Temporarily, until the 31st of March, 2008, visa holders waiting for renewal are allowed to cross terrestrial, maritime, or aerial borders within the Schengen area.
The Poste Italiane receipt (given to a visa applicant upon submitting an application for visa renewal) will be sufficient in order to exit and re-access Italy.
This right had been granted by a directive of the Interior Ministry from the 5th of August 2006. There are further and more specific ministerial memorandums.
First memorandum, signed the 16th of July 2007, states that a visa holder can exit Italy temporarily and come back even if they only hold the Poste Italiane receipt, testifying that the application for the renewal of the visa has been submitted.
Second memorandum, Signed the 27th of July 2007, regards children, younger than 14, registered on their parents’ visa. With a specific request, the Questura(s) will grant a provisional paper visa to non-national parents. The validity of this visa is limited and depends on the needs of the applicant. Minors are registered on this visa, so that they are allowed, together with their parents, to exit and re-enter the country.
Third Memorandum, 12 December 2002, states that temporarily until the 31 of March 2008, visa holders waiting for the renewal of the work permit are facilitated in their transit through Schengen countries. Until the 31 of March 2008 it is possible to cross the Schengen countries through terrestrial, maritime, or aerial borders. Holders of the receipt of the request of their first visa can also exit and re-enter the country, as long as they exit and re-enter at the same border checkpoint and they do not cross any other Schengen country.
Main rules for travelling
It is necessary to carry, (apart from the passport or an equivalent identification document valid to travel internationally) either the original or a copy of the expired visa, for which the renewal application has been submitted. (Therefore, those who apply for renewal do not have to insert the expired visa in the envelope to send to the Post office; they can send a photocopy and keep the original.)
It’s necessary while travelling to carry the receipt of the application for the renewal of the visa. Documents considered receipts include the old “coupon”(cedolino) granted by the questura, or the receipt of the post office (Poste), which is given to those who have submitted the renewal application according to the new procedures established the 11th of December.
TRANSITORY RULE, WHICH DOES NOT APPLY FOR THOSE WHO ARE WAITING FOR THE RENEWAL OF THE VISA AND HOLD A RECEIPT: It is necessary to exit and re-enter the country crossing the same checkpoint at the border when going out and re-entering the country, and the police will stamp the passport and the receipt. Moreover the journey cannot entail any transit (not even for a layover) across any of the Schengen countries; Namely: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Iceland and Norway.
Holders of a valid visa can travel through and visit, as tourists, countries within the Schengen area. For those countries, there is no need to apply for a tourist visa; they can travel carrying just their passports and their Italian visas. Those who want to visit non-Schengen countries have to consult visa agreements between their mother countries and the country they intend to visit. (Ask the embassies or the consulates of the country that they intend to visit whether they have to apply for a tourist visa or not.) Those who travel in non-Schengen countries have to carry their Italian visa in order to re-enter Italy.
