Ricevuta in Italy: what it is and how to get one

Who gets a ricevuta

Anyone who files the kit postale at a Poste Italiane Sportello Amico window gets one: a newcomer who entered on a visa D and sends the kit within 8 days of arrival, and a resident who renews a permesso. Each family member who files a separate kit gets a separate ricevuta. A few permit types are not sent by post but filed directly at the questura; there the immigration office itself issues the receipt that plays the same role.

What the ricevuta lets you do

With the passport, the ricevuta shows that you are lawfully present while the card is being made. For permits based on work, the Testo Unico on immigration (art. 5, c. 9-bis) lets the foreign worker stay and keep working while the permit is issued or renewed, once the receipt has been issued. In daily life people use it for a bank account, a rental contract, the codice fiscale and, depending on the comune and the ASL, for residenza and health service registration - practice differs from office to office. It is not a travel document for other Schengen countries.

What goes into the kit

The envelope holds the filled application (Mod. 209), copies of every passport page and of the documents for your permit type, and the marca da bollo. Do not put originals or photos into the kit: the Polizia di Stato asks you to bring the originals and the photos to the questura appointment. At the counter you pay the postal fee and the permit fee, and the clerk gives you the ricevuta and the appointment print. The per-questura document lists are on questure.poliziadistato.it.

The codes on the ricevuta and the questura appointment

The receipt carries a user ID and a password: with them you check on the Polizia di Stato website when the card is ready. The appointment printed with the ricevuta is for fingerprints and photos at the questura, often weeks or months ahead. Bring the ricevuta, the appointment letter, the passport, the photos and the originals of the documents. Timelines and the way a date can be moved differ by city - compare the questura pages for Milan, Rome or Turin and the list of questure.

Limits and pitfalls

On its own, without a valid visa D or the expired permesso it renews, the ricevuta carries little weight at a border, and the way back into Schengen has to go through Italy. Keep the original: if it is lost, report the loss to the police (denuncia) and ask the questura how it confirms the application. Send a renewal kit before the permit expires; the current deadline and what happens after it are in the renewal guide.

If something goes wrong

If the card is late, check the status with the codes from the ricevuta first; if the status has not moved long after the fingerprints, write to the immigration office of your questura through the contacts on its page. A request for extra documents comes as a letter or an SMS convocation. Keep every receipt, postal slip and appointment letter until the card is in your hands - they are what proves the dates if anything is disputed.

From the kit to the card

Where people go wrong

• Putting originals or photos into the kit envelope - they go to the questura appointment.
• Missing the questura appointment printed with the ricevuta.
• Throwing away the ricevuta or the postal slips before the card is collected.
• Planning a trip through another Schengen country on the ricevuta alone.

FAQ