The Italian Consulate

Six months before departure we visited the Italian Consulate in Sydney after carefully digesting details from the Consulates website.

The website does not provide sufficient information to determine what was required for a visa and a visit to the consulate for an in depth discussion is a necessity.

The Consulate is open from 9am to 11am for the public and is located on level 45 of the Gateway building at 1 Macquarie Place Sydney. When you enter you are given a number at the reception counter. Enquiries do not need an appointment however visa lodgements do and it could take up to four weeks to obtain an appointment slot.

On our first visit we were advised that for stays over 90 days a visa was required.

After some discussion we were advised to apply for a "Residenza Elettiva" visa. Travel to Italy without a visa is only allowed for up to 90 days and you must leave Italy and the Schengan area for an equivalent time. The Schengan area is basically the European union and does not include some Eastern Europen countries and the UK.

We were advised by the Consulate that it appeared we qualified for the visa and we should apply formally within 60 days before departure with accommodation arranged, flights, travel insurance and evidence that we had sufficient means of support during our stay. A visa usually takes a week to process.

First mistake....not asking enough questions when we were at the Consulate

So 60 days before departure we turned up at the Consulate without an appointment and were told we required an appointment to lodge a visa application. No mention of this was made previously.

So appointment made for three weeks later (they gave us special dispensation!!)

On the day of our appointment Carolyn and I were excited to finally be applying and, so we thought, obtaining our visa. Wrong.

The Consulate officer looked at our documents and said our accommodation was not correct. What!! We had beautiful apartment accommodation arranged in Rome but were told "this is like hotel accommodation. You must have a registered contract for your accommodation"

With hearts pumping we asked what did that mean. He said that the apartment contract needs to be registered and stamped by the government office in Rome. He also said we needed police clearances in Australia. None of this was previously mentioned.

Crestfallen we left with the Consulate officer saying that when we came back not to worry about making an appointment just come and see him.

With 45 days to go we had to work out what we were going to do. Our dream was starting to look very fragile