I’m Back!

I know it’s been a while. I’ve been concentrating on getting through my surgery and recovering. I’m happy to report that I have done very well and am nearly back to normal.

As far as our Italian house saga goes, things have been slow. All is progressing over on the Italian side and since closing is not set until May 31 we are kind of in a holding pattern.

One thing we needed to do was to find out about the Elective Residency Visa which we were told we would need before we went. We had wondered about the necessity of this since once we get to our town we will need to apply immediately for our Permesso di Soggiorno or permit to stay and it seemed redundant. I had thought that we could perhaps go over on the 90 day tourist visa that everyone gets and then go through that process. After some sleuthing I found out that that is not possible. You have to be here in the US and go to a Consulate or, in our case, the Italian Embassy in Washington DC and apply for the ER visa.

So we got on the website and made appointments to go down for a preliminary foray. We figured we wouldn’t get everything right on the first pass. I worked very hard though, to try to get everything and nearly succeeded! I read it is best to present yourself in good clothes and have everything all neat and orderly and duplicate copies of everything. So I did that. Luther wore a jacket and tie. I work slacks and a sweater and we took our packages and presented ourselves at the appropriate time at the Visa window.

The man there was very nice and not at all intimidating. He looked over our papers. We had filled out our Visa application and made copies of it. We had passport pictures taken and appended to the application. We had copies of our passports in duplicate. We had all of the bank statements showing our income and cash in duplicate. And last we had to show we had a place to live. This could be an official contract for an apartment or ownership of a house. I had copied the Promesso/offer and the check and the formal documents for buying our apartment. I had known before we went that this could be the sticking point and I was correct. They need the FINAL REGISTERED papers after the sale is closed. They cannot use just the offer. He did say all of our other items were in perfect order and that if we bring the paper with the registration numbers all official like we would be good to go. That was good news if not perfect news.

So now we really just have to wait until our closing date and have the documents sent over to us so we can go back and apply again. I sent a note to our realtor asking about when we could expect to get that.

The lady we are purchasing the apartment from, Elizabette, is reportedly putting in offers on other properties in Umbertide. She has another house in the country where she could go if she doesn’t find a place. I hope for the best for her.

So that’s where we stand for now. We are working hard getting our house ready for sale here in Virginia. Decluttering, cleaning up, painting, having the garden cleaned out. Our winter was very tough this year and nearly every plant in the garden was killed by the cold. That is too bad because I think the garden is a big selling point on our house. I guess the good news is that I now have some time to get it re planted and have time for some of the dormant plants like the ferns and hostas to come out. Oh and our fish will enjoy having their puddle of a pond cleaned up as well.

Stay tuned for more news!