Damn it! This are the words I spoke the day I visited the Questura and had to wait in line for 1 hour. I decided that I wanted to visit the Questura 2 weeks after my arrival as I wanted to get a head start on applying for my PdiS (Permesso di Soggiorno).
Well we arrived at 730 am to a decent line of about 20 ppl, we counted that we were 20th in line so we were happy. At the blink of an eye (no lie) swarms of people arrived. Families with all their children and belongings in tow. Woman who appeared to have just returned from a late night out and the men who looked like they had somewhere to go. I kept a close on the arrivals after us to make sure we did not loose our place in line. Well, low and behold, we did as few people managed to push their way in front of us. As time approached for the gates to open I felt my body being pushed forward and it wasn't a good feeling. Anyway, the feeling was nothing compared to when the gates actually opened and the police arrived to randomly pick only 20 people to enter. As he spoke in Italian, none of which I understood all I could see is people's hands raising to get his attention. My BF and I decided not to raise our hands and wait patiently and it worked out in our favour. The police officer spoke to my BF, took my passport and allowed us to enter. Once we arrived into the office with the rest of the immigrants we had to wait another 30minutes before they attended to us. The police officer was polite and answered all our questions and was also able to direct us to the right places; post office for the kit (which I already knew but my BF wanted to see if he could receive the kit for free) and the post office to send the payment for the insurance. Prior to being served I watched how other people were spoken to by some of the officers. I can tell by the facial expressions and the hand gestures of the officers that they were not being polite and this was later confirmed when I asked my BF to translate what they were saying. I think because my BF is Italian we were treated differently. So after a day or two of running around with the kit and filing out the many required pages we are patiently waiting for something, anything to arrive in the mail.
Stay tuned!
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2 comments:
I'd say you understood perfectly. It's pretty common for these officer to be nicer to foreigners accompanied by Italians OR foreigners they consider "superior" (meaning- Americans/Canadians/Australians... you get the picture).
There definitely are double standards according to where you're from or where they think you're from.
It's not very nice but it's the reality!
Like the previous poster said, it is easier if you are accompanied by an Italian. I'm from the States, and both times I've gone to the Questura alone without my Italian husband, have been ill treated until they figured out where I'm from. Welcome to Italy!
Ann
http://www.blogcharm.com/amborg
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