Two years ago I decided I was moving to Italy. Not visiting. Not extended stays. Moving. And what followed was one of the most bureaucratically maddening, emotionally exhausting, and ultimately life changing processes I have ever been through. I am finally ready to tell you the whole story.
Let’s go back to the beginning.
Italy had just launched their digital nomad visa and it seemed like the one that made sense for my situation. Visa processes are notoriously document heavy and complicated so I did what seemed logical at the time. I hired a company to help me navigate it. I paid them thousands of dollars. They assigned me an attorney. She helped me gather documents.
That was basically it.
What I did not know going in was that this visa was so new that nobody really knew how to process it. Not the companies charging thousands to help with it or even the Italians themselves. I could have gathered those documents on my own and saved myself a lot of money. Zero out of ten, do not recommend. But that is a lesson learned and we move on.
I had my appointment at the consulate in Miami. Miami is notorious in the expat community for being one of the hardest consulates to get approved through and you have to go to the one in the jurisdiction of your residence so I did not have a choice. I walked in prepared for an interview. What I got felt more like an interrogation. Like I was being called to answer for crimes committed. The crime of wanting to live in Italy.
They took my passport. All 120 days they were allowed to take. And then they denied me.
I was blindsided. I had spent months mentally preparing for this move. Moving to a foreign country is not a spontaneous decision, it takes a complete psychological reshuffling of your life and your identity and I had done all of that work. When the denial came it felt like the rug had been pulled out from under me. And I had spent almost six months feeling stuck in the US because they had my passport and I could not leave. The minute I had it back in my hands I was on a plane to Italy. To regroup. To figure out another plan.
I knew one thing for certain. I was never giving up my passport for six months and feeling that stuck again.
That is when I found out that temporary passports are a thing. If you are applying to a consulate that will hold your passport for an extended period you are actually allowed to apply for a second temporary passport so you can travel while your visa is being processed. I had no idea this existed and I have a feeling a lot of people do not. I applied. I was approved. And suddenly I had options again.
I decided to try the consulate one more time. This time I deliberately did not mentally prepare myself. I did not want to get my hopes up and I did not want to feel that devastation again if they said no. I just went in expecting nothing, thinking I had nothing to lose.
I talked about this second appointment here
The Italian Diaries: Chapter 3 loading...
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Mar 2
Last week I went to Miami to submit for my visa for the second time. The consulate visit was nothing like last year. No interview this time. Instead, they sent me straight to the counter where you pay fees and turn in documents (so. many. documents.)
I walked up to the counter and the man waiting for me looked exactly like Santa Claus. I am not exaggerating. And unlike the interrogation energy of my first appointment, this man was warm and kind and actually from the same region of Italy where I live. He told me there had been a complete staff change. That things were being run very differently now. There was no interview this time. The process was different. And as I was leaving he looked at me and said “I think this is going to be good for you.”
I left feeling hopeful but cautious. I was leaving for Italy in a week and a half anyway with my temporary passport. Whatever they decided, I would already be there when they decided it.
The following Tuesday, four days after my appointment, I got an email from the consulate requesting additional documents. I stared at it. The last time it took them the full four months just to deny me. How were they already looking at my packet? I sent the documents by mail because they would not accept email and then I got on a plane to Italy.
Somewhere over the Atlantic, the consulate sent me another email. I never saw it land.
I arrived, got settled, went about my life.
Two weeks later I was sitting in my living room when my phone rang from a Miami number. I assumed it was spam. I let it go to voicemail. Two minutes later my phone buzzed with a transcription.
“This is the Italian consulate in Miami. We sent you an email on March 11. You have been approved for your digital nomad visa. We need you to mail a copy of your packet documents in order to send back your visa.”
I stared at my phone… it can’t be.
I ran to my computer. Opened my emails. There was the email from March 11 and there was a follow up asking me to reply to confirm. An approval. An actual approval.
I was not prepared for yes. After everything, after two years and thousands of dollars and one devastating denial and months of feeling stuck and a Hail Mary resubmission I was not ready for the answer to be yes. And the strangest thing happened. Alongside the excitement came this wave of fear I did not expect. Because I had not mentally prepared this time. I had protected myself by not believing it could happen and now it had happened and I had to actually reckon with what that meant.
I am moving to Italy. Full time.
It took me a few days to let that sink in. Honestly I am still letting it sink in.
But now it is official. And there is so much to do. I will fill you in on what happens next soon.
xo
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