1. When should I start visa application for Türkiye?

After receiving your acceptance letter, it is highly recommended that you contact the representative offices of the Republic of Turkiye located in your country to learn the bilateral visa regime and to acknowledge which documents you would need to collect for your visa application as soon as possible if you need a visa.

Please note that, (unless there are no specific bilateral arrangements between countries) the students who will come to study in Türkiye must obtain a student visa from the nearest Turkish Republic Consulate/Embassy.

Student visa procedures can take time, and therefore, it is important that you start for collecting the documents and apply for a student visa as soon as you can. 

You can check country-specific visa regulations of Türkiye: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Link

For locating the Nearest Turkish Embassy or Consulate in Your Home Country Here is an A-Z country list for Turkish embassies or consulates: http://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkish-representations.en.mfa

KHAS International Office Page Regarding Visa and Residence Permit: Link

If you need any further documents from our side, we would be happy to issue them to facilitate your visa application.

For your mobilities, you might need to apply to visa for Germany and North Macedonia when you are in Türkiye. Please ensure that your passport is valid for your entire duration of study, and you have enough pages for new visa applications.

2. Do I need a residence permit for my stay in Türkiye?

YES. The main document of your stay in Türkiye is Residence Permit.

According to the Turkish Migration Regulations, all international students must apply to a residence permit from Turkish Migration Office.

You can apply for a residence permit only after registration at university and only after you arrive at Türkiye.

Please review the Presidency of Migration website for residence permits: https://en.goc.gov.tr/residence-1

3. When should I start my visa application for Germany?

Since Students’ first mobility destination is Türkiye, you first need a student visa for your studies in Türkiye. Following, if your second mobility is to Germany, you can apply for German visa when you are in Türkiye.

International students with proof of admittance to a German university will be issued a student visa (“Visum zu Studienzwecken”), the so-called National Visa D.

Please be aware that a Schengen visa is only for tourist purposes or – for students – short stays like research for final thesis, summer school and the like in Germany. A Schengen visa will never be converted into a residence permit.

As Erasmus Mundus students, you will most probably get an appointment in Istanbul rather fast; it will also be relatively fast for the visa to be issued. But it will take at least four weeks, so plan ahead. The sooner you can take care of it, the better. Please check the website of Consulate/Embassy of Germany in İstanbul to learn most up-to-date information about the duration and requested documents for visa.

4. When should I start my visa application for North Macedonia?

Since Students’ first mobility destination is Türkiye, you first need a student visa for your studies in Türkiye. Following, if your second mobility is to North Macedonia, you can apply for North Macedonian visa when you are in Türkiye.

Please be aware that before coming to the Republic of North Macedonia as a student, you are required to obtain a visa.

The documents required for obtaining a visa have to be taken to the nearest consulate or Embassy of the Republic of North Macedonia. (The list of consulates and embassies is available at: www.mfa.gov.mk).

Like Türkiye and Germany, upon arrival in Skopje students are required to apply for a residence permit, issued by the local administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

5. What are the necessary documents for my visa applications?

For the visa documents, you should check the respective embassies’/consulates’ webpages because changes might occur which CyberMACS consortium might not be aware of. Typically, you might need following documents for the visa application:

  • Letter of admission/acceptance
  • A valid passport with at least two free pages
  • A recent passport photo which fulfils the necessary requirements
  • Proof of funding, like your scholarship letters or similar
  • Some further application documents: Travel insurance, proof of accommodation etc.

Please feel free to reach us, if you need any further documents from our side, we would be happy to issue them to facilitate your visa application.

Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to check the most updated information regarding the visa requirements for CyberMACS countries.

6. When should I start my registration at Kadir Has University?

In Kadir Has University, there are different dates for registration. We will send an e-mail to all our accepted students regarding the registration dates.

7. How should I make my registration to Kadir Has University?

We will send an e-mail to all our accepted students regarding the instructions about how to register. While you are making your registration at Kadir Has University, each of our students creates their own University related e-mail address. The KHAS e-mail address is used for university notifications and announcements.

8. How and when will the scholarships be paid?

Students with scholarships will receive 1400€/per month for 24 months, granted by the European Commission, to finance his/her participation in the two-year CyberMACS. Your first scholarship will be paid one month after your arrival date. For instance, if you arrive in İstanbul right before integration week (you will be communicated via e-mail), you will receive your scholarship exactly after one month of your arrival day.

Please acknowledge that payments are conditional upon the student providing a valid personal  bank account in Euro nominally assigned to the student in the bank that the Consortium is working with. Payments are subject to fulfilment of the student’s obligations as delineated in his/her Student Agreement.

Payment of the scholarship will cease immediately if the scholarship holder withdraws from the Programme or fails to comply with the conditions and agreements laid down his/her Scholarship Contract and/or the Student Agreement.

For your questions about opening a bank account, please see Question 20 and 21. If you need further assistance, please contact us.

9. When should I be in Istanbul/Türkiye?

For the 2024-2025 edition, we encourage you to arrange your arrival in Istanbul starting from the 31st of August 2024 onward. Between the 2nd and 6th of September, you will be asked to participate in a cultural orientation week. Between the 9th and 13th of September, we are organizing a joint integration event where one coursework will be running in parallel.  On the 16th of September, the fall Semester for 2024 will officially start.

You can start to organize your travel with respect to the given dates below:

Arrival to Turkiye: 1 September 2024

Cultural Orientation Week: 2-6 September 2024

Joint Integration Week: 9-13 September 2024

First Semester Starts: 16 September 2024

10. When does the semester start at Kadir Has University?

On the 16th of September, the fall Semester for 2024 will officially start. 

11. What is the CyberMACS insurance policy?

In line with the EMJM rules, regardless of their scholarship status, all CyberMACS students must have a comprehensive health and accident insurance policy.

This insurance will cover all of the whole programme duration. You don’t need to make additional payments for insurance.

This insurance covers:

  • Sickness, pregnancy/childbirth, and accident, in particular:
    • direct payment of hospital stays
    • reimbursement of outpatient care and other medical expenses
    • 100% cover for doctor’s fees, medicines, examinations, and analyses prescribed by a physician, urgent dental care following an accident, all hospital expenses and surgical fees (including advances on hospital expenses), repatriation in the event of serious illness or accident
    • costs for urgent dental care without accident up to 250 EUR per year
    • non-permanent and non-chronic mental disorders
    • pregnancies of less than 6 months (at the moment of departure from the home country to participate in the action) may not be excluded from cover
  • Death (whether attributable to the activities under the action or not and covering all cases, including suicide), in particular:
  • Transport of the mortal remains to the place chosen by the deceased’s family
  • Funeral and laying-out costs
  • Costs of the coffin
  • Permanent invalidity (whether attributable to the activities under the action or not), in particular partial or full permanent disability resulting from an accident
  • Third party liability occasioned by physical or material damage to third parties (as provided for under the applicable national law)
  • Theft and loss of personal belongings, in particular:
  • Identification documents (identity card, passport, etc.)
  • Travel tickets
  • Luggage
  • The entire enrolment period (including mobility periods and worldwide travel required for the participation in the master course)

We can only work with companies who cover the comprehensive requirements of Mundus insurance policy. If you need your insurance document for your visa application, please contact us. The insurance company has an online registration tool where the individual confirmations are uploaded right upon enrolment, and we will send individual insurance policies upon request after the 15th of June.

Please note that although the program provides international health insurance for students, the Turkish government only accepts a curated number of health insurance, which students are required to purchase themselves. The cost ranges between 825 -1820 TL

12. When and how should I send my student agreement/scholarship contract?

The student agreement is a legally binding document that contains the academic, administrative and financial aspects of the CyberMACS programme. You can sign, scan and send the agreement back to us whenever you want. But please acknowledge that we will be asking for a wet signature when you arrive in Istanbul.

13. Will Kadir Has University provide accommodation?

Kadir Has University does not have its own dormitory and does not offer an apartment search service. Nonetheless, the University’s campus is located in the district of Fatih in Istanbul, in the Cibali neighbourhood on the shore of the Golden Horn, and it can be easily reached from every point of Istanbul.

You can check the contact information of some dormitories operated by the Turkish Ministry of Youth and Sports, where our students choose to stay.

Some of the private options can be found in the following links:

Please arrange your accommodation as early as possible since September is the peak time for tourist and academic events in İstanbul.

If you want to search for accommodation after you arrive in İstanbul, you can temporarily stay in a hotel which is near to the Campus. Please reach us if you prefer this option. We will try to get you a discount and recommend some options.

14. Since we are starting after September 1st, will the first monthly scholarship (for September) be the full amount or less?

Students with scholarships will receive 1400 Euro monthly, for 24 months. Your first scholarship payment will be realized one month after the official start of your mobility period (arrival to Istanbul). So, if you arrive on 02 September 2024, you will receive your first payment on 02 October 2024.

As it was stated in your scholarship contact, please acknowledge that payments are conditional upon providing a valid personal bank account in Euro nominally assigned to you in the bank that the Consortium is working with and you are subject to fulfilment of your obligations as delineated in the Student Agreement.

Payment of the scholarship will cease immediately if the scholarship holder withdraws from the Programme or fails to comply with the conditions and agreements laid down his/her Scholarship Contract and/or the Student Agreement.

15. If I leave earlier (less than 24 months, i.e., 23 Months and 10 days), do I still receive the full scholarship?

The amount of scholarships are calculated with the help of the “Mobility Tool” which is an automatic system that the CyberMACS Consortium uses to inform the European Commission regarding the CyberMACS students.

If you leave earlier than 24 months, the following calculation method is used to calculate your scholarship.

Example:

Student arrival: 12/09/2023,

Student drops out 25/12/2023

A: count the FULL MONTHS = 3 (12/09 to 11/12)

B: count the remaining days and divide by 30 => 14/30 = 0,4666

C: the system adds up A and B: 3,4666

Scholarships: € 1400 / month * 3,47 = € 5180 not 5600

16. I have an account with Wise (Formerly TransferWise) and it is in EUR currency with my personal BIC/IBAN information. Is this sufficient?

Unfortunately, we cannot make any official recommendation for any company or any service to arrange your internal financial transactions.  Our Consortium policies request students to open a bank account when they arrive in Istanbul. Due to the fees related to the international bank transfers and in order to be able to pay you the full scholarship amount, even though you have an existing EUR account, we are requesting to open a new account from the bank that the Consortium is working with. We will inform you about the bank account opening procedure when you arrive in Istanbul.

17. I am a European Union citizen, does my personal bank account (which is in EUR) satisfy the requirement of a valid personal European bank account in Euro nominally assigned to me?

Similar to Question 20, our Consortium policies request students to open a bank account when they arrive in Istanbul. Due to the fees related to the international bank transfers and in order to be able to pay you the full scholarship amount, even though you have an existing EUR account, we are requesting to open a new account from the bank that the Consortium is working with. We will inform you about the bank account opening procedure when you arrive in Istanbul.

18. I am informed that I’m on the reserve list. When I receive the final decision regarding my application status?

For the 2024-2025 student edition period, we will inform Students in reserve list in July 2024 regarding final decision. Please check your inbox regularly.  

19. I renewed my passport, and my passport number is changed, what should I do?

Please kindly inform us about all changes in your personal information for our internal records (which are stored with respect to the GDPR).

20. Can I apply for a scholarship to the CyberMACS programme?

Yes, you can apply for a scholarship. CyberMACS offers a limited number of scholarships amounting to €1,400/month for 2 years. Scholarship students are furthermore exempted from registration and/or tuition fee payments. For other options please see.

21. I have not completed my bachelor’s; can I apply?

Yes, applicants in their final year of studies are eligible to apply, provided that they will graduate by 17 August 2024.  If the applicant is not able to graduate on time or fails to deliver a degree certificate by the given deadline, their conditional acceptance to the programme will be cancelled.

22. Which field is required to have a bachelor’s degree when applying to CyberMACS?

Applicants are expected to have a high-quality Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical and/or electronics engineering, information technology, management information systems, physics, or mathematics, or close fields to those. 

23. I have a bachelor’s degree other than the fields listed. Can I still apply?

Candidates with degrees in other fields will be considered if they have sufficient studies in the required subject areas. Required background consists of sufficient studies in:
– Mathematics (linear algebra, calculus, probability theory, statistics, and discrete mathematics)
– Programming Skills
– Algorithms and data structures
– Databases
– Theory of computation