Gbinitaly

It seems the process now has to be done online and not through the usual paper form.
Any experiences?

Plan B

I renewed mine about 2 years ago: did the paper work online and then had to send the expiring passport back to the UK - which I did using a courier service for security and speed. My renewed passport was posted back and it arrived 8 days later.

Lorna at Vicenza

It's easy. Did mine last year and just about to renew my son's.
You can even take and upload your own photo now and the passport website tells you if it's acceptable or not.
Something else that's good to know but not many people do yet, you can get a certificate of residency from your comune in multi-languages which the passport office will accept as proof of address.
The comune themselves don't all know this, my small comune didn't but had to agree that I was right when I told them that it's a new regolamento europeo that came into 'vigore' in February 2019.

Gbinitaly

But is it still possible to download a paper form if I prefer using a photo booth instead of a digital picture?

Geordieborn

Well you certainly can still do a paper application from the UK, and they will charge you an extra £10 for the pleasure(£9.50 to be exact). So there is nothing to stop you doing so, even if it means downloading the application (if you don't have one) and either post it from Italy or to someone in the UK to send it on for you. I suspect they are trying to discourage paper applications from anyone.

Gbinitaly

What document did you send as proof of residence?
I don’t want to send the health card as suggested on their website.

Geordieborn

Our was done in the UK, as far as I can recall we needed nothing other than our old passport and credit card details...

philat98

I sent a UK bank statement. You could use a certificate of residence that Lorna mentioned in another thread.

pugliese

Just did mine and waiting for it to come back. Unbelievably simple and everything online. Did the photo with my phone following their instructions and they approved it. Paid online (used to have to get an Assegno circolare). I sent them a copy of my Carta di identità as proof of residence.

Only thing I did "wrong" was sending my old passport and documents as a Racommandata with Poste Italiane on 13th August and got an email from HM Passport office to send them 7 days later because they hadn't received them! They finally arrived on 31st August, would you believe - of course we would!

Use DHL or some other courier!

Lorna at Vicenza

You don't send the actual document but a colour photocopy. Your Italian tessera sanitaria doesn't have your address on it anyway.
You can get a multi-language residency certificate from your comune.
If you have the new plastic ID card, that is also written in English and a colour photocopy will be accepted front and back.
If you have any older Italian driving license, they have your address on and a colour photocopy will be accepted. The newer licenses don't have addresses printed on them anymore though.
You can send a bank statement.

Lorna at Vicenza

I did the same thing last year as it was the cheaper option. I also received emails and text messages from HMPO saying they were waiting for my documents. When I checked the tracking, it had taken over a week just for the bloody envelope to get from my house to Milan and then leave the country. Once my stuff arrived at HMPO, everything happened very quickly after that and my new passport arrived in no time.

Lorna at Vicenza

New updates.
A friend last month paid something like €27 at the Italian PO to send her docs to Durham with a raccomandata internazionale. The PO explanation for the price hike was of course Brexit. 10 days later and her docs hadn't arrived at HMPO.
I have to send my son's off now so I spent some time today online shopping and phone enquiries for courier quotes. I have a home pick up scheduled for tomorrow with UPS for €18.
DHL's best quote for a 'privato' was around €43.

philat98

I bought some stuff from the UK and the postage had increased from £25 to £45. Uk online sellers are going to struggle selling anything into Europe.

Gbinitaly

Hi,
thanks for the update.
Can I ask you a couple of things?
First, what website has this €18 courier fare?
Second, I found out that all my residence documents have my name spelt in Italian, it’s just an extra letter different from the ‘original’ name on the passport. Do you know if people had any problems with this?
Thank you

Lorna at Vicenza

Hi. The website was the normal UPS.com website that came out n English but accepted all Italian addresses and regions. Just because I am a cynical cow and like to second check nowadays, I phoned them to make sure I was getting the right price without any surprise Brexit customs payments. The number I used is: 02/30303039