Italian Bureaucracy and Wedding Planning?
Easy sailing?
Not quite.
A nightmare?
Nope! Not again.
A good laugh?
Well…decide for yourself.
I sent an email to the Italian Consulate in Houston requesting detailed information on the process I should take after Pep and I get married.
I received this automated response.
I will be out of the office until July 27. For emergencies such as arrest by police, death, or international abduction of a minor you are kindly requested to call the operator or send us an e-mail.
I guess that answers the question.
They DO have internet connection in Heaven.
WHO KNEW?
greeeeeat (= be prepared for hassles galore with any italian consulate in USA, they are the worst of the worst!!!!!
They may not be based in Italy, but they have the same work hours as Italian businesses have here. I remember the Italian consulate in Philly had ridiculous hours, 9-12 Mon, Wed, and Fri… that’s it! It was impossible to get them on the phone. UGH
Good luck, Cherrye. 🙂
Cherrye, Are you getting married in the States, or in America? If you want to email me I can tell you what you need to do if marrying in America!
Email for an emergency? Wow… now that’s bad!
Hmm… and I read this as I’m about to begin my share of Italian consulate joys!
Giulia is right, the Italian consulate in San Francisco also has very limited hours, too!
This is one of the main reason we haven’t gotten our butts into gear and started the process of getting married. We both loathe dealing with Italian bureaucracy and procrastinate as long as possible. Rene has lived in Italy for 18 years and still doesn’t have a carta d’identita (he just carries around his passport.) Actually his fear of bureaucracy is almost a phobia.
If we ever get married we’ll probably do it in one of our home countries where they have a functioning bureaucracy.
HA! i got the exact same message from the Consulate in Houston when i emailed to make sure they got a document I had faxed. go figure eh?
Cherrye, I think this will only work with the proper attitude. Just remember to email them if you die.
LOL. wow. It’s not even August yet.
ho dio! thats for emergencies! jeees!
OMG. That email message is sadly hilarious. Thanks for sharing.
I’m assuming you must be getting married back in the States. Otherwise you wouldn’t have to deal with the consulate at all!
Rome is pretty evil when it comes to bureaucracy, but I have to say that although it did take us about a billion steps through paperwork, as long as you get started early, you shouldn’t have any problems. We started last November for a March wedding, and had everything finished just about a week in advance! Ha! I was just waiting for someone to say “oops, you’re missing X document and can no longer get married.” I’ve developed that paranoic reaction to public offices… they always seem to find something!
Good luck with everything. Let me know if I can help.
Speaking of the SF Consulate (Roam to Rome), a bunch of Ex Pat Italians in Seattle got so fed up with the bad (read: no) service they started an open petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/8475h75/petition.html
I don’t even know what to say to that. I guess they have no one to really cover while on vacation.
So Cherrye, did you melt?
Whew…yes you guys. I have been MELTING here in FREAKING HOT AND SUNNY CALABRIA!
Sorry for the delay in responding.
Romerican. 🙁 I am not looking forward to it. But, I dont really have to deal with them until we are married and then we are coming back here. So, hopefully?!?
G – You are right! That is all I could think about when I heard their hours.
Sara – Thanks so much. I have saved all of your emails for reference when I am back in the states.
Roam to Rome – Good luck with your stuff…we are all in the same boat at one time or another, huh?
Katie – Yes, we are getting married in America. I hope that will help with some of this, esp the delays Shelley was worried about!
Stacy – funny huh? You just wanna go back to Lupe Tortillas, dont you?
J – I promise if I die…I will email them first. So they can wait until after August to get back on it! lol
NYC – lol
Calabrisella – did you go through the same thing with the US?
Thanks, Shelley! I will hold you to that!
Anon – thanks for sharing…very interesting. I wonder if it helped?
Nadine – They are probably ALL on vacation. That is the problem!!
J – Sorry..see above. Yes, I did. But, the wind blew today and was actually COOL wind…so I am alive again! 😉