Getting Legal is Hard Work

Getting a visa in Italy is nearly impossible.  I started the visa process in August 2011 and throughout all of last year Kevin and I went to appointments, filed papers, and thought we were on the right track.  We had a local guy (one of the team investors) helping us out and he always seems so optimistic so we just followed his lead. 

Well, needless to say, I went all of last year without a visa.  And then in July, Kevin got an email saying that my visa had been denied because our house wasn't suitable for two people.  We live on hotel property and have the same address as the hotel, which is unacceptable to them.  But keep in mind we live in a completely modern apartment with 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with both a shower and a tub, and have more space than we need.  So, we started the process all over again. 

At the end of September, my visa status was no clearer than it had been in August 2011 so we decided for me just to come over to Italy and get a "permit to stay" based on me being pregnant.  My friend, Debbie, did it last year and had no problems.  I figured since the team had gone through the process once, I would be fine.  WRONG!!!

The guy that was supposed to be helping us slacked off.  He told us everything was being taken care of, but we found out about 3 weeks after I arrived that he hadn't done a thing.  Thank God for the team GM, his wife, and the head coach.  In the past eight days, we have gotten everything done and I am finally legally here...almost. 

I got my tax number last Thursday (which is apparently something important).  Then, we had our second trip to the police station/immigration (our first one was not productive) on Monday and I applied for and was granted a "permit to stay."  I was fingerprinted and then given a piece of paper to carry in my passport showing I was legally here.  The funny thing is I am only legal until my due date.  Apparently, once this baby exits my body, I have to get the hell out of Italy.  Not really, but I found it odd that they didn't give me a little extra wiggle room in there.  

Permit to Stay

Today, we needed to complete the last step of our process...get my insurance book.  We headed to the hospital and when we were there, the guy making my book pointed out that my "permit to stay" had the wrong date on it.  Initially, I thought he had just noticed that I was only legal until my due date, but nope, that wasn't it.  My "permit to stay" has the wrong year on it!  It says it is only valid until March 14, 2012.  That was 8 months ago!!!

My insurance book.  This book is like gold here.  You have to have it to get treated at the hospital.  

 

Valido sino al: 14/03/2012 (the month and day are opposite of the States).  That is definitely the wrong date. 

The hospital still gave me my insurance book, but now I have to go back to the police station to sort out the date on my "permit to stay." Silly me for thinking that this was going to be easy.