Once the date of your appointment for your first residency permit has arrived, you need to go to the office of Questura that handles immigration in your city.
The address should be on the receipt that you got from the post office when you sent the request for your residency permit.
When I arrived, the officer at the reception had my name on a list and he crossed it out. They gave me a number and was told to wait in a waiting room.
And so, I waited for 1 hour past the time of my appointment.
When my number came up, I went to another room an set in front of an officer that spoke very good English.
He asked to see my appointment invitation (from the post office), my passport, 2 passport photos, the nulla osta document from Questura and the other documents that I got from Camera di commercio for getting the visa.
He wanted the originals but I told him that I gave them at the embassy and all I had were copies.
Then he took my fingerprints, asked for some signatures on my request and told me i’ll get an sms after about 3 weeks to come get it. (I have an Italian mobile number. They probably don’t send sms to foreign numbers)
You can also check if your permesso di soggiorno is ready online in this link:
http://questure.poliziadistato.it/stranieri?mime=1&lang=english
On the recipt from the poste italiane there is a barcode with a number below it, and under it it says ‘password’. Enter this number into the input box on the page.
Once my permesso di soggiorno was ready to collect, I arrived when it said on the message, but this time they told us to wait outside and they gave us numbers and let us in in groups.
This time I waited for 1 and a half hours past the time they told me to come.
The officer then asked for my passport and receipt from the post office.
He asked me to put my index finger of each hand on the scanner, and then he handed me the card.
The expiration was 1 year from the date of my long stay visa and it’s required to apply for a renewal 2-3 months before it expires.
