jonwel

Thenks, Pugliese!
Well, I'll go in to the Comune tomorrow morning. Hopefully the Milan offices will be a bit more cosmopolitan than Gallipoli! but you never know!
As for the photo, I realise it's up to them to decided whether it's acceptable, I was just wondering how you rectify if it's not accepted, But they'll tell me.

Anyway, my situation is a lot simpler than yours. I'll let you know how I get on!

philat98

You can use your ID card for proof of address. It is printed on the reverse side.

jonwel

Are you sure of that? I've still got the old paper identity card, which gives the address, certainly, but is in Itallian only and wasn't issued in the last 12 months (2015).
On the other hand, my new Brexit card has the English translation but doesn't give the address and in any case it's more than 12 months old.

Lorna at Vicenza

The new plastic ID cards have the details in both Italian and English.

jonwel

Hi Lorna,
Well, I went to the Comune in Milan this morning and it seemed that I'd almost got what I wanted. - but then they saw that they had to state what country it was intended for... It had to be for an EU country. Very polite and sympathetic but no go. Maybe there isn't a national standard form and in other comunes they don't have to state what it's for.
I've still got the old paper ID card, which doesn't give the translations (but anyone with a bit of horse sense would understand immediately without a translation, certified to boot!).. I've got the permanent residence card (issued in June last year), which gives translations but not the address!

Looking at the list of possible documents it seems very inconsistent how each document has to be. They accept a simple letter from your employer as long as it's written in English, but for other things they want a translation sworn in the court offices (cancelleria)!
I'm retired, but I wonder if I could go to a translation agency I used to work for (and I did actually do a quick job for them this year) and get them to write me a letter in English, about anything at all - it seems that it doesn't have to be in connection with the passport application.

What do you guys think? Any other ideas?

37100

I use a cert. contro le doppio imposizioni from the AdE in Italian/English. It doesn't matter if you don't have an Italian income, just x 'other' on the request. The AdE were well aware that Brits use it for passport. I think that they assumed that we can't get a passport if we aren't up to date with our taxes -there is a similar restriction for an Italian passport. It take a few days to get it and cost me €5.12.

jonwel

Very interesting! I don't think anyone has mentioned it before in this thread.
In my last post, above, I said I was thinking of asking my old translation agency to help. They said yes, so it ought to do the trick, but if any unforeseen problems crop up I'll definitely go for the AdE.

Lorna at Vicenza

I once used my Italian driving license. The passport office didn't give two hoots that it hadn't been issued in the last 12 months, just that it was valid. It had my name, photo and address on it. New licenses don't have the adress anymore though.

jonwel

Made an appointment with AdE a week ago for 27/12 and also got a letter from my translation agency, which I sent off with my old passport. Kept the AdE appointment in case the letter wasn't accepted. Lo and behold, I got a message today from HMPO saying my application had been accepted and they were already printing my passport. Pretty quick compared with the weeks and weeks that some people have had to wait. Still, I won't cry victory until I have it in my hands.

Just a couple of other points:
1) I don't know why HMPO wants proof of my address; I could move house just after receiving the passport. Or do they have a register of addresses of Brits living in Italy? Well, the DWP has got my address anyway.
2) I spoke to a person who works in a law office and she told me that from there they could download a certificate of residence in any EU language... except English! I suppose that was because of Brexit, but I thought Ireland was still in the EU...

37100

You cannot download certificates in any EU language. Non Italian certificates are only available in bilingual regions. i.e. german in TrentinoAltoAdige. As the official language of Ireland, English is still an EU language.

jonwel

Actually I said I had spoken directly with this person for the sake of brevity. In reality it was a reported conversation. So I'll have to find out exactly what was said and get back to you.

jonwel

Got it! It arrived on Friday, just a week after I sent off my old passport. They accepted the photo, which I didn't think much of, and the letter from my (mainly ex) employer.
I can confirm what others said about those months added on - in spite of applying 5 months early, they gave me exactly 10 years' validity, not 10 yrs 5 mth. So why they have to tell us a load of codswallop I don't know.

philat98

Well done. You got there in the end. I renewed mine 5 years ago and it has been sitting in the draw ever since.

jonwel

Same here! My old one had only been used once in those ten years.

tpw21

The first official language in Ireland, according to the constitution, is Gaeilge.