A great many people ask us whether they can travel with the receipt for their permesso di soggiorno (residence permit) issued by the post office when they hand in the kit postale (post office application kit), or with the cedolino (appointment slip) issued by the Questura (police immigration office).
The answer is yes, you can travel with the residence permit receipt or the cedolino, but only under certain conditions. In addition, a stopover in a country of the Schengen area can be risky. Below I explain why, and how to travel safely with your residence permit receipt.
What does the law say about travelling with a residence permit receipt?
First of all, remember that the residence permit receipt, issued by the post office or directly by the Immigration Office of the Questura, is an official document that replaces the residence permit while you wait for it to be issued (as set out in Art. 5, paragraph 9-bis of the Testo Unico Immigrazione (Consolidated Immigration Act)).
Paragraph 9 of the same article also provides that the residence permit must be issued within 60 days of the application. As we all know, this deadline is rarely met.
For this reason, it was considered fair not to trap people in Italy while waiting for the public administration to do its job and, with the ministerial circular of 9 August 2006, the Ministry of the Interior clarified that you may leave Italy while your residence permit renewal is pending, provided that:
- you leave and re-enter through the same border crossing;
- you have been issued the residence permit renewal receipt;
- the renewal application was made no later than 60 days after the permit expired;
- you do not transit through other Schengen countries.
Of course, to re-enter Italy you will also need to show:
- your passport or an equivalent document;
- the residence permit renewal receipt;
- your expired residence permit.
A second circular of 17 March 2009 from the Ministry of the Interior then specified that, only for the renewal or first issue of a residence permit for self-employment, employment or family reunification, you may re-enter Italy through a different border crossing from the one you left through.
Nowhere does it say that you can travel with the residence permit receipt only to go to your home country. What matters is that you follow the rules above.
In any case, I always recommend being very careful and avoiding travel unless it is strictly necessary and easy to justify (travelling for tourism is the least justifiable reason of all). I know it can be frustrating, but you need to be patient.
How long is the receipt valid?
The recent circular no. 400/B/2024 of the Ministry of the Interior established that the receipt issued following an application for the issue, renewal or conversion of a residence permit is valid for a maximum of 9 months, counted from the date the application was accepted by the competent authority (the post office or the Questura itself).
The circular clearly does not take the real situation into account, since several Questure take up to a year to deliver the final permit. This would mean that, once the 9 months have passed, you would have to go to the Questura to ask for a new receipt, something the circular itself hopes to avoid so as not to cause further delays.
Obviously nobody does this, but one thing is certain: once these 9 months have passed, travelling is even less advisable, because you can no longer be sure of being allowed back into Italy and you might have to apply for a re-entry visa.
What are the risks of travelling with a residence permit receipt?
As explained above, travelling with the residence permit receipt can be risky. You could have problems re-entering Italy, but you could also face much more hidden and insidious problems, especially if you pass through another country in the Schengen area.
What is the Schengen Information System (SIS)?
Today many destinations can be reached with direct flights from Italian airports but, especially for South American and Asian nationals, this can be difficult. Many flights to Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh or India include a stopover at major European airports such as Paris or Frankfurt. Avoid these flights. You risk being sent back to Italy or, worse, being registered in the SIS.
The Schengen Information System is a European database containing information and alerts on people travelling through EU territory, shared and used by EU border, immigration, police, customs and judicial authorities.
What are the SIRENE cooperation offices?
SIRENE stands for Supplementary Information Request at the National Entries. If the SIS is the database, SIRENE is the office responsible for exchanging information and coordinating activities related to SIS alerts.
To find out whether your data is in the system, or to ask for it to be removed, you must contact the SIRENE office.
How do SIS alerts and deletion work?
Travelling with the residence permit renewal receipt, especially within the Schengen area, is dangerous because you risk having your data registered in the SIS. Every time you try to travel within the EU you will be stopped, and renewing your residence permit will also become difficult.
That is why it is essential to know whether you have been flagged in the SIS: it is your right.
Once it is confirmed that your personal details are in the SIS, you must have them removed by the same authority that entered them. This sometimes requires going to court but, in any case, I recommend relying on an expert in the field.
Once your name has been deleted, you can request access to the SIS again to check that it has actually been removed, as in one of our successful cases.
What can you do with the residence permit receipt?
While you wait for your permit and only have the receipt, you can:
- Work (under Art. 5, paragraph 9-bis of the TUI, while waiting for the residence permit to be issued or renewed, a foreign worker may legally stay in Italy and work temporarily);
- register on the mobility lists of the Centri per l’Impiego (Job Centres) if you stop working;
- obtain the nulla osta (clearance) for family reunification;
- get an Italian driving licence;
- register with the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (National Health Service) if you are waiting for your first permit, and keep your registration if you are renewing;
- receive unemployment benefits (INPS Circular of 29 January 2008) and be considered as holding all the rights acquired and accrued through your employment for social security purposes.
This content provides general information and does not constitute legal advice.
