Permesso di soggiorno UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo (ex carta di soggiorno) – elective residence
Today, we applied for this long coveted permit. The Polizia di Stato website states after five years continuous residence a person can apply for this permit, which is permanent (!). Like gold to me. But living in this backward region of Umbria we shall see what sort of road blocks are thrown up in front of us.
It took a long time for me to even find people who had gotten this permit so I could glean their information. It seems, either people don’t stay here more than five years, or they can’t comply in some other way, so they just continue to apply for their Permesso di Soggiorno every year or two.
Last year I finally found a few people who had managed to get this. I gathered much very useful information. I combined all the info I got into a big list to include the requirements of the Polizia site. It took a while to gather all of the needed documents and we even did overkill with a few things. The last and most difficult thing was the Certificato di Agibilità. We enlisted the help of our Geometra and got this document just this week. We are a little late applying. But…we went to the Post this morning with our pile of documents…
It was a pretty normal experience since the Poste just takes your documents and fees (Cost more €130,46) and gives you an appointment with the Questura. In the past this could take many months…but strangely ours is May 18, just 18 days away. So in 18 days we go to the Umbria Citta di Castello Questura..notorious for not giving anything more than a one year permit…this is a brand new experience. Let’s see what happens!
~~~~~~~
As I mentioned, we had our vaccines on Tuesday. I was wondering if we would have any side affects. All was well all day on Wednesday. But on Thursday I got hit with the major fatigue which is a possible side affect. I could not, for the life of me, keep my eyes open. All afternoon it was happening. I went for a nap, couldn’t sleep, so I got up but I couldn’t stay awake. I didn’t associate it with the vaccine until it hit me again after dinner. I went to bed early and am much better today. I’ve never had anything remotely like that in my life. Very strange.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today was a pretty day. Around 75 F. Not all that sunny but still nice. We had a beer at Bar Mary after our trip to the Poste. And then we went back in the evening for a spritz with two new friends who’ve moved here from South Africa. The piazza was abuzz, just like old times. So nice. Here’s Luther!
Take care all! 🌈
He had a beer! How can he be unhappy!? And thanks!
Good luck with your vaccine protection, and permesso luongo! BTW: Luther looks happy and satisfied.
Thanks! 🤞🤞
Glad you got over the side effects… good luck with the permesso 🙂
Hi Tony, I have grave doubts about getting the Long Term Carta…I know Umbria…and it is a severely dysfunctional region. I am pretty sure we will eventually get it. It depends on whether we have to go to court, how long it will take and how much it will cost! I am not giving up and they have a fight on their hands if they don’t give it to us. So stay tuned. I’m happy you’re fully vaccinated. We have a bit of a wait bing AstraZenica. It is most effective if it’s administered 3 months later. I saw today the US won’t be able to reach herd immunity because so many people won’t be taking the vaccine. That’s just sad.
Fingers, legs, eyes, arms, ….any body part crossed for you to get that ultimate prize. I’m certain it will go smoothly as you seem to have dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s with all the other items for permissions in the past. Looking forward to hearing how this goes in a few weeks. Happy to hear the vaccine is rolling out for you all. After getting the first one I felt a huge amount of relief and after the 2nd I knew we, here in the US, could see ‘the corner’ and would be rounding it before long.
Wow John…good luck to you. I hate the Perugia Questura. I’m happy we use the little friendly Questura in Citta di Castello. What you’re applying for is different than what we are trying for. It’s good you established yourself before Brexit took place. I talked to a woman yesterday who bought property but didn’t come to live or get residency before 12/31. I had to tell her she was going to have to go the whole Visa route just like us Americans do. She said the government had told people there would be no change after Brexit, that people could still live and work in the EU. Too bad she believed them. 🤷♀️
Good luck Nancy! We have our first appointment tomorrow at the Questura in Perugia to apply for the new Carta di Soggiorno per cittadini britannici. I have been photocopying things like mad. Thankfully the bulletin is only €30.46, which they say is to cover the cost of the card. Having managed to get residency before Brexit, we are fortunate in that we can keep our rights from before the split, other than having to stay no more than 6 months out of the country, but that’s fine, no plans to do that.
On a brighter note, I completely agree with you how joyous it is to see people having a Spritz outside, safely distanced of course, and not at all what we had before..but a start, a start..! Piano piano.
Thank you!
Your experience is invaluable to those hoping to follow in your footsteps. Thank you.
Thanks Paul, I’m expecting push back. It’s Umbria !
Hi Margaret. It is a document that is filed in the Comune that certifies your house is up to code. We didn’t need one when we bought because the houses in the Centro Storico are so old it’s hard for them to comply with modern specifications. And we did a major change to the house by moving our kitchen. So we needed it to be updated. Which it is now. So we don’t have to worry about it. And the packet of documents is complete.
Good luck on May 18 with long term permesso!!!
What is the certificate agg…?
Hi Louann, this new permit lifts the restrictions of the ER Visa, i.e. I could work…not that I want to. For us the fact that it’s permanent and we don’t have to renew every year is the benefit. Consider that every year our permit expires in June and when it does we can no longer travel within Europe. That is a huge issue. So half the year we can only travel within Italy or a non-Schengen country. We can go home, but we cannot connect thru a Schengen country. A major hassle. So if this goes away it would be great.
As to the rest of your questions, we already have to pay taxes here since we are residents here. Anyone here more than half the year must pay Italian taxes, so no difference. We can still opt to become citizens after we have lived here more than ten years. I think the only benefit that would give us is we wouldn’t have to pay for enrollment in the health care.
It does differ if you are an Italian citizen or a partner of one. I’m happy it’s all been going smoothly. Yiu are lucky!
Hello Nancy! I am curious. Are there other advantages to getting this permit besides not having to renew every year or two? If you get it, will you be required to pay taxes in Italy just as citizens do? Or is this permit issued when you don’t plan on becoming a citizen of Italy?
Hello Nancy and Luther! We have just been through all the red tape to get Norman his Permesso di Soggiorno based on Elective Residency. Your diary has been immensely useful! After that it was getting a Certificate of Residence, based on which he got his Identity card and enrollment in the National Health Service. So far all good. Just a lot of papers but most of every procedure was online because of Covid. In October we’ll start looking into the ‘Long Term’ Permit, but as we are now registered as a ‘De Facto Couple’ and I am an Italian citizen, things might be smooth. We’ll see 🙂 Taker care!
Carla
Oh my gosh it would be so nice…I’m not holding my breath…I do live in Umbria…the most backward region. But we plan to fight it, even I court. Stay tuned.
Hi Nancy! So happy to hear your good news. Funny how quickly things can turn around. I wish you luck with the permesso. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to jump through hoops every year?