K in Modena

Do you actually have to have an ID card for babies though? We only got one because my daughter doesn't yet have a passport (which will be a British one, when I get round to it!) If we leave Italy, will we legally have to keep updating her Italian ID or can we forget about it?

By the way there has been some debate on this forum about whether or not your child can travel just with the ID card if it doesn't have the parents' names written on it. My daughter's doesn't, and we always take along a certificato di nascita too.

Lorna at Vicenza

Nobody is legally obliged to have an ID card.
Most Italians think they are just because most of them have one.

If you leave Italy you can forget about the ID card when it expires if you want to. There is no law that says you always have to get another one.

K in Modena

Thanks Lorna. I could just imagine us being stuck in Italian bureaucracy for ever more! Like the way you have to keep sticking tax stamps on Italian passports. Good to know!

MissSP

You don't have to have one but we were made to understand by the Comune that children can no longer be added to parents ID cards or passports. We only got him an ID card because we were waiting for his British passport. We lived in Como so were always over into Switzerland and without an ID if we were stopped it would have been a problem.

One recent laugh at passport control leaving Italy was when I travelled alone with my son, both with British passports. I was stopped by the Customs officer who enquired whether I was the mother (!!!!) and where was my son's ID card. I said that as I was British we were both using our British passports and therefore I hadn't got his ID card with me. He said this was a big mistake and that my son should always use his Italian ID when leaving Italy. Has anyone else heard of this, because I just smiled sweetly and thought "muppet" to myself?

duffer

Yes it's been mentioned on this forum somewhere that Italians who have dual nationality should or must use their Italian IDs when entering/leaving Italy.

MissSP

Is this still the case if you don't live in Italy anymore?

37100

Yes it is. An Italian national must by law use their Italian doc to enter or leave Italy regardless of residency. Does everyone do it? I that not.

Another thing a lot of people seem to forgot is that, for travel within the EU you do not need a 'bollo' on your passport.

K in Modena

There you go, we will be stuck in Italian bureaucracy for ever more!

ballerina

My babbalino has a british passport, because he was born in England and needed it to get to Italy when we came back here. He got the ID card, just because OH wanted him to have one, no particular reason, but it was very quick ad easy and cheap to do (gosh, something miles cheaper to do than in England!).
We have travelled quite a lot back and forth to England and he has always used his UK passport, with no problems or questions from Italian passport control, even though he has his very Italian name and my passport is still in my maiden name. I sometimes get quizzed on something about DS's passport, like his DOB when I get to U passport control.
I'm travelling to England next week actually and have to fill in the check in online with out travel document info.. should I then use his Italian ID card, and for the return journey back to Italy, might there be any problems if he is not using his UK passport? Could I be questioned more at the UK side if I am travelling on a UK passport with a foreign child?
I dread to think that i'd be hit with a load of check in charges if I use what they consider the wrong ID for DS... I'm travelling with Ryanair after all, so any excuse for them to get money of of us...

37100

I've/we've been given a slap on the wrist a couple of times for not using Italian ID. BTW Always Malpensa. No big deal. I wouldn't worry about it one bit. The only big hiccup I've ever had was in Brussels -yrs ago! Nearly missed my connection because an over zealous customs/border guard didn't like the fact that I had a different surname from my kids!

Lorna at Vicenza

I've been backwards and forwards loads of times with Ryanair and my kids. Me with my British passport and them with Italian ID cards. Nobody on the UK side has ever stopped us or asked why we have different surnames or asked if the kids have a British passport or why they don't have one.

ballerina

I travel from Pisa airport, and I have to say (touch wood) they always seem pretty relaxed compared to East Midlands, who make me open and taste loads of baby food and milk in cartons, which i can't reseal again (i've learnt my lesson on that one now though). I have bought tons of stuff you aren't supposed to in my hand luggage and they never bat an eyelid at Pisa, even hide a load more luggage in the bottom of the pushchair and they aren't bothered about it!

MarkRD

Ever so slightly off topic but I've just been asked for a certificato di residenza storico .... apparently it tells you not only where you live but since when ..
didn't even know it existed.

HADENOUGHPIZZA

That's Italy for you .. there's always a new document to collect

37100

Yeah, they do them for stato di famiglia and cittadinanza too But my favorite has to be 'certificato di esistenza in vita'.