dress code 
that appears to be the norm for those in their late teens and early 
twenties in the West.  A few accessorized with dreadlocks, nose 
piercings, and tattoos, prompting cocked eyebrows from the older, 
non-SWT visa applicants in the waiting room.  During his interview, 
a retired military officer -- with a disparaging nod toward a 
bearded, long-haired SWT student blissfully listening to his i-Pod 
while awaiting his turn -- said "I am glad we still have obligatory 
military service for the likes of him!" 
 
¶5.  (SBU) As a rough standard -- which we varied case-by-case -- we 
looked during this season for a minimum equivalent grade point 
average of 2.0, along with at least functional English-language 
skills.  These two indicators helped us to gauge whether applicants 
had incentive to return to Turkey to finish school and, while in the 
United States, could meet their employer's expectations.  However, 
even these fairly lenient standards were too tough for some 
applicants, with the GPA issue proving the most daunting.  Excuses 
for poor academic performance ranged from inability to attend 
classes due to illness (on the part of applicants and/or their 
family members) to the tried-and-true "You don't understand! 
(Fill-in-the-blank major) is really, really hard!"  Applicants 
attending Kocaeli University merited special attention in that the 
school allows students to retake classes as many times as needed 
while not counting the failing marks against their GPAs.  One 
September 9th University student with abysmal marks admitted to 
having put beauty before brains; she skipped classes to have a nose 
job.  A surprising number of well-spoken students in English 
language and literature departments appeared with terrible 
transcripts.  One of these, upon being rejected for SWT, whined, 
"But I don't want to go to America to write, I want to go there to 
talk!" 
 
------------------------- 
Nervousness and Long Days 
------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) SWT students invest significant time and money in their 
applications.  Local agencies charge each applicant an average of 
$1,100 to match them with jobs in the United States, funds their 
families often scrimp to save.  A small number of students applying 
for SWT (well below 10 percent, by our reckoning) look upon the 
program as a means of facilitating illegal immigration to the United 
States, but the vast majority are bona fide--albeit naive and 
 
ISTANBUL 00001143  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
frequently very nervous--applicants. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) A typical interview with an SWT applicant might go 
something like this: 
 
Visa officer:  Good morning.  How are you today? 
Applicant:     I am exciting! 
Visa officer:  OK.  What do you study at university? 
Applicant:     I study Celal Bayar University! 
Visa officer:  Yes.  What subject are you studying? 
Applicant:     I will become mechanical engineer! 
Visa officer:  Right.  Well, your grades look pretty good. 
Applicant:     I take visa? 
Visa officer:  No, not yet.  What does your father do? 
Applicant:     He retired! 
Visa officer:  Alright.  What did he do before he retired? 
Applicant:     He was worker! 
Visa officer:  Yes, but where did he work? 
Applicant:     He was worker at company! 
Visa officer:  What does the company make? 
Applicant:     Things for sell! 
Visa officer:  What kind of things? 
Applicant:     Car things! 
Visa officer:  OK, where do these things go on a car? 
Applicant:     Bottom! 
Visa officer:  You mean under the car? 
Applicant:     Cars roll on them! 
Visa officer:  Ah, your father's company makes wheels? 
Applicant:     Rubber! 
Visa officer:  You mean tires? 
Applicant:     I am tired! 
Visa officer:  Yes, so am I. 
Applicant:     I take visa? 
 
------------------ 
Geography and Guts 
------------------ 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Among the jobs being filled by Turkish SWT applicants, 
pedicab driver, fish processor, waiter, housekeeper, and amusement 
park worker top the list.  A student traveling to San Diego to drive 
a pedicab was asked at the visa window where he had worked during 
his SWT stint last year.  He replied that he had driven a pedicab in 
New York City and that it had been very difficult work.  When the 
Consular officer expressed surprise that the student again had 
agreed to drive a pedicab, the student rejoined that this year he 
hoped it would be different:  San Diego is close to Mexico.  Pressed 
to elaborate on the significance of San Diego's geography, the 
applicant explained that he had seen on television that Mexicans are 
small people.  God willing, he said, the Americans in San Diego have 
intermarried with their southern neighbors, thereby producing 
lighter citizens than in the Big Apple. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Many our Alaska-bound SWT applicants seemed to be under 
the impression that they would spend several idyllic months 
cane-pole angling like Tom Sawyer, unaware they actually will toil 
long hours gutting fish.  One student was even more fundamentally 
misinformed.  When asked where in the United States he would work, 
he appeared surprised by the question and told the Consular officer, 
"I'm not going to America, I'm going to Alaska." 
 
------------------- 
Worth the Sacrifice 
------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Relatively few Alaska SWT veterans are keen to return. 
However, one student told the visa officer he looked forward to 
going back to the fish processing plant where he labored last year. 
Somewhat surprised, the officer asked whether the student minded the 
repetitive, odoriferous tasks he had performed.  With a grin the 
student replied that, although he returned home from the Land of the 
Midnight Sun with sore hands and every pore of his body reeking of 
fish, the money he made lasted a lot longer than either the pain or 
the smell. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) An SWT applicant from Bursa appeared at the window 
intending to go to Wisconsin for her first trip abroad.  Sporting 
the headscarf-and-trench-coat costume of the socially (although not 
necessarily religiously) conservative Turkish female, she informed 
the visa officer that she would be working at a Piggly Wiggly 
barbecue restaurant.  Told that she undoubtedly would be working 
with pork products and asked if this might prove objectionable, the 
applicant shrugged and said, "I don't have to eat there and, 
besides, I really need this job." 
 
---------------------- 
Cleaning and Character 
---------------------- 
 
 
ISTANBUL 00001143  003.3 OF 003 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Young Turkish males are not known for their tidiness. 
One SWT applicant, the only son among five children, told the visa 
officer he would work as a housekeeper at a resort in New Hampshire. 
 Asked if he had any experience making beds and cleaning toilets, 
the student haughtily replied that, at his home, this was women's 
work.  However, for the sake of having a chance to experience 
America, he was willing to do any job.  He added, "This will be a 
gift for my mother: When I come back I can clean up my own room!" 
 
¶13.  (SBU) An enthusiastic drama student could barely contain her 
excitement when informed that she had been approved to go to Florida 
to work at Disney World.  "I want to work there since I was little," 
she trilled.  Queried about what her actual job in the Magic Kingdom 
would be, she replied that she did not yet know.  However, she 
expressed hope that she would have the chance to live her dream by 
being one of the costumed characters roaming the park and greeting 
children.  "I like being Goofy!" she exclaimed.  Don't we all, 
sometimes? 
 
JONES