Hi All!
Student visa question.
I got my student visa from august 08-august09. My school is from October 08-November 09. When at the consulate I told them that my visa dates were incorrect and they replied that I can extend it at the permesso or use my tourist visa afterwards until november. I dont think so!
My problem is simple: as I finish school in November I want to do an internship for 3 months under.
With the visa dates that I was granted by the idiot at the embassy, I cannot do that and instead of leaving Europe in February, I need to leave in November, on the last day that school starts. Therefore, is it possible to get a student visa extension in Italy? or can I get a permesso extension? If I get a permesso extension, can I leave Italy to go to another Schengen country for those extra 90 days?
Confused. Please help!

Saturn:

1. You're right. The guy you spoke to at the embassy was an idiot. Your student visa should have been granted for the exact and entire length of your term. They made a mistake, and, frankly, you should demand that they rectify it. The trick to Italian bureaucracy is persistence. Once he knows he'll see you and/or hear from you everyday until you get what you want, he'll weigh the effort/frustration ratio and do his job.

2. In aswer to your question regarding the extension, the short answer is "Yes, you should be able to get it while in Italy; just so long as the next guy/gal feels like doing his or her job." But you shouldn't have to go through all the trouble.

AND, remember...

3. In Italy, it is far better to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. I'd recommend simply staying in Italy as long as you need. Frankly, the chances of anyone noticing will be slim to none. (Providing the folks you're interning with are willing to turn a blind eye.) Should anyone ever notice, the chances are that they won't do so until you're on a flight out of the country. At which point the individual who notices will shrug his shoulders, think about the phone calls and paperwork involved in having a black mark put on your passport, and simply wave you through. Fortunately or unfortunately, Italian customs officials are no more committed to their work than their diplomatic counterparts.

Hope that helps.

Is it true that the student visa cannot go for more than one year when applying (evenif the schooling period is longer than 12 months)?
Thanks you so much for you kind reply, I am going to spam their email and start my stalking at the consulate.

quote:

Originally posted by saturnreturn:
Is it true that the student visa cannot go for more than one year when applying (evenif the schooling period is longer than 12 months)?

While they don't like to give out visas extending longer than 12 months, the student visa should match the start and stop dates of your period of study. Since you're in San Francisco and thus not far from the consulate, I'd recommend stopping by until they give you what you need.

Keep in mind, however, that Italy is one of the easiest countries to receive extended visas for. Even "religious reasons" (as ambiguous as that is) can be used when requesting a visa extension.

So don't sweat it too much.

I think you should be ok. I studied in Italy for a semester and when we were there my school made a big deal about getting our permesso di sogiourno (sp? it's been awhile) and NO ONE EVER CHECKED IT. EVER. Seriously it seemed like a total waste of time. I don't think the Italians care very much. I'm sure if you bring multiple copies of the needed documents to the consulate you can get it passed. I brought more copies than needed of every document and the guy there was shocked that I had everything in order and he didn't need to tell me to come back another time (no way was I driving an hour back down there!). So I'm sure you can get it extended, the Italians are pretty easy going.