anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 12 years ago
Hello all,
Country of Residence - Portuguese living in Turkey
I'm from Lisbon and I've been living for the past 8 months in Istanbul. I will be going back to Portugal by Interrail and I was wondering if buying a ticket from Madrid to Lisbon could be included in the Interrail Pass.
I have a Portuguese passport and a Turkish residence permit valid until December - however, when I bought the ticket, the country marked there was Portugal.
I'm wondering is the 'country of residence' rule only applies for travelling within Portugal (or from there to another country) or if I can't even use my Interrail Pass for my trip from Madrid directly to Lisbon. Or could I at least have the 50% discount?
Do you know if it's possible for me to do this? It would make things a lot easier. :)
Thanks!
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi.
If you spent the past six months or longer in turkey and you have a residency permit, you official have to buy a Turkish Interrail pass - which means: Turkey has to be written in your Interrail pass as country of residence.
As it is now written Portugal in it, you can not travel for free in Portugal.
The discount of 50% from the Spanish/Portugal border to Lisbon is available for your: [u]https://rail.cc/en/how-to-interrail[/u]
But usually you have to buy this ticket in your country of residence. You can try it as well in Madrid and if you find a nice person at the ticket window, you will also get it there.
By the way: it is also possible to buy your Interrail pass here at railcc: then you directly support all the information on the website and as well an answer like this one. :)
Peter :)
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Hi,
I showed my residence permit in the ticket office but he still registered me as Portuguese. Which is really a disadvantage because I'm going by bus from Istanbul to Greece anyway, so Turkey being my residence country wouldn't really be a problem. But I guess now I can't change it, but I'll try to use the discount.
Unfortunately I couldn't buy on railcc becuase I'm on a tight schedule and I can't wait for the shipping. :)
Thank for for your help!
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Also, does it mean that I have to change trains at the border? Or I just pay the extra fee for travelling in Portugal, but still able to go directly from Madrid? Thanks!
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hej,
the problem, as Peter already explained, will be to get your discounted ticket for the part of the journey in Portugal. Usually these can be only sold by your railway, thus CP in your case. I am not sure if RENFE will be able to sell you this ticket in Madrid. What you should do:
Go to Madrid, and ask if they can sell you the ticket for Villar Formoso - Lisboa. You will also need a reservation Madrid - Lisboa (no need for you to change at the border). If they can sell you the discounted ticket for the Portuguese part (what I doubt), all is fine (you need this ticket plus the reservation). If not...if possible I would try to ask the train personnel of the train at the check-in at Madrid Chamartin the day before you want to go if you could enter without a ticket for the Portuguese part (I dont think they can sell tickets on board) and instead buy this ticket while you are in Portugal.
A completely other option would be to take the domestic night train Madrid - Vigo and travel from Redondela to Porto.
Flo 8)
ERASMUS2013
Traveller
2 comments
Hi,
I have a similar problem to above.
I am a UK Resident and am currently studying in France and have been here for 3 months.
I bought an Inter Rail ticket today which states 'country: United Kingdom' but have been told at the station that as I bought my ticket in France I am not entitled to free travel in France but only to 50% off the price of a ticket.
All the information that I can find only mentions your Country of Residence for 50% off and then it will be valid in every other country. On my ticket it states United Kingdom therefore travel in France should be free?
Also a friend who bought the same ticket as me at the same time has France under the country but her ID and Passport are for UK too. Does she need to get this changed before we begin our travels and does this affect travelling in France as we have no documentation to say how long we have lived in France and this is under 6 Months anyway.
Can you help me to clear up this confusion, we leave on Friday so a quick reply would be great!
Thanks
Bryoney
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Hi Bryoney.
For your support the French railway is responsible as you bought your ticket there, they earned the money from you, its their turn.
If you stayed less than 6 months in France, your country of residence is the UK. So UK is correct in your Interrail pass (as you only stayed three months in France). Means: free travel in France.
Peter :)
ERASMUS2013
Traveller
2 comments
Thank You!
That's put my mind at ease. We will go back to the train station tomorrow and see if they can change the other ticket to UK too.
Bryoney
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
Shouldn't be a problem as it was the fault of the place where you (or your friend) bought it! :)
Have a nice trip. Peter :)
travelandspace2
Traveller
1 comments
As far as I know, there have been some facilitations regarding short-term residence permits in Turkey. However, it is essential to consider the requirements and conditions. The blog post I read provides detailed information about this topic: tepelawoffice.com/en/post/turkey-short-term-residence-permit-requirements.