One last visit to the Questura

Back when Paolo had his appointment to retake his fingerprints (required to obtain his permesso), the agent scheduled a 21/04 (April 21) appointment for him to pick up his carta di soggiorno elettronica (his residence card, which states the type of permesso he has - "familiare" or permission to live in Italy as the family member of a citizen, plus other identifying information that is stored in a biometric chip.  So when I received an email the other day saying that his appointment has been scheduled for 24/05 (May 24), I didn't know what to think - after all, we'd already be back in the US by that point.

Our translator didn't seem concerned.  "Oh, the agent probably just forgot to put it in the system, so they didn't know you already have an appointment.  It happens.  Don't worry, just go to the appointment we already scheduled," she said.  So we did.

Only to find out, when we arrived at the gatehouse, that we were not on the appointment list for the day.  I thought for sure we were going to be sent away - but fortunately, the same officer who scheduled the appointment happened to be on duty again today, and remembered us, so the guard at the gate let us in after all.  The translator was right; the agent did forget to put the appointment in the system. 

So, after taking Paolo's fingerprints yet again - to verify his identity as the person to whom the card was issued - he finally received his residency permit.

Official Italian Resident

I blocked out the personal info - but this is what the front of the card looks like

It seems a bit ironic that it was issued the week before we are scheduled to return to the US.  But at least now no one can question whether he's "overstayed" his allotted 90 days in the Schengen area on this trip.  And we have plenty of time to decide our ultimate residency goals.  

Our lease is up here at the end of next week.  We will be leaving our comune a bit before that, though.  Our plan is to head to Rome (well, Fiumicino, actually) this Sunday and turn in our rental car.  We will stay there until we fly to the US on Wednesday - assuming, of course, that we both pass the required Covid tests, and that our flight isn't canceled and/or rescheduled - it seems that's a potential issue, from what I've been reading in the US news.  In case you're wondering:  we certainly will be wearing our FFP2 masks on the plane, overturned mandates be damned.  

Questura Questions

I had emailed the questura in Campobasso a few weeks ago to clarify whether Paolo could travel outside of Italy as he waits for his official permesso document that he applied for back in February.  I knew that he could go back to the US and return to Italy with just his receipt; but I was getting conflicting information regarding travel within the EU and/or Schengen Area - the issue being that he has been in the Schengen Area more than the 90 visa-free days allowed to US citizens who are not residents.  While there aren't border controls as such between the Schengen countries, there's always the possibility of having our ID checked; also, the airlines require the passport information when booking flights.  I was hoping - and had been lead to believe - that he could travel (by "travel," I mean "fly) as long as he was with me, and we had other documentation such as my ID, our marriage certificate, his permesso receipt, etc.  But because I don't believe everything I read online, I contacted the questura to get an official answer.

Last week while we were in Bologna, I received a reply to my inquiry - sort of:  

"Buongiorno, con riferimento alla pratica in oggetto l'interessato deve ripresentarsi presso questo Ufficio Immigrazione il giorno 16.03 dalle ore 08.30 alle ore 12.00 per essere nuovamente sottoposto a rilievi dattiloscopici in quanto la prima acquisizione delle impronte non e' andata a buon fine. Nell'occasione verranno fornite tutte le indicazioni per la circolazione nei Paesi dell'Unione Europea. Per il Dirigente l'Ufficio Immigrazione"

Google Translate is so much fun:

"Good morning, with reference to the practice in question the interested party must return to this Immigration Office on 16.03 from 08.30 to 12.00 in order to be subjected to tyloscopic surveys since the first acquisition of the footprints did not successfully. On the occasion will be provided all the indications for circulation in the countries of the European Union. For the Manager the Immigration Office"

Fortunately, we are just a little smarter than Google Translate (and also, we certainly don't remember Paolo's footprints being taken), so we understood this to mean that for whatever reason, his fingerprints needed to be re-taken and that he should come in on March 16th to do so.  Note that there was no answer to my actual question included, although they did at least imply they would answer the question about travel when he has the prints redone.

I wonder how long they would have waited to tell us he needed to come back, if I hadn't reached out to them in the first place about something completely different?  Because Italy.

So off we drove to Campobasso this morning.  While there is no snow here in our comune, there is a little snow up in the mountains, some of which we had to drive over in order to get to our destination (luckily there was no snow on the roadways).  I took a few quick photos from the passenger seat as we were heading into town:

Not really any snow here, just a view of part of Campobasso itself

We learned that the questura isn't usually open to the public on Wednesdays - that is, they don't schedule regular appointments for passports, residency permits, immigration, etc. - it's by invitation only.  The nice thing about that is, since there are a lot fewer people there, you don't have to stand outside waiting for so long.  You still have to get past the slightly grumpy guard at the gatehouse to enter the complex though.

The agent at the questura said that the issue with the fingerprints is that the two sets taken at the time of his appointment were then sent to Naples where they are somehow analyzed - and whatever computer program they have that does this flagged the sets of fingerprints as not matching!  Huh?!  Sigh.  Because Italy.  So once again, he had a set of prints taken at the window by the agent; then a second set taken in another office by a different agent in a lab coat - a rather cranky woman who complained that we (our interpreter and I) were talking too loudly; we were standing outside the building so she must have some kind of superhero-level hearing but whatever.

We finally got the definitive answer to the question about whether Paolo can travel to another EU and/or Schengen country while waiting for his permesso:  no.*  That is too bad, because it would have been nice to hop over to Germany for a few days while we are here.  On the other hand, since we were at the questura, we had an opportunity to confirm that the permesso will allegedly be ready before we head back to the US at the end of April.  We were able to make an appointment to pick it up on April 21.   It's too bad it won't be ready sooner - but it is what it is.  Because Italy.  Let's hope that Paolo's fingerprints match this time!!  👐

*I suppose, if we wanted to be sneaky about it, we could, theoretically, drive.  But there's always the chance we'd run into some issue where ID needs to be presented.  Also, we don't have the special sticker for the rental car that would be required if we were taking it to another country.  Plus, gas prices are crazy here - we pay about €2,25 ($2.47) per litre here (so over $9 per gallon if my math is correct).  And anyway, it would be much too long of a drive - my bladder can't hold out as long as Paolo's - he rarely wants to stop for pee-breaks.  Drives me nuts.

Passaporto e Permesso

 "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!

Questura

We woke up Monday morning to see a little snow on the surrounding mountains:

View out my bathroom window

Fortunately, it didn't snow here in town (yet) although the temps have dropped considerably.  Currently it is about 39F and a bit windy (though less windy than it was yesterday).  The Weather Channel app had predicted we'd have a little snow overnight, changing to rain today; happily, this did not come to pass, and all was dry as of when we woke up this morning.  Later in the week, the sun will allegedly return along with some warmer weather predicted to be in the high 40'sF - low 50'sF - I'll take it!

Yesterday (Tuesday) I had my passport appointment at the questura in Campobasso.  Ironically, this would have been the day that I would have had an appointment at the Italian Consulate office in Philadelphia, had it not been canceled for Covid.  I'm not complaining, as going to the consulate would have entailed a wait of at least another two years for the processing of my request for recognition of my citizenship - so it all worked out in the end, as life often does.

The questura is the provincial headquarters for the polizia di stato (not to be confused with the carabinieri - which are actually a military police force, like the French gendarmerie - or the guardia di finanza, which deals specifically with financial crimes, smuggling, and drugs).  The questura is also the administrative office where one goes to deal with immigration issues (non-EU immigration in particular), request passports, obtain firearms licenses (quite rare in Italy compared to the US), permits for various things, etc., etc.

Main entrance, for my purposes.  It appeared that folks with immigration issues enter via a side door.  It's quite a large building, extending much farther on either side of this door than you might guess from the photo.

My appointment was for 10 AM; we managed to get there on time despite having taken a couple of wrong exits off the roundabouts in Campobasso.  For some reason, the GPS system in our car sometimes gets a little fuzzy on exactly which exits to take when going around a traffic circle.  As it turned out, the questura is located just down the street from the agenzia delle entrate, where I obtained my codice fiscale.  To our (happy) surprise, we were able to find a parking spot in a lot across the street - a minor miracle.  Also a minor miracle that we didn't get flattened while crossing said street - Italian drivers rarely stop for pedestrians (or other drivers, for that matter).

Nicoletta was not available to translate for this appointment, so we met with her colleague Saya, who was very sweet. We walked up to a sort of gatehouse next to the questura building, which was manned by a somewhat grumpy looking officer behind a glass window.  Saya explained (more than once, actually) that we were there for my passport appointment.  I noticed he was checking a clipboard, presumably reading through a list of scheduled appointments, looking for my name.  Eventually he found it and we were waved through to the grounds of the building.  Interestingly, while there was a device for checking body temperature on a stand in front of the officer's window, we were not required to scan ourselves before being admitted.

Surprisingly, when we entered the building, it seemed pretty empty; I'd expected to see more people bustling about their bureaucratic business.  I'd mentally prepared for a long wait, red tape, requests for documents I didn't have, additional fees, whatever.  Italian bureaucracy really does have a poor reputation.  However, my appointment was actually very quick; we'd brought the filled-in application forms with us, along with two passport-sized photos (note that they are not the same 2x2-inch size as you'd use for a US passport; Italian photos are a bit smaller).  Once we greeted the woman at the passport counter and Saya explained that the appointment was for me, it went fairly smoothly.  The forms were reviewed and deemed correct; I just had to sign them.  I was also fingerprinted - one finger on each hand.  The fingerprint machine at the questura worked much better than the one in my comune; I didn't have to jam my fingers down on it, or have someone apply pressure to them for me in order to make the scan work correctly.  I was then told my passport should be available in about a week.  

And...that was it.  It was a bit anticlimactic.  The total fees, for the passport, plus the tax stamp that must be paid for and added to the application (this stamp costs more than the actual passport), plus mailing, I think was just about €126 (just over $143). My expedited US passport renewal in 2021 cost more, plus it took longer than a week to receive.

I suggested that we might perhaps check out the shopping mall in Campobasso, since we were already pretty close to it, but Paolo opted to head home instead, saving the shopping trip for another day.  So rather than celebrate this milestone by buying myself a present, I decided to mark the occasion by cooking dinner - I made capellini with clam sauce, which I'd never done before.  I melted some butter, added olive oil, a jar of clams with juice, some garlic, some very finely diced zucchini, and some seasonings; I let it come to a boil, then let it simmer a bit before stirring the sauce into the bowl of pasta.  It was delicious, if I say so myself:

Notice that Paolo got a haircut?  Unfortunately for him, I had to give him one of my Covid-specials with the clippers, since we can't figure out when, exactly, the hair salon here in town is opened.  Every time we go by, it is closed, and they don't seem to have a website.  I always forget to ask when chatting with neighbors.  I really should try to remember, though, as I myself desperately need a cut and color.  Paolo kindly offered to return the favor, but I declined as 1) we don't have proper haircutting scissors; and 2) I'm not that desperate yet.