OSDev.org

I would like to back this up with a posting of my own. Sorry for being so quiet in the last few months.

TverrBjelke has gone far beyond the call of duty on this one. Not only did he pay the balance on the deposit you guys have been so generously been donating for, he has done an incredible amound of legwork, talking to the embassy, talking to potential donors and other people involved on this matter, and last but not least, holding the contact to our friend out there.

To be quite honest, I could not have done it. I would not have had the resources for it, neither in finances, time involved, and nerves to follow through on this. I am deeply grateful, and quite a bit ashamed, that this fell so heavily on someone who had no relationship to our friend prior to me asking him if he could somehow help with his academic connections.

As I said, TverrBjelke went far, far beyond that. I hope, for his sake just as much as for our friend, that this will eventually turn out a happy end.

Thank you all for your patience. We will keep you informed.

TverrBjelke wrote:So I will send you all a nice longer post asap.

ASAP is now ! - news of this week -
abuashraf got his visa! TATAAAA After some (more) struggle with providing (=buying) new insurances (travel and health) the embassy finally spit out the "OK".
(not without another last sarcastic lowkick )

Bitte berücksichtigen Sie, dass
betreffende Benachrichtigung zwecks Abholung der
Pässe, bereits am 12.02.2016, an Sie erfolgt sind.

Which translates into "Please take into account, that notifying you, for the purpose of collecting the passports, already happened on 12.02.2016."
(Of course they never did send any such notification, but proove them liars... )

Solar wrote: I hope, for his sake just as much as for our friend, that this will eventually turn out a happy end.

Last steps are now: organize an "exit allowance" from turkish government, so he may leave turkey legally.
And then buy ticket, and lastly... GO!
With some - well, lets say this way: with some more absence of bad luck - abuashraf might be here in mid march - too late to sign in for this summer semester, but well OK to start in winter semester 2016!

I never had thought such a simple thing like "go for remote studying" would take *this* long road!

cheers and thx for all your donations,
TverrBjelke

Wonderful news!

TverrBjelke wrote: I never had thought such a simple thing like "go for remote studying" would take *this* long road!

All things considered -- the number of people dying on the "illegal" route, the amount of suffering endured and the uncertain future faced by those who make it via that way -- I think he'll be quite relieved once he is here, legally, and able to pick up his studies instead of sitting in a refugee shelter.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am, and how deeply grateful for the amount of work (and money) you have put into this. I feel quite a bit ashamed that this fell so heavily on you and your family.

Now, let's make this OSDev meeting happen that they're talking about in the other thread, and we'll see if we can bring abusashraf in for a round of handshaking and pictures.

If so, will he be formally confined to Germany or is freedom of travel better arranged than just a lack of border controls?

Just to be sure we're not planning things on the wrong side of the border.

Unless his Visum is artificially limited in some way, he should be free to move within the Schengen countries. But I am not an expert on this.

Hiiiiiiiiiii,
Yes I finally got the visa. After 11 months of waiting it finally arrived...
Thanks for everyone here showed an interested in my situation. Thanks for every comment you guys wrote and thanks for every donation you guys generously made. Big thanks to Solar who started this thread, got involved in this issue and most importantly put me in contact with the gentle man TverrBjelke. Thanks, many many thanks for TverrBjelke and his family for everything, for every message/email we exchanged, every idea we discussed, and every penny you spent. Thank you very much for keeping me company while I'm having homesickness in Turkey through your gentle and kind messages and calls.
I never thought that participating in an online forum could cause such a life changing experience...what a story we have now!

Hei,
now I am just about to pick up abuashraf from the main bus station.

...

Amazing news. Has he arrived safe and sound in Germany now?

As tverrbjelke said he was about to pick him up at the bus station, I would say "yes".

A warm welcome to Germany, abuashraf!

Well I will throw in some more details:

Currently he is sleeping in our guest bed, here at my home. (maybe NOW actually he is truely still sleeping, did not peek out for this morning )
I picked up Abuashraf on sunday 27. march and since then he is living in my "music room". Actually he starts falling in love with the Harp there

He is a bit in a queued situation, regarding his
residential status.

Since we managed to get him a nice (well currently only provisorial) students visa, he is no refugee with all the restrictions included, but a normal student.
His plans are to upgrade his bachelor of computer science to master level.
We thought to some options and doing a normal german-language based studying is the thing to do.

Now he must get his visa turn from "provisorial" to "1 year".
For that he has to do a language course/certificate level B1 course at a ( accepted by admin. of foreign affairs) institute asap.
And for this time is quite short and it will be a bit costly (well, it has a normal price, but "incredible expensive" compared to what abuashraf nowadays was used to spend and regarding to his remaining currently available finances )

Btw - Finances: He now is both saved and almost bancrupt...
He has a nice bank account with aprox. 8000 euros ready. But that must stay put and 1st save as "proove of financial independency" for the administration of foreign affairs - so they can grant him this 1 year students visa.

But until that is done (and as pre-condition to get his 1 year visa) he has quite some fees and expenses coming... (health insurance, language courses, visa fee, etc. then ...not to be forgetting communication, traveling etc. and ...the pure living) - we did some brief estimation and summary he now is in needs of 1500€ until all is done and he can then access his bank account and normally start his studies. For the next years I already did some first meetings - to organize potential sponsorships. but that is of course yet on horizon.

So after all the struggle and the happy end we have here... if someone actually could afford to share some cash to Solars bank account (see 1st post ) it would be GREAT.


But nontheless - actually I am very glad of the current situation.
Even if all coming efforts would fail - worst case would be him to have to apply for asylum in Germany and he probably would not be able to do his master. Thx alot!

A variety of things conspired to have the "final" update to this thread not appearing sooner.

I had TverrBjelke on the phone just now. Abushraf is attending his studies in Germany, no longer lodging with TverrBjelke, and has been for some time now. He's well and truly arrived, and standing on his own.

Thank you to all who helped. You changed the world for the better, a little bit.