A note about the Visa situation
(As seen from the Italian point of fiew)
This note is addressed to all the NEOs having exchanges with Italy, whose students need a Visa to enter Italy
Whom are we talking to?
To a large part of you, indeed!!!
To all the Countries who traditionally need a VISA (and we know each other!!!): Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, FYROM, Ghana, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Yugoslavia.
We'll check with the newcomers if some problems arise. We are addressing this letter also to all the NEOs who are sending to Italy students of a non European Union country. In this case we'll check student by student. Be so kind to notify us these cases.
Please forward this note to all the LEOs and to all the students.
The documents we can provide the students are:
- The Card of Acceptance;
- The Official Invitation issued by SISM. It is written in Italian, addressed to the Italian Embassy/Consulate. The basic information it contains includes:
- the personal data of the student,
- the place and period of the Clerkship,
- free board and lodging organized by the Local Committee,
- the legal address of the Local Committee, if it's regularly registered at the University,
- and an info leaflet about SISM, IFMSA and Professional Exchange Program.
This letter is written on the official paper of the Association, signed by the NEO/NEO Assistant.
- A second Official Invitation, signed by the Tutor of the student, or by the Chief of the Clinic, or by the Dean of the Faculty, or by the President of the Students' Dormitory can also be issued, but only in special cases. This letter is also written in Italian and addressed to the Italian Embassy/Consulate, and contains basically the same information as the previous document issued by SISM.
The procedure
- CA and official Invitation will reach the NEO all together. They are enough to start all the procedures for the Visa at the Embassy/Consulate.
- In some cases the Italian Embassy/Consulate will require a confirmation directly from SISM NEO. They can ask us directly, or they can ask the students to direct us to fax the paper to them. In this last case you should be so kind as to send the fax number of the Italian Embassy/Consulate.
- In case there is both an Italian Embassy and a Consulate in your Country, please inform us about the bureau in which each student will ask for his VISA. It will be easier for us to fax the necessary papers to the exact office.
- We will fax the requested papers to the Italian Embassy/Consulates ONLY AFTER your request. Any original paper will not be mailed (via snail mail) to the Italian Embassy/Consulate.
Substitutions
In the last years we experienced a large number of substitutions amongst "VISA-students", and we faced some important problems with the Embassies/Consulates.
A substitute should receive the same papers that the original applicant received, but still, the original applicant will have the official invitation, which is used to ask for a Visa.
You will agree that this is a very big problem for the person that issues the Official Invitation. The conclusions are that starting from the Exchange year 97/98 we will not accept substitutions for students who need a Student Visa to enter Italy, unless it's a very early substitution, in which case we haven't send you CA and the Official Invitation. Please contact us if you need to arrange a substitution and we'll see if the papers for that students have already been arranged or not. If NO, you can send us a substitution, following the criteria written in the Exchange Conditions. If YES, we can't help your student, unless he/she has some other resources (i.e. some relative in the Shengen countries that can issue a personal invitation for him/her). In any case contact us to check if this is possible. Also ask the student if she/he can obtain a tourist Visa. In this case the substitution will follow the normal protocol as it is stated in the Exchange Conditions.