Our story of moving to the North Caucasus began from the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra of the Russian Federation, the oil capital of Samotlor, Nizhnevartovsk. We ourselves are from the North Caucasus and always dreamed of living in a country where it was warm all year round.
And then one day I noticed an airplane with the signature – Ilya Shestakov. Each time I read Ilya’s story about Northern Cyprus, I was filled with deep respect and trust for this person, who repeatedly, as we approached him, very competently, in an accessible language, answered each of our questions about the Program for Assistance to Resettlement of Russian-Speaking Population.
My husband and the families of my daughters supported me, and from that moment we wrote an application to the Assistance Program, had an interview on Skype, received a full personal consultation and planning. After that, all our friendly three families began to prepare for the move, putting their real estate up for sale. Everything was organized completely remotely with full transaction support, having reserved three 2+1 apartments, step by step following all of Ilya’s recommendations: through State Services we ordered certificates of no criminal record and a certificate “On change of surname”, which we waited for a month. We also made powers of attorney to represent our interests in government agencies of Cyprus and apostilled them at the Turkish Embassy in Moscow.
4 months passed, and the day of moving arrived. 72 hours before departure, we took a PCR test and received the results in English.
On August 31, we flew to Istanbul, and when registering tickets, it turned out that PCR tests were also needed for the children. Here, of course, we had serious stress: we don’t know the language, we don’t know where to go to take tests, the airport is just a kilometer long, the plane will fly away in a few minutes. The daughter gathered her thoughts, called Olga, explained the situation, and for several hours, wherever negotiations were needed, Olya was constantly in touch. This is support in difficult times, a sense of camaraderie, this is a manifestation of humanity!!!
And finally it happened! In the afternoon of September 1, 2021, we arrived at Ercan Airport: three adults and two schoolchildren. I admit, we had not yet recovered from the stress and were confused again: unfamiliar speech all around, a huge serpentine line to the police officers, where you need to show all the documents you brought and explain for what purpose you came to Northern Cyprus – as a tourist, a guest or the owner of your own home (we purchased real estate), and you also need to indicate the address. Based on this, the police officer puts a stamp in the passport and indicates how long you can stay in this country.
We looked for Olya with our eyes – this was our salvation, because we could not answer a single question without her. And when our eyes met, tears gushed from her eyes: we were greeted like close relatives by charming, attentive, very delicate Olya, Ilya’s wife, with a smile on her face. Olya helped us formalize our arrival, we stood in line, and we adults were given bracelets for seven days so that they could monitor our stay in the quarantine zone by phone. Only after all these procedures did we load our things into the Mercedes SUV and Olya drove us to the long-awaited Russian-speaking quarter, where the first apartment in the “Residence of Caesar” was waiting for us, lovingly furnished by Olya and with a refrigerator loaded to the brim!
We spent seven days in quarantine in our own apartment, constantly being on the terrace and admiring the beauty of the modern Russian-speaking Quarter, the view of the mountains, the proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, the sunrise and sunset – these are indescribable feelings! The modern residential complex is fully equipped with all the necessary communications, ready-made infrastructure.
After seven days of our stay in quarantine, Olya took us to the clinic to get a PCR test, and together with us she walked a huge line to the coveted window, explaining to the nurse in Turkish everything that was required. Having received negative results, they removed our bracelets. In the following days, Olya and I went to municipal institutions, collected the necessary certificates, since our presence was required, and all negotiations, of course, were conducted by Olya in Turkish.
Then Olga went several times to the Ministry of Education in Nicosia, negotiated the admission of children to school, providing all the documents we brought from Russia. Our children were successfully enrolled in grades 4 and 5, as we wanted, and then we visited the school and met the teachers. And now, less than three weeks have passed, in early October 2021, our children went to school, and are already learning three languages!
Another important point is that in order to obtain a residence permit, you need to place 10 thousand euros in accounts for each adult, and thanks to the allocated funds from the Assistance Program fund, we have completed the documents for obtaining a residence permit, and this must be confirmed annually. And we, all those who arrived, in turn, are happy to provide assistance and support to the newly arriving residents of the quarter!
Great gratitude and deep bow to Ilya and Olga Shestakov for their great contribution to the creation of a piece of Russian-speaking land! You do more than is possible! We have received invaluable benefits from resettlement under the Assistance Program! And it is very important for us all to help each other, this will benefit everyone. And so that there are no problems at every step, resettle with the help of the Resettlement Assistance Program, then everything will be wonderful for you!
Vyacheslav, Antonina, Natalia.
