Two memorandums clarify what bureaucracy is to do when needing to release and legalize documents and certifactes that come from Iraq and Kossovo.
Ministry of foreign affairs wrote note n. 303 issued past July 29th – available only few days ago, this note appoints qualified consular authorities that are to legalize certificates and documents that concern citizens from Iraq and Kossovo. In Iraq there is no Italian embassy at the moment therefore there is no consular assistance such as legalization of documents, acts, certificates, etc.
Finally the government appointed the qualified Italian consular authority in order to have such fulfillments.
The memorandum refers that today in case of Iraqi citizens needing documents the Italian embassy in Sudan opened a “Section for the safeguarding of Iraqi repubblic’s interests” An Iraqi citizen that needs documents should have them reach the Italian embassy in Sudan. The memorandum does not say how this should happen.
Anyway what memorandum means to point out is that there’s no other way to have Iraqi document recognised apart from having them recognised in Sudan at the apposite section.
Example – An Iraqi citizen that regularly lives in Italy and needs to have any document lawfully recognised (authorisation to marrigae, degrees, etc.) should, according to the ministry of foreign affairs, collect documents in advance – and we do not know how this would happen – and then nowhere it is said how this person should have the documents issued. What should this person do if he/she came from Falluja? This person is told that he/she should have the documents sent to Sudan.
Memorandum n.51 issued November 12th 2004 by Home Office concerns the legalization of documents of foreign citizens that were born in Kossovo. Documents issued by Kossovo and authentified by Umnik – United Nations’ office active in Kossovo. Italian embassy in Belgrad, Pristina’s detached section, needs to acquire Unmik’s offices signature and to evaluate all documents presented by interested citizens: this is the procedure that they need to respect in order to have documents recognised.
In other words, since there is no official national authority (at the moment the territory is ruled over by temporary authoties of the international coalition) Home Office gave instructions on how to verify the validity of documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, degrees, etc.).
Home Office’s memorandum underlines that since documents are released by Unmik it would not be a real legalization. Anyway documents may be counterfeited and therefore additional evaluations should be brought into act.
The so-called legalization that actual memorandum describes is not a real legalization, but it is a sort of an evaluation of the origins of the documents and of the signatures of Unmik’s officers. This is the reason why Unmik’s officers’ signatures are to be given in at Pristina’s offices.
This does not make things easier because these two memorandums make things more complicated from a bureaucratic point of view and above all these memorandums re-affirm that Kossovo’s citizens, in spite of being stateless, have to have documents released by local offices, then evaluated by Unmik and by Italian embassy’s detached section in Pristina.
What we are today referring shows that the problem of documents released to stateless citizens whose country of origin is Kossovo, which we should not forget is a territory ruled over by temporary authorities.
Citizens that left Kossovo with an Unmik document should keep it. Citizens holding their original passport, which is now expired, should have Unmik issue an apposite document according to many police headquarters.
Too bad Unmik does not have offices working in Italy, this means that if a person needs documents should go to Kossovo where the same person might risk his/her life. Leaving Italy with a probably expired document may cause problems in returning to Italy with the Unmik document.
Anyway everybody is free to do what they choose but I sincerely would not suggest to leave Italy and go to Kossovo to those that are denied papers renewal because documents are missing. It is in fact not guaranteed that citizens in such a situation will easily come back from Kossovo. It is actually more frequent that Italian embassy soes not issue re-entry visas when asked.