Everyone who moves to Italy seems to have a story about false starts, long lines and lots of running around when it comes to registering in the country. Here’s our story.
First thing Monday morning we went to the “Questura,” or police station, to pick up our application for the “Permesso di Soggiorno” or permit to stay. We had heard stories of people waiting in line for hours at the Questura only to have the office close for the day before ever making it to the front of the line, so we were please to see only a couple people waiting in front of us at the information booth. After a few uneasy minutes of trying to figure out what the people in front of us were there for, our turn came. We asked the friendly female officer for the Permesso application, and she informed us that we needed to get it at the post office.
OK, false start. So we headed over to the main post office. We walked through the sliding glass doors to find ourselves in a busy waiting lounge where at least 30 people were waiting for their number to be called by one of the service windows. This did not bode well…Now, where did we need to go for our Permesso application? There was no help desk, and none of the information signs mentioned anything about the Permesso. Ricky took a chance and asked a woman loitering at the edge of the room who seemed to be an employee. She said something, then hurried through a door behind the service windows and soon returned with two application kits.
Progress. We took the kits back to our hotel and began leafing through the eight page application form and trying to make sense of the instruction page. It seemed that we would need a “codice fiscale,” which is a kind of identity number. We had already read up about the codice fiscale and knew that anyone should be able to get one by visiting the “Ufficio delle Entrate,” or Entry Office, and filling out some more paperwork.
The next day we went over to the Ufficio delle Entrate, which was much more crowded than the Questura had been. We made our way through the crowd to the information desk as best we could in a mix of American respect for waiting your turn and Italian pushiness. The man at the desk gave us the one page application, and after a quick glance we saw that it would require an address.
Time to find an apartment. The previous day we had gone to a rental agency where we were shown a nice little apartment. On Monday we weren’t sure if we should take some time to see a few other places or just go with the first one. Tuesday our decision was made. We went with the first one. So we headed over to the rental agency and put the deposit down on the apartment.
With our new address in hand we returned to the Ufficio delle Entrate on Wednesday to apply for our codice fiscale. We got to the office right when it opened after lunch (along with about 40 other people) and pushed our way forward with the mass of people. Again, we visited the information booth, but this time we were given a number to wait our turn to pass in the application. Shortly, our number was called, and we sat with a civil servant as she entered our information into the computer and generated our codice fiscale numbers.
Victory! We had print-outs of our codice fiscale numbers in hand. But, then the woman told us we would need to get a Tessera Sanitaria, or health card. This was news to us. We had never heard of the Tessera Sanitaria before. She told us we would need to go up to Piazza Manin to get it, though she couldn’t seem to tell us the exact address.
We decided to table the Tessera Sanitaria for a little bit, while we focused our attention back on the Permesso di Soggiorno. The eight page application turned out not to be so bad. Most of the questions didn’t apply to us, and we were able to fill in all the required information. We collected all the necessary back-up documentation (photocopies of our passports, return flight to the US, proof of health insurance, and proof we had enough money to support ourselves while in Italy), and were ready to go back to the post office to turn it in.
Thursday morning we returned to the main post office, figuring that since we got the application there we would also turn it in there. Not so. The first three people we asked had no idea what to do with the application, but we did figure out we needed to find a post office with a “sportello amico” or “friend window”. It appeared the main post office did not have one. We then called the toll free Permesso phone number, and the person who answered told us that there were 30 post offices with “friend windows”, but he could not tell us which was closest to our current location.
Feeling very frustrated we decided to ask the woman at the post office gift shop (yes, this post office had a gift shop) if she knew where to find a sportello amico. She did! So we went on our way to a nearby post office.
At the next post office, we were directed to a window in the corner, where we waited for the resident Permesso processor to review our applications. She asked us if we had made copies of every page in our passports. No, just copies of the information page and the page with our entry stamp. She sighed and disappeared to make copies all the other pages. Why they need to see a stamp from a vacation to Jamaica three years ago is beyond me, but at least she made the photocopies for us, and didn’t send us away to get them ourselves.
We paid the application fee, then she pulled out her official looking black stamp and slammed it down on our applications. What a welcome sight! She tossed our applications onto an already tall stack of other applications, and told us we would need to go to the Questura once we got a receipt in the mail.
Now we wait. We expect to get the receipt in about a month. But it’s entirely possible it will take longer. Until then, we’re resting easy because as far as we know we’re done with phase one of the registration process.
…but there’s still the Tessera Sanitaria. Thursday afternoon, after feeling pretty good that we had successfully submitted our Permesso applications, we made our way up towards Piazza Manin without knowing exactly what we were looking for. The woman who gave us our codice fiscale described it as a “big palace.” Normally this kind of description would make any building stand out, but when you’re in a city full of palaces and every building seems to be frescoed, “big palace” means nothing. Somehow, we found the building and went in for our Tessera Sanitaria. We made our way into the waiting area and found there was no line, which is always a welcome sight. We were helped by a nice gentleman who brought us into his office, looked at our Codice Fiscale paperwork, saw that we’re Americans, and said there’s nothing he could do for us. Apparently this Health Card is only for Europeans to let them get urgent care around Europe, it’s not for us. This information would’ve helped us a few days before, but it wouldn’t be a true Italian process without having a few extra, unnecessary steps.
Yesterday afternoon we went to pay our electric bill at the post office because that’s where you pay electric bills.
window because only customers with special accounts can pay at the electric company window.
This past week most of Italy has been going through a cold spell. It comes after one of the mildest winters in 25 years. In Genova this has meant temperatures in the 50s instead of the 60s. It also brought a snowfall to the hills on the western side of the city.