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Residency Permits – post office applications

Published 2007.05.31

As of Monday, December 11, applications throughout Italy for the issue and renewal of residency permits will be presented at one of the 5000 authorized post offices and no longer at the police station.

After trials held starting on November 6 in Prato, Ancona, Frosinone, Brindisi and Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, the new system has now been extended to all the other provinces.

The main steps are as follows:

• Foreign citizens can request an envelope at all Italian post offices, containing the bar-coded forms. These serve to apply for the first permit and subsequent renewals, updates and conversions of almost all types of residency permits: for employment (subordinate or self-employment), family, study, tourism, religious reasons and other. This method will also apply to residency cards, including those for EU citizens, who can also continue to apply at the police station.

• The various institutions (ex: Patronato) are available to help applicants prepare their applications free of charge. In some cities, where the police and local government authorities have been cooperating for some time on the renewal of permits, it is also possible to apply at the municipal offices, which will then turn the applications over to the post office.

Patronato:

CGIL - INCA - via Pedrotti n. 5, Torino. tel 0112442399, orario: lunedì, mercoledì e venerdì dalle 9.00 alle 12.00 e dalle 15.00 alle 18.00

CISL - INAS - via Barbaroux 43, Torino. tel. 0115623552, orario: martedì dalle 9.00 alle 12.00 e venerdì dalle 14.00 alle 18.00

UIL - ITAL - via Bologna 11, Torino. tel. 0112417120, orario: dal lunedì al venerdì 9.00 - 12.00

ACLI - patronato - via Perrone 3, Torino. tel 0115712711, orario: dal lunedì al venerdì dalle 9.00 alle 12.00 e dalle 14.30 alle 17.00

• Applications can only be filed at the authorized post offices, which now number more than 5000, and which will be communicated by the Italian Postal Service. The post office clerk will be required to identify the person who files the application and will issue a receipt in place of the coupon currently issued by the police stations. After filing the application, the applicant should wait to be contacted by the Police Station to come and collect the renewed permit or to be fingerprinted in case of the first issue of a permit.

• The cost of the procedure, to be paid by the applicant, is € 30 when filing applications at the post office. Another € 14.62 is necessary for the tax revenue stamp to be placed on the application, plus € 27.50 for the stamp to be placed on the electronic residency permit, which will be issued in place of the card when validity exceeds 90 days.

Residency permit collection

As from December 11, applicants will no longer be required to send an SMS to the Police Headquarters.

Applicants need only check to see if their specific permit is on the list issued by the Police Headquarters and, if so, go directly to the Corso Verona offices to collect it.

Information on obtaining residency permits at the Post Office

Foreign citizens who come to Italy to join a relative or for the purpose of employment in accordance with the immigration quota flow for 2006 must first come to the Unified Office for Immigration and have the forms compiled for them, before going to the Post Office to apply for the permit.

This information comes from the Home Office, evidently worried that some foreign citizens entering Italy for the first time might be confused by the new application procedure, especially in these early stages. The information about going first to the Unified Office for Immigration is also illustrated in the instructions enclosed with the forms distributed by the Post Office.

'The application for first issue of a residency permit for employment (referred to the 1st and 2nd immigration quota flow decrees of 2006) as well as residency permits for rejoining family members – it says in a note published on the Home Office website – is prepared and printed directly by the Unified Immigration Office which has already issued the necessary authorisation permit, and is given to the foreigner in the envelope to be used to send it to the Post Office.

The applicant must then insert the application – on which a tax revenue stamp for € 14.62 euro must be applied – and the other required documentation in the envelope to be delivered open to the Post Office, where the foreigner must be identified and is the only person who can present the application'.

The receipt

'Upon acceptance of the application, a receipt will be issued, containing security elements, that has the same value as the traditional form and allows the foreigner to enjoy the same rights connected with possession of the residency permit, within the limits specified in the directive on the rights of the foreigner while awaiting renewal of the residency permit.

The receipt must be exhibited with the passport or equivalent document or, in case of renewal, with the expired or expiring permit, when returning to Italy after travelling to the homeland'.

With respect to the former coupon, the receipt from the Post Office gives the holder a further advantage thanks to the holographic security codes printed on them. By calling 848855888 or visiting the website www.portaleimmigraizone.it, the applicant can enter the two codes and trace the file to find out when the permit will be issued or renewed.