Due Permessi di Soggiorno, Per Favore

 Happy American Presidential Election Day (and Opal's birthday)!  I voted and I encourage you to do the same if you haven't already.  Read on if you want to hear about our experience getting permission to stay in Italy for the year.

Today I'm getting ready to spend 1-5 hours in the Questura di Bologna (State Police Headquarters) Ufficio di Immigrazione (Immigration Office).  I don't know how long it will take and I don't know yet how many times I might have to do this to get my Permesso di Soggiorno (Residence Permit).  Here's a non-exhaustive list of the things I needed to do to get to this point in the process:

1. Go to the Questura in the first 8 days we were here
2. Go to the Questura again in the first 8 days we were here because they sent me away for not having something that wasn't on the list of documents to bring
3. Beg them to let me and two other students into the Questura after they announced they were not seeing anyone that day, it was just too busy (they let us in!)
4. Leave the Questura without submitting the document I thought I needed because after looking at my case, they decided I didn't need to do that part after all
5. Go to the Patronato, an agency that supports people to get through the Permesso di Soggiorno process to get help completing my kit (application for the Permesso di Soggiorno in which you resubmit all the papers you already gave the Consulate for your visa application)
6. Ask for a new enrollement from my school after paying for more classes so I can stay legally through June
7. Go back to the Patronato to complete the kit (I got amazing free help from really knowledgeable folks)
8. Go to the Ufficio Postale to pay for my bolletino (slip that says I paid my fee to have my kit processed) and pay for the shipping fees
9. Leave the post office without getting that done because I got the wrong kind of waiting number and I missed a step
10. Go to the Tabbaccaio (yes, Tobacco shop) to pay (in cash only) a fee for a Marca di Bollo (special stamp to put on the top of my kit)
    
    
    
11. Go back to the Ufficio Postale to figure out how to get the right waiting number and try all over again
12. Speak with the postal worker to make all the right payments, sign several documents, and listen to instructions about how and when to show up for my convocazione

Which brings us to today, I'm headed off to my convocazione in a few minutes.

You might have noticed I didn't mention anything about Gibbs.  That is beacause during the steps above, we learned from the local experts that the Italian government is no longer offering Permessi di Soggiorni to spouses of students who are studying for less than 2-3 years.  So Gibbs is heading to MN to make his own visa request and then get in line for all of the above in the months to come.

In all of this, I can't help but think about my dad, whose birthday it would have been yesterday (75th, if I'm doing my math correctly).  I think he would appreciate the overwhelming similarity between our experience and a certain Monty Python sketch. 💕

Photos: me, in the Ufficio Postale with the right waiting number, my shiny marca di bollo, and below, my Lettera di Convocazione and all my receipts