Monday 4 February 2008

Confusion at the Comune

It is offical - I am now a resident here in Malito - and to be honest it was much easier then I thought. The other day the comune asked for a copy of my birth certificate. I thought that this was a necessary part of gaining residency, so was quite worried when my mum told me she could not find my birth certificate. I rang the office of births, deaths and marriages in my home city numerous times and there seemed to be only one incompetent boy working there. He told me that to request a copy that someone here in Italy had to certify that the documents were my own, and this person had to be from the consulate or embassy (impossible I told him as these are in Rome and Milan) or it had to be the equivilent of the Justice of the Peace. When I asked him who this could be he had no idea. He told me to call the Australian Consulate. I called them but of course they too had no idea and said I had to call the office in Melbourne again. So back and fourth I went, fretting more as the days went by before bel ragazzo suggested we go to his comune and explain the situation.

Well low and behold the comune didn't need the birth certificate at all! They only wanted a copy of it on hand in case we get married one day....All they needed for my residency to be complete was 3 photo's for my identy card! (Why they could not have told us this at the beginning is beyond my understanding.)So there you go. Finally I am a resident, this afternoon we will collect my identy card and we have promised the comunue that we are not going to get married soon, and if and when we do, they will have a copy of my birth certificate in ample time.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recently got my residency too! Big relief when you can go through a bureaucratic black hole and come out the other side unscathed! And now I enjoy free health care! Woot!From what I understand you only need your birth certificate when you apply for citizenship. When me and my (Italian) husband got married all I needed was my passport (and a atto notorio & nulla osta but no BC)Not that you'll need those anytime soon :) Congrats!

Leanne was in Italy now in Australia said...

Thanks Jessica,
It is a relief indeed to have all this out of the way..and I too cannot wait for my free health care!

Eryn said...

reading your troubles with your birth certificate and all just brought back memories of last month where i was scrambling to get a new copy of my birth certificate with an apostille. sounds like an easy task but i was born in norway and am getting married in italy.

thankfully it all worked out. glad yours did too!

Leanne was in Italy now in Australia said...

Hi Eryn - glad your birth certificate situation worked out...I know how annoying it is!