Italy, bureaucracy, and a hard reality check. The Instagram version of Italy forgot this part.

article 2: paperwork realities

When they say Italy is famous for bureaucracy they weren’t exaggerating (whoever ‘they’ were). 

I went down the long dark rabbit hole of researching all the documents needed for the Digital Nomad Visa, the one that, according to many Instagram posts, is my magical ticket into Italy and one that I am highly over qualified to get. Well there should have been an asterisk next to those fucking posts.

Not only is the paperwork extremely difficult to compile, it needs to be translated and then verified by something called an apostille. So yah, I learned a new word today. Along with the fact that the Italians don’t really want you to get a visa. At. All.

In order for a visa to even be considered or approved you must first get an appointment at the consulate, which, surprise, is fully booked for the next 12 weeks and no appointments are available. The pop up should just say: no visitors welcome.

And if the bizarre amount of paperwork, qualifications, bank statements and certifications they ask for weren’t enough of a signal for you to get lost, there’s just one wee, small tiny problem. When you show up at the non-existent appointment slot, you have to have a plane ticket, and a one year lease contract for an apartment in Italy, registered with the local government.

Without. Even. Having. A. Visa.

So, now the questions shifts from “should we go?” to, “can we even go at all?”