Residence permit

It is a symphony of everyday life, and I am part of it now.

I open my laptop and check the email from the prefecture regarding my titre de séjour.

The process is slow, bureaucratic, but progressing.

I need to validate my long-stay visa on the ANF portal within three months, and I have done that.

Here, the bureaucracy is slower, more relaxed, but the rules are the same.

If you are staying, you need that carte de séjour.

My application is still processing in Dakar, but I have the recipes in my bag, a small piece of paper that says I am waiting, legally, comfortably.

The street leading away from the Embarcadere is lined with small goose houses and restaurants.

It is efficient, cash-light, and essential.

If you are planning to stay, remember that foreign residents are expected to hold a residence permit, a carte de séjour, issued through the national police, not the religious administration.

If you plan to trade or open a business, you additionally need the NINIA tax ID number.

These are the hoops you jump through to be a legal resident.

But this now is a topic, and I touched base on European vehicles.

It's the same logic, although obviously it's harder to hand down because as a European, you don't really know, is that guy a resident? Because they don't have a visa, they don't have a carte de séjour.

For example, some companies like Axize is asking us now to double check on people's cartes de séjour.

It's new regulations since last year.

I had sorted this out when I arrived, but it is always good to keep your documents updated.

If you are staying beyond the tourist period, you must register for a carte de séjour through the prefecture.

In Lingere, that means the departmental administration offices.

Bring your passport, photos, and proof of address.

I need to sort out the final bits of my residency paperwork.

The carte de séjour process is slow, painfully slow, but I am close to the finish line.

The officer told me the card should arrive in 10 days.

10 days from now, I will finally be legal.

Trying to find Wi-Fi in the middle of the Furlo is a fool's errand.

And if you are staying longer than the tourist period, you must register for your residence permit, the carte de séjour, through the departmental administration offices in Linguer.

It involves passports, photos and proof of address, and the process can take time, so start early.

[rain pouring] But enough of the bureaucracy.

The queue is short.

A young clerk with glasses looks at my passport, then my carte de séjour application receipt.

She smiles.

You are close, she says.

Or the other way to do it is to get a certificato statico.

which means if you've moved comune, then you get one from your current comune and you get a certificato storico from your previous comune and together they prove that you have five years of continuous residency in Italy, then that's what you take to the appointment of the Crestura and you apply for a a carta di soggiorno or permesso di soggiorno permemente and it has the word permemente on it so this if you have an existing permesso di soggiorno it will be replaced with a permesso di soggiorno permemente and that's very very important because that gives you unlimited leave to live in italy even if you leave the country for six months you're still entitled to come back to italy It's

basically second best to being an Italian or EU citizen.

It's almost the same.