Next Steps

The next step in the process of our move to Italy is to get the Visas. For me, the Work Permit was a prerequisite to apply for a work visa. I received my work permit on Friday. It is hard to believe that so much time and effort could go into one little piece of paper. Right now, this is the most important piece of paper for us in our move to Italy. You may laugh, but I wasn't willing to put it through the auto document feeder on the copier at work to scan it. I carefully put each side down on the glass to scan and save an e-copy.

On Monday, I have an appointment with the Italian Consulate in Portland to apply for the Visa. How this works:
1. Visit the Consulate in person with a filled out Visa application and all paperwork, including work permit, passport, a passport photo to attach to the application and payment in cash. He will review and sign off on the application.
2. Since the Consulate in Portland is an "Honorary Consulate," I then have to mail everything off (including my passport) to the nearest full Consulate office in San Francisco.
3. They will review the application in San Francicso, hopefully approve it, and send my passport back to me with the visa "stamp."

Then I can officially move to Italy!

For Patrick and Brandon, an Entry Permit is a prerequisite to apply for their visas to accompany me. We haven't received those yet, they will follow in a week or two and then we will apply for their Visas through the same process.

We don't have a date yet, because of all of the uncertainty of timing of all of these application processes. We are fine with this. This is one of the lessons of our journey to live in Italy, letting go of expectations and just going with the flow.