Police Stations of Venice

Police stations we have visited since arriving in Venice

1. 30 May. Polizia di Stato, via Cosenz Enrico 11, Marghera - Maurizio registers us as tourists on the way from the airport to the farm.
2. 6 June. First Monday off - failed attempt to find the police station in Mestre.
3. 7 June. Carabinieres, Piazzale Roma, Venezia - our first attempt to register ourselves (in accordance with the terms of our visas). They sent us to another (the following) police station.
4. 9 June. Questura di Venezia, via Aurelio Nicolodi 21, Marghera - An immigration centre in a police headquarters, really a new kind of experience for us. They sent us away with a list of documents to collect before returning.*
5. 10 June. Polizia di Stato, via Castellana, Zelarino - cannot help us with the ...*, must go to via Ca' Rossa.
6. 10 June. Polizia di Stato, via Ca' Rossa 13, Mestre - No, no, wrong via Ca' Rossa police station, you want the one down the road.
7. 10 June. Polizia di Stato, via Ca' Rossa 5, Mestre - Yes, we're in the right place here, but no, they want Maurizio present in order to process us.
8. 19 June. Polizia di Stato, via Cosenz Enrico 11, Marghera - Maurizio thought his 'friend' here might be more help to us, but no luck.
9. 19 June. Polizia di Stato, via Ca' Rossa 5, Mestre - closed on Mondays, come back tomorrow, but no no, Maurizio doesn't need to be there.
10. 20 June. Polizia di Stato, via Ca' Rossa 5, Mestre - first success, one stamp down, many more to go.
11. 23 June. Questura di Venezia, via Aurelio Nicolodi 21, Marghera - after 3 hours waiting, we were finally processed (another hour - forms, stamps, finger prints, hand prints, etc), and we are now holders of Venezia resident permits. 

*One of the documents was a form that needed to be filled out by our host, Maurizio. Then, along with copies of his resident's permit, we needed to get this form stamped at a different (not specified, just different) police station.

The waiting game.
F in one or other of the police stations.

Italian bureaucracy is about leaning to be patient.
Really patient. 

All of this was in aid of attempting to continue the 'do right' theme of getting our long-stay visas for Italy. But also in the theme of the visas, it really seems like a hell of a lot more trouble than it's worth.

The document that accompanied our visas stated that:

You are required to report your presence on Italian territory to the local Central Police Station ('Questura') of the province in which you are staying within 8 working days from the date of entry and apply [here's the crux] for a resident permit ('permesso di soggiomo') persuant to article 5 of the Law 286/1998.

Along with a bunch of other requirements...

So now, finally, we have paper copies of a Dichiarazione di Soggiorno per Stranier i - Foreigners' Statement of Stay.

And in 2 months, more or less, we are to return to the immigration processing police station, on a Wednesday afternoon, to claim our residents permits. That visit should only take a couple of hours, more or less...

Finn Robson Marsden - legal resident of Venezia, Italia, until 1 January 2012.

The next trick was to get a Codice Fiscale - a tax number, so as to be able to sign the lease for our apartment. Also we (Finn) would need this number for any kind of Italian employment.
Apparently all they would require was to see our passports - proof of identity, birth dates, etc. In reality it took some convincing (waving of permits and showing of vacanze di lavoro visas). But once convinced we could work legally, we were processed fairly speedily. Unbelievably speedily compared to previous experiences.

The crumbling palazzo housing the Agenzia Delle Entrate (their inland revenue department).

Now we have everything. All the documentation Italy could possibly want about us is held in at least 4 separate police stations and public offices in Venice, and we have legal status. And a house.

29 June 2011