exculibar

Hello,
My Italian friend sent me an invitation letter to visit her in Italy and my visa has been already approved, in the invitation letter it says the following "am aware that, in accordance
with Art. 7 of Legislative Decree n. 286/1998 and subsequent modifications, I shall notify the local
police headquarters of the presence of the foreign national in my home, within 48 hours from the
time he \she entered Italian territory", so the question is, is it possible to notify the police about my arrival in any place in Italy? because we decided to stay in Rome for a couple of days before we go to her house (Her house is the address that she wrote in the invitation letter) ?
We want to notify the police in Rome, will that be a problem?

Thanks,

StCirq

Are you staying in a hotel in Rome? If so, you'll hand your passports over to the hotel briefly and they will notify the police.

hetismij2

Your friend could ask her local police what she should do.

exculibar

@StCirq,

No, I'm gonna stay in an Airbnb. (Private apartment).

bvlenci

Any place where you spend the night is required to notify the police of your presence. The obligation is your friend's, not yours. If you stay in a hotel or other lodging, they will photocopy your passport and file a form with the police. Just avoid illegal rentals, which often violate this law.

exculibar

@hetismij2,

Everytime she ask them they answer something different,
The first time they said the stamp in the airport is enough (which is logically wrong)
and the other time they said you have to register him in Sicily.

So we are really confused. Like if we just go to the Police in Rome and register will it work or the only solution is to do it in Sicily because the address in the invitation letter is Sicily?

Thanks,

bilboburgler

Is your visa for Italy?

Is there any documented instruction that limits you to only one part of Italy? This would be very unlikely, but I havn't seen your documents.

If your visa is for Italy you can go where you like.

Wherever you go the police will need a record of where you go

(I have no idea why but this is the norm in Italy and a lot of people are kept in work moving the records about),

if you stay in a hotel/AirBnB they will manage this for you. Hotels etc are well set up to handle this information as they use the internet for this sort of thing now.

exculibar

Thanks for your reply,

Yes, my visa is for Italy and I'm allowed to enter any Schengen country.

And there are no documents that limit me to stay in any part.

It's all about notifying the police in 48 hours of my arrival.

bilboburgler

so, let airbnb do it and when you go to your friends house, get him/her to do it.

exculibar

but the rules says that she has to notify the police within 48 hours of my arrival and we changed the plan about staying in her house since im only staying in italy for 6 days, we will just stay in Rome.

massimop

I think what I would do is go to the police station in Rome myself and get written confirmation that you registered at the AirBnb address (take your AirBnb contract/proof of payment with you) which can be faxed or given to the police in Sicily when your friend returns home. Have your friend inform the Sicilian police this week that this is what you will be doing because the circumstances changed and it is impossible for you to be in Sicily.

If the Sicilian police balk at this, let us know and we'll figure out something else.

massimop

By the way, I assume your friend is going to be with you in Rome. The issue is that she invited you -- and she is not to supposed to just invite people to her house who then don't stay there. So she needs to show the police that she is hosting you -- all the time -- even if it is not at her home address. So she should show the police in Sicily her train or plane tickets to Rome, the AirBnb contract and that she is not providing you with a means to enter the country illegally.

bvlenci

Your friend needs to inform the local police of your presence. It's best if you accompany her so you can supply necessary information.

This had to be done everwhere you stay, not just once. A hotel or guest house knows exactly what is required, and they will just photocopy your passport. Unfortunately, many AirBnB apartments are operating outside the law and won't contact the police.

We used to volunteer at a homeless shelter, and we had to submit this information for overnight guests.

massimop

The issue is not whether the OP needs to report where he/she is. They already know they must. The issue is the declarations made to authorities by his/her friend that were the basis for granting the visa. It was an invitation to stay at the friend's private home (no doubt the address was provided in the declaration). The OP now wants to change the terms on which the visa was granted.

Might be a simple thing to do -- but shouldn't be taken lightly. Sicily and the rest of Italy is presently under pressure from people smuggling, sex traffickers and other scams for illegal entry, whereby local authorities are also under pressure to prove they are acting to combat it. Wouldn't surprise me if some unscrupulous operators in Sicily use "fronts" to make declarations to authorities that they have invited a foreign friend to stay at a friend's home, when in reality, once the visa is obtained and the entry made, that person is whisked away to parts unknown in Italy & in Europe.

I don't think the Sicilian police should just be blown off. The Sicilian resident who gave her address to authorities needs to work this out, and maybe the OP will actually need to make good on the terms of the declaration. But for his/her friend's sake, if nothing else, they both need to get clear about what's required -- and I don't think a tourist forum on the internet is an authoritative source for that information.

exculibar

I will contact the embassy and ask them if it wasn't possible we will stay in her house.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.