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How to get a Carta Di Soggiorno for your spouse as a EU citizen

Posted on May 1st, 2021

by Expat Living in Rome


Tom is sharing his story with other Expats Living in Italy how he successfully applied for the “Carta di Soggiorno” for his wife on March 19, 2021 in Florence!!

A “Carta di Soggiorno per Familiare di Cittadino Comunitario” is for spouses of Italian (or EU) citizens. It is better than a “Permesso di Soggiorno” because it lasts 5 years and then you can ask for a “Carta di Soggiorno Permanente” Here is some information which may help someone in the same or similar situation.

1. I'm an Italian citizen.

2. My wife is Mexican.

3. We rented the house remotely via email, and had a rental contract before we got here. Make sure that both of you are on the contract.

4. I applied for my cambio di residenza (from another comune), via email, 2 weeks before our move to Italy (I should have done it even sooner because it took 2 months, but I was afraid that they would visit the apartment too soon, but they did not).

5. We moved here on Jan 21st, 2021 from Tulum Mexico.

6. When we got to Florence, we called the questura (must be done within 8 days) and they told us to make an appointment through the CUPA Project (earliest was March 19).

7. NOTE: the CUPA project is no longer used in Florence. Currently you need to go to the questura in person Mon-Fri 7-9 AM to make an appointment.

8. In the meantime, I tried to get a codice fiscale for my wife, but because she doesn't have either a visa (not needed for her entry) or a stamp on her passport (our passports were never stamped because we drove into Italy), she can't get one.

9. I made 2 more unsuccessful attempts to get her codice fiscale and came to the realization that the only way would have been to lie and say that she was still in Mexico and show up with a delega.

10. I got an email from the anagrafe saying that they were starting to work on my cambio di residenza. Make a copy of this, it's important! 11. After about 2 months I got an email from the anagrafe saying that my cambio di residenza was essentially done. Make a copy of this, it's important!

12. Note that they don't issue a new carta d'identità or tessera sanitaria showing the new comune until your old one expires.

13. We showed up for our 9:30 "appointment" at the questura in Via della Fortezza 17. We had to wait outside until they called us and gave us a "G" number.

14. When our "D" number was called, they asked us for:

a. 4 photos.

b. 1 marca da bollo of 16 euro.

c. My wife's Mexican passport.

d. When she did not see an entry stamp on her passport, based on our experience with the codice fiscale, we gave her copies of our travel tickets and that seemed to work.

e. Copy of my wife's passport.

f. Marriage certificate. We had an estratto di certificato di matrimonio from Italy. Note: if the marriage certificate is foreign, it must be either multilingue or translated and apostilled.

g. My carta d'identita'.

h. Since my carta d'identita' is from a different comune, I had to show them a document from the comune of Firenze stating that I had applied and gotten a change of residency (apparently they don't issue new cards).

i. Proof of income (even though it is not listed as a requirement in their web site). We are retired, so I gave them a copy of my Social Security statement plus a letter from my investment company declaring our investment amount.

j. Stato di famiglia. We don't have one, but it didn't seem to matter. Maybe some of the other documents that she asked for were used instead.

k. Rental contract with my wife's name on it. (note: if the spouses name is not on it, then you need go to the questura and get this form filled out and signed: "COMUNICAZIONE DI OSPITLITA'/ALLOGGIO/ASSUNZIONE/CESSIONE DI IMMOBILE A STRANIERO/APOLIDE"

l. I signed a form that they gave us stating that I will support my wife financially m. I gave them a filled out copy of immigration modulo 209 and she kept it. She didn't act as if she needed it, but may web sites say that it's required. She did use it to copy my info like address etc.

n. My wife signed 2 forms that they gave her, one was a receipt, the other I didn't catch because I was filling out the support form.

o. My wife got her fingerprints taken at another counter, same visit.

15. We checked the poliziadistato.it web site and after 33 days it said that the carta do soggiorno was ready (note: this can vary from 1-8 months).

16. We went to the questura to ask for an appointment to pick up the carta di soggiorno. They gave us the carta di soggiorno instead of the appointment.

17. The carta di soggiorno included her codice fiscale.

18. We made an appointment by calling 055 545454 for her tessera sanitaria on 5/7/ 2021.

19. We gave them the following documents:

a. Copy of carta di soggiorno (front and back).

b. Filled out copy of "DOMANDA DI ISCRIZIONE AL S.S.N. DI CITTADINO DI PAESE NON FACENTE PARTE DELLA UNIONE EUROPEA".

c. Marriage certificate. We had an estratto di certificato di matrimonio from Italy. Note: if the marriage certificate is foreign, it must be either multilingue or translated and apostilled.

d. The document from the anagrafe stating that my cambio di residenza was essentially completed.

e. My wife's Mexican passport f. My wife's codice fiscale g. Our address in Florence h. My wife's phone number.

f. Name of the doctor that we chose.

g. My Italian passport.

h. My carta d'identita' (they didn't need it) They checked to make sure that the carta di soggiorno said "CARTA DI SOGGIORNO DI FAMILIARE DI UN CITTADINO DELL'UNIONE".

20. They gave us:
a. A copy of her tessera sanitaria (original will be mailed to us).

b. A document with our doctors name on it. (the doctor will want a copy of this).

Bottom line, we are happy and pleasantly surprised. We went with low expectations and achieved much more. They asked for more information than what they have listed on their website, but luckily we had it.  Bring copies of all documents. They keep a copy.Luckily they did not enforce the 3 month requirement and they did not ask us to come back in one month. Be patient and don't get upset, but be persistent. There were a couple of times in which just waiting like they told us would have caused delays from being in the wrong line or just ignored.

UPDATE 05/2021:  We got the carta di Soggiorno today, it's for 5 years from the date of entry into Italy. It took about 33 days for the website to report tat it was ready and 1 week to get an appointment with the questura to pick it up. The CUPA PROJECT is no longer used for appointments in Florence. They had a terrible system for appointments until today. It took us 9 hours, but the silver lining was that instead of getting an appointment to pick up the carta di soggiorno, they gave us the carta di soggiorno on the same day.

Stories like this one help others overcome obstacles and learn from experiences. Please send us an email and share your story today!

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