"Got three passports, couple of visas/You don't even know my real name..."
-Talking Heads, Life During Wartime
Well, I have two passports, not three - and it certainly wasn't no party, and it wasn't no disco, and it definitely wasn't no foolin' around...but I did it! I finally have my passaporto italiano! I'm so excited I think I will post another picture of it:
There are some slight differences between the US passport and the Italian one (other than the obvious ones of country and color). For one thing, the Italian passport lists my town of residence (though not the street address). It also lists my height (in cm, which kind of makes me feel a bit taller) and my eye color. By the way, according to the clerk at the questura here, there is no such eye color as "hazel," so for Italian purposes, my eyes are listed as grigi (grey). The Italian passport includes two photos, not just one. The biggest difference between the two passports is, of course, my name - because Italian women do not have the option to change their surname when they marry, it reflects my maiden name (as do all my other official Italian documents).
There's an interesting website called Passport Index where you can compare passports of different countries. As of this writing, Italy is ranked #2 in the world in terms of where you can go; the US is ranked 6th (taking Covid into account).
My passport was actually issued a few weeks ago, but was sent to my service provider's office rather than to my apartment address. Since Paolo had an appointment to apply for his documentation today, I opted to have our translator bring it with her to give to me when we met for his appointment, rather than trust it to Poste italiane.
Now that I am a citizen, complete with ID and passaporto, I can live here (or anywhere in the EU), and/or come and go as I please. I don't have to worry about the 90/180 day rules. As the spouse of an Italian/EU citizen, Paolo has some limited rights as well - as long as he has the proper paperwork. So today, we headed into Campobasso, the provincial capital, so he could present his documentation at the Immigration office in the questura, in order to receive a permesso di soggiorno per coniuge di cittadino italiano (residence permit for the spouse of an Italian citizen).
The questura opens for business at 9 AM; we were advised to get there by 8:30. When we arrived at 8:20, there was already a line outside the gatehouse! I was a little surprised, because I wasn't expecting it to be so busy - after all, Molise is not a very populous region (I think only Valle d'Aosta has fewer people). But there must have been at least 10 people waiting in line when we arrived, and more showed up after we did. I use the phrase "waiting in line" very loosely, as according to my personal observations, Italians don't really queue, they just mill about. Our translator (today it was Saya again) joined us shortly after we arrived; she had all the relevant paperwork with her (we'd coordinated this last week).
At 9 AM the gatehouse opened and there was a rush to the front of the "line;" we did get through relatively quickly (after Saya and I presented our Green Passes for scanning, and Paolo's CDC vaccination card for review). Paolo was given a little ticket (like you might get at the the deli counter); he was #76 (I couldn't puzzle out how the numbering system worked; there were not actually 75 people ahead of him, but whatever). We walked around the gatehouse and down the side of the questura building, and entered a little outdoor courtyard to continue our wait.
We waited outside in the cold (low 40sF) until about 10:45, because there was only one person working the immigration counter. Because Italy. Once it was finally Paolo's turn, it went smoothly, if a bit slowly. We handed in copies of the documents they require: our estratto per riassunto del registro degli atti di matrimonio (extract of our marriage information recorded in my comune); a copy of every page of Paolo's US passport (yes - every single page, including the blank ones); a copy of my Italian ID card; a copy of my lease for the apartment here; some bank statements (to show he can support himself); a Dichiarazione di ospitalità or "hospitality letter," a form I had to sign that confirms that I'm letting him live with me; and a dichiarazione di soggiorno straniero - a foreigner's declaration of stay. He also had to supply two Italian passport-sized photos, as well as a bollettino postale (it is the form that confirms the fee has been paid - kind of like a receipt that you fill in yourself - in this case, €30,46), and a marca da bollo (€16 tax stamp). It seems as if everything needs a tax stamp in Italy.
The officer slowly shuffled through the documents and entered information into his computer; then after scanning two fingerprints (one from each hand), he handed us the very flimsy and not-at-all-official-looking-but-they-swear-it-is receipt for the permesso. The actual permesso document will allegedly be ready...sometime in the next four months. Because Italy. There is a number on the receipt that you can enter into the questura's website to check to see whether it is ready to be picked up. They do not mail them, as they must verify one's identity via fingerprints before releasing the document. However, the receipt serves as a temporary permesso document; in fact, we were told that lots of people never bother to go back and pick up their actual permesso.
We thought being handed the receipt indicated we'd reached the end of the appointment - but we thought wrong. We had to go back outside (brrr!) and wait until called by another officer - this one wearing a lab coat - who scanned fingerprints from all of Paolo's fingers, as well as his palms. I'm not sure what the lab coat was in aid of, as I can't image you get very dirty just scanning fingerprints all day.
We returned home about 13:00, lunchtime here. Now that Paolo has proof that his permesso is being processed, we don't have to worry about anyone questioning his right to be here, and/or why he's been here longer than 90 days. Not that we were too worried about it - except that time we were lollipopped. Now maybe we will think about doing a little cautious traveling, especially now that Covid numbers are looking a bit better here (*knocks on wood*).
In other news: we heard that there is another American couple here in our comune! They are living around the corner from us. They only arrived a day or two ago, so we haven't met them yet, but I am sure we will soon. They are also here for citizenship recognition. They hail from the Philly region, too. Small world!
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