Does it affect your Italian residency to leave Italy for a period of time?
I am back in the US visiting for the first time since my move to Italy fifteen months ago, and when a home-town friend asked me, “does it affect your Italian residency to come back to the US?” I realized that the answer to this question should be in a post on this part of my site about how to move to Italy.
(My prior posts cover getting a permesso di soggiorno, and a myriad of steps after that.)
The permesso needs to be renewed yearly for a period of five years at which time you can request permanent residency. However, there’s an important stipulation:
You can get permanent residency after you’ve been a legal and continuous resident in Italy for five years. Continuous means not being absent for more than six consecutive months or for a total of ten months, during those first the five years.*
So, yes, I can go to the US for a visit, but the amount of months outside of Italy during these five years must be less than ten.
How to exit Italy after getting legal residency and not screw up
What happens when you leave Italy (and the Schengen zone) for the first time after getting a permesso and residency? That is something I want to tell you about because I could have been in hot water if I had not had correct documentation with me when I went through Frankfurt on my way from Italy to the US.
I was so occupied with the details about bringing my cat back to the US that I didn’t even think about the Schengen Agreement and how it would appear that I had overstayed the three months allowed if I handed only my US passport to the customs official in Frankfurt.
He spent quite a bit of time looking through my passport (there is plenty to wade through with all those State of Qatar visas), and little did I realize, he was noting that I had entered a Schengen country 15 months earlier and had not left. Finally when he said to me, “Do you have a European passport?” it dawned on me.
“Oh, I have an Italian Carta d’Identità!” I quickly replied and reached for my wallet to get it out.
“Next time be sure to provide that with your passport,” he said sternly.
I happened to hand him my Carta d’Identità and not my permesso, based on the fact that hotels in Italy had told me that my permesso was not a valid ID and that my Carta d’Identità was. But it turns out that the permesso is what I should have handed the customs official. The Carta d’Identità for foreigners usually has on it these words: non valida per l’espatrio which means it’s not to be used in this very situation. However this customs official did not correct me and did not ask for my permesso.
In the moment I replied to him, “Sorry, it’s my first time having one, so I’m not in the habit,” and I thought to myself, god, what if I hadn’t brought it with me? I’d be thrown in the clapper.
My concerns about my cat were unfounded and mis-directed. I should have been more focused on being sure I had my Carta d’Identità in order to prove that I was not in violation of the Schengen Agreement.
Bringing your pet back to the US
With my cat, here’s what happened. I checked with US immigration and with the California regulations for bringing in a domestic cat, and I checked with Lufthansa about their policies. The outcome of all this was that I needed proof of recent rabies and a wellness certificate. To get those things I had to take Simon to a vet outside Lucca’s walls which necessitated a car, which I did not have. Luckily my generous friend Catriona was willing to take me and Simon. During that appointment the veterinarian asked me for Simon’s pet passport. I told her I didn’t have one for him as is it not required for Simon to enter the US. It is required only for traveling with a pet within the European Union.
“But they might ask for it in Frankfurt,” she said. So when I got home I called Lufthansa for the second time and this time I was told that a pet passport could be requested. To obtain a pet passport I had to go to a vet in Capannori, another town, and bring Simon. Again, impossible without a car. OK, there was supposed to be a bus but I couldn’t get clear info on the schedule and it was about two hundred degrees outside and I didn’t want to stand at a bus stop in that heat with my cat potentially waiting for a bus that did not come.
Catriona, bless her heart, took me again, although it was the last thing she wanted to be doing. During the appointment the vet told me I’d need to come back in a few days to get the passport. I told him I was departing in a few days and he was willing to make it happen for me the day before my departure day. Since he was there only from 11:30 to 1:00 on that day I had to bike from Lucca to Capannori in the middle of the blazing inferno. In order to do this astronomically hot bike ride, I had to relinquish my endless packing of boxes that I was focusing on all day. Ah well, at least it was all flat!
To illustrate how hot it was, as I packing (in order to put all my things in storage in a friend’s garden shed) I was packing in dark ground-floor apartment of a palazzo with thick walls. You wouldn’t think it would be that hot in there. Barely any sun even shines into that place. To try to be cool, I’d take a shower, leave my hair soaking wet, put on the lightest sun dress, and resume packing, only to be sweating again in less than 10 minutes. (And I am someone who barely sweats in a gym work-out.)
Back to the cat. In the Florence airport, at Lufthansa check-in, I was not asked at all about my cat. I was asked to pay extra for him but no one asked to see his proof of rabies or his wellness certificate, or his pet passport. In Frankfurt, same thing. I don’t think the immigration guy even could see that I had a cat carrier. And in the US, I was quite surprised to find that all they cared about was Simon’s food. As I was eagerly trying to leave baggage claim (so I could get my poor cat outside where he could finally pee after a 22 hour journey) they sent me over to an X-ray machine where I had to put my bags through, and then a TSA woman rifled through my suitcase and took my cat food.
“Aren’t you more interested in whether he has his rabies shot?”I wanted to ask her, while I sadly watched her take away my specialty cat food.
While no one in Italy, Germany, or the US wanted to see Simon’s documents, I guess you still gotta jump through the hoops of obtaining them. Preferably it won’t involve begging friends to drive you, or biking in heat that feels like two-hundred degrees.
To learn about earlier steps in the process go here
To learn about the Integration Agreement go here
Take aways from this post:
- Be cautious about how much time you spend outside of Italy while you’re in the first five years before getting permanent residency.
- When you leave a country in the Schengen zone, and be sure you are carrying proof of your ability to remain in that zone longer than three months. Bring both the permesso and the carta d’identita. It is inconsistent what they will want to see.
- Suck it up and do all the paper work for your pet even though you hear stories like mine where you are never asked for any of it. If you figure out whether a pet passport is indeed necessary when only transferring through Europe, let me know!
- TSA confiscates pet food so no point in bringing a lot of it with you when entering the US.
*Keep in mind this information could change. Getting accurate information is not always easy in Italy and I can’t guarantee accuracy.
Swaim says
I am so glad you didn’t end up in the “clapper”. We would have needed a time machine to bail you out!
Chandi Wyant says
LOL ????
Dee says
Chandi, we cannot travel using the Carta d’identità as non-European foreigners. We need to have our PERMESSO which is proof of our permission to stay in Italy during the valid dates. I am not sure why they allowed you to use the Cd’I. It even says on the reverse side that it cannot be used for identification during travel outside Italy. In fact, I am not even sure it is necessary to have one unless you want NHS. Residency is not permission to stay. They are two different things. Residency may also be affected by your time out if the country, but you may need to look at those requirements separately. I do believe that you can have a permesso without residency, but I may be wrong. In any case, it is not a residency permit. That is the permesso. The Carta d’identità is a different animal.
Chandi Wyant says
Dee, Yes you can have a permesso without residency if you’ve recently obtained a permesso and have not yet done the residency piece at the Anagrafe.
I did have my permesso with me too and the reason I defaulted to handing him the carta d’identita, is because when I was staying in a hotel (and it happened when I stayed with nuns too) in the past few months in Italy, I started out by handing my permesso when they wanted an ID. In both cases I was told that the permesso is not a valid ID and that I needed to provide them with my carta d’identita. This is why I chose to hand that document to the customs official in Frankfurt. If he had then wanted to see my permesso I could have shown it to him but he did not ask for it. I will revise my post to clarify that the permesso is the correct document.
Carole says
Very interesting and helpful information. If anyone is thinking about bypassing tje 90 day limit in tje Schengen Zone without a visa, this reinforces that they actually check.
Chandi Wyant says
Yes, they are much more careful about it these days.
wendy says
Chandi,
This is great information for people, including things we may never think of! When having to navigate all these official things, its so useful that you take time to document and write about your experience so others can be more prepared and not have to get into difficult situations! Its amusing that they were more concerned to take away the cat food than whether you had cat documents. Still, another person’s experience could be totally different so its good to be prepared for all the contingencies! And, a good tip not to bother to try taking cat food through customs.
Carole says
Very intereting information and a testimony.to.the.fact that tje Schengen Zone cou2mtries act as a unit when it comes to monitoring the 90 day limit.
Tillie says
Thanks for this, it’s helpful. What do you know about being outside of Italy for an extended period after getting permanent residency?
Chandi Wyant says
Here is what I have heard but this should be verified with a questura or with someone at INAC:
A permanent resident who is absent from Italy for 12 months or more will lose his or her permanent resident status.
Fusseina says
You said you were back in the US visiting for the first time since your move to Italy fifteen months ago. You showed your carta identita. Is it the paper you have to renew every year or the card you obtain after 5 years. I am a bit confused.
Chandi Wyant says
Hi, it is not actually just a piece of a paper. When you go to the anagrafe to get residency after getting your permesso, you at first just get a piece of paper, but then you apply for actual carta d’identita, which is a plastic card with your photo on it. this is what you show at EU controls in airports in the EU. After 5 years, if you have been doing everything correctly, you can be eligible for permanent residency.
Chandi Wyant says
The carta d’identità you can obtain sooner than after 5 years. You can obtain it after you register with the anagrafe. The permesso di soggiorno is what you renew yearly.