Today is the day when we establish our residency in Italy for several months. This morning early at 8:00 we left Casa Artom to meet Laura at Piazzale Roma. There we took a taxi over to the mainland to the Office of Immigration in Marghera. Laura had an appointment there for us at 9:00 am. The taxi dropped us off in a deserted-looking semi-industrial neighborhood, next to a decrepit old and yellowing building. We walked up and rang the buzzer to gain entry. No answer. A sign posted near the door explained that the Immigration Office had moved late last November to another site. That site was directly across the Grand Canal from our home Casa Artom. No one had told Laura.
So after waiting another 10-15 minutes for a taxi to come back and pick us up (same guy), we headed back over the causeway to the city of Venice. From the taxi stand at the Piazale Roma, we then walked back down to the San Marco sestieri. Quite literally, from the entrance to the building you can see Casa Artom directly across the canal! It would have taken only 10 minutes to walk here first thing.
Upstairs on the 1st level the signage told us where to go. And when we walked in, the waiting area was filled with burly-looking men with close-cropped haircuts. A ticket machine was there to “take a number.” But Laura chose to jump to the front of the queue. Given the look of the he-men waiting there, I wouldn’t have done that! But the officials were very kind to her, considering our earlier jaunt miles away to find them.
So we three sat down across the desk from a nice middle-aged Italian man. His desk was littered with papers and those sort of inkpad stamps you used to see in movies at the border crossing checkpoints. He needed many different types of papers. We showed him our passports, which contained our pre-approved visas from the Italian government. But then he also needed extra copies of our passports. First I signed about a dozen papers, including one form that had six copies of the same thing. I could only think that each of these six identical forms were going to go to six more people somewhere in the government. Then they could spend time scrutinizing my information, put their own stamp of approval on it, and pass it on to someone else. The nice guy had to make copies of things, but the copier was down the hall. That took extra time. Finally after about an hour, sure enough, the guy started using his inkpad and stamps. I felt like Humphrey Bogart getting things ready for Ingrid Bergman to fly out of Casablanca. Stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp. Then the guy had to apply stickers to about three different documents. I was done. Then it was Linda’s turn, same thing all over again! We emerged from the Immigration Office at about 11:15 am.
But, we were not done! The guy had given to Laura two envelopes containing some of the documents. Now we had to trek over to the Rialto post office to turn these documents in there. Once more, when we entered the lobby, many people were already waiting. After a short time her number was called, and the process started all over again. Passports, copies, more paperwork, more stamps, more stickers. This time the postal lady did Linda’s first, and it only took about 35 minutes. Then when she started on mine, her system crashed and had to be rebooted. Another 30-40 minutes later she was done with her chores. Laura then had to pay 223 euros for the two applications – only cash, no credit or debit cards. And our envelopes were being sent off to yet another Immigration Office in Rome. I think that by the time they finish processing all the forms in the different offices, we will already be back in the U.S.
We emerged from the post office sometime around 12:45. Laura’s comment on all this is that it is just such an “insane process.”
2020 Vision of Venice 
Ah, the much-advertised Italian bureaucratic process!
I have a friend – who is an Italian citizen! – who had to appear on 6 different occasions before various officials over a period of 1 1/2 years, in order to get her carte d’identita’!
You are some of the lucky ones!
And isn’t it worth it?!
LikeLike
Benvenuti in Italia!
LikeLike
Ha! When I studied there they scheduled appointments for us on a rolling basis and did it alphabetically. We never got to “West” before the semester was over so I never got my fun experience with the “insane process.”
LikeLike
Seriously? The first small group of students who went came back hours later and had been told the office was too busy so come back in June. June? They go home in May!
LikeLike