dulcepaola

I was shocked, I found out in Italy if you stay longer more than 8 days, you should go to Police.

After my trip in Germany, Spain and France, I will go to Italy and I'm planning to stay for 45 days in Italy, but between those days I will travel to other european countries and coming back to Italy, should i register many times?.

I will not stay in hotels, I'm invited by a host.

An example, I will leave Rome to Athens and return back from Athens to Rome and after those 45 days I will leave Milan to Mexico.

Thanks for ur time

ellenem

On visits to Italy when I stayed with friends (for two weeks) I've never registered. Nothing happened. maybe I was wrong. I suspect the police have other concerns.

dulcepaola

when did you visit italy?

travelfan1

I was in Italy longer than that last year without reporting to the police....hmmm...maybe they need to take me back and question me!!

thursdaysd

I hadn't heard that, but I did find this on the US State Dept. web site:

"As of May 2007, under Italian law (http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/07068l.htm), all non-residents are required to complete a dichiarazione di presenza (declaration of presence). Tourists arriving from a non-Schengen-country (e.g. the United States) should obtain a stamp in their passport at the airport on the day of arrival. This stamp is considered the equivalent of the declaration of presence. Tourists arriving from a Schengen-country (e.g. France) must request the declaration of presence form from a local police office (commissariato di zona), police headquarters (questura) or their place of stay (e.g hotel, hostel, campgrounds) and submit the form to the police or to their place of stay within eight business days of arrival. It is important that applicants keep a copy of the receipt issued by the Italian authorities. Failure to complete a declaration of presence is punishable by expulsion from Italy. Additional information may be obtained (in Italian only) from the Portale Immigrazione at http://www.portaleimmigrazione.it and the Polizia di Stato at http://www.poliziadistato.it/pds/ps/immigrazione/soggiorno.htm."

Doesn't apply to EU citizens, and I doubt anyone is going to hunt you down if you don't show up. I would have thought hotel registration would take care of this for most people. Really sounds like a convenient way to boot people they don't like....

BTW, you do know about the 90 day Schengen limit, right?

dulcepaola

Yes I will be in Schengen for 2 months and 2 weeks less than 90 days

Since Schengen mentioned countries who don't need visa like USA, Mexico, Argentina, Canada, etc.

I thought we (Non EU citizen) could get our stamp from the first port of entry and now Italy wants to know how long we are going to stay and money. seriously I don't understand.

Then should I go to police office or what?

ahhh too complicated haha

thank you again

dulcepaola

I think i found that site in english

http://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/10716


"If you are planning to come to Italy for short visits, business, tourism or study for a period not exceeding 3 months you are not required to apply for a residence permit."

12-06-2008

dulcepaola

thank you for your help thursdaysd

thursdaysd

Declaration of presence is not the same as a residence permit. I don't understand either - as I said, first I had heard of it.

Cowboy1968

This scheme of registration at the next police station (UNLESS you stay in a hotel or campground where you do this at the reception and the hotel sends the form to the police) when you stay at someone's private home is quite common in several countries in Europe.
You can search for a similar thread re. Croatia.
In Germany, you would have to do same - but I have never heard of anyone doing it

Technically, it has nothing to do with visas, Schengen, or any EU immigration procedures, but how the individual EU member state handles these registration procedures.

You should ask your Italian friends if they find it necessary.

hetismij

Technically you have to do it in the Netherlands too, but I've never heard of anyone doing it.
As Cowboy says ask your Italian hosts for advice - maybe they can make enquiries for you ahead of your arrival in Italy.

bilboburgler

As above technically you have to do it in loads of European countries and hotels may still do it in some for their guests. But practically don't worry unless
1) you are involved with a criminal incident (where you may need to ask the police if they need you to keep in touch)
2) you work for European company
3) you are in danger of overstaying

caroline_edinburgh

I've been travelling to Italy at least once a year since 1990 (mostly for > 8 days and last year for 4 weeks) and I've never heard that - I've only heard of people registering if they are moving there permanently or going to work there. I note that thursdaysd's quote is from the *immigration* department website. Of course I've always stayed in hotels and they do register you - so I agree, maybe you are supposed to do this if not staying in a hotel ? As for stamping your passport - the UK isn't in Schengen but I've never had my passport stamped in Italy.

RufusTFirefly

It's the law in Italy. Most likely nothing will happen if you do not register. BUT if you should get involved in some sort of incident and you haven't registered, then it could be a problem. It's sort of like buying fire insurance for your home--do you have to? No (unless you have a mortgage). But in the unlikely event that your house burns down, it's better to have it than not have it. Also, it is polite to obey the laws in the countries that we visit.

annhig

hi dulce,

i suspect that this is noe of those laws that noly gets invoked if you transgress in some way and they want to get rid of you without any fuss.

I'd go further and say that if you went to the polie station to try to register they wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about and would view you with suspicion!

Have a great trip,

regards, ann

dulcepaola

lol i was thinking if i should go to police station and i could ask if they need me to register or not, better to know before having problems or something. and i will let u know whats going and be ready for the next trip to italy and u will know what u should do if u stay longer hehehe. damn stupid laws lmao

toscoman

Almost all European countries want to know where every person present in the country is sleeping on any given night. Residents have IDs ("papers") where their legal residence is specified. If they change apartments, they have a few days to inform the authorities of that fact. When you stay in a hotel or other accommodation, the reason they hold your passport for a while is to fill out a notification form that the police are supposed to collect every day. In Switzerland, they actually DO collect them. You'll notice when you're waiting in a railway station late at night, the police come round and ask likely-looking illegal residents for their IDs and tickets. If they have no ticket, the police use their handy little portable keyboards to check the national database for evidence of legal residence. If you sleep in a cave someplace and don't register, you're an illegal resident. So unless you plan on sleeping in the wild, someone else will be taking care of this requirement on your behalf. It's wrong of the govt. web sites not to make the real situation clear when they display residence laws of other countries.

petunia0409

I had to laugh when I saw your post as we did register in Florence. We are American and have been in Rome for 9 months. I dragged my husband and daughter to some office for immigrants (since the police station sent us there). After waiting and waiting the man behind the desk insisted that you don't need this anymore and refused to sign ours. I made him write a note and sign his name in case we had problems. It was a huge joke!! Anwyay I think I understood from him and other expats that if you get your passport stamped at the airport this is no longer necessary. They often don't stamp at the airport here in Rome so I would recommend you ask for a stamp! We have never needed this and If I had known then what I know now I would not have bothered!

bigtyke

It used to be that you had to register everywhere you went in Europe but usually the hotel took care of it. This was an important point in the book/novel The Day of the Jackel

CasaDelCipresso

Technically, YES - you must register with the local questura(police). It certainly is still the law...and..as others have said, it has nothing at all to do with residence or attempts to stay or a visa, etc. ALL tourists are requited to register and going through immigration/passport control does not fullfill this requirement. Hotels do this (as they are required to)...that's why they always take your passport or copy the info. when you check in...they do all the paperwork.

That said, I am sure there are many people who do not do this...there is no official punishment that I know of (except maybe a huge headache). The law dates back Fascist times and was kept on the books in the 50's/60's to combat theft (I think), and past that to combat terrorism (I think). As far as I know (and totally off the record!) it is not strictly enforced and I have not heard of anyone being punished....but I am not encouraging anyone to break the law - and it is the law in Italy for sure.