WHAT DO YOU NEED TO REQUEST A PASSPORT? 2nd PART - PASSPORT FOR MINORS - GROUP PASSPORT - AND MUCH MORE ABOUT IT...

​​Let's go with the second part of our journey about what you needed to apply for a passport last week; we left off on the "act of consent" o the WRITTEN STATEMENT OF CONSENT.

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​WHAT'S THE WRITTEN STATEMENT OF CONSENT?
The written statement of consent is a personal statement that parents may submit by using a particular form available from the passport office or by drafting a sworn declaration of certification on their own, along with a photocopy of their identity document. The consular office must authenticate the signature of a non-European Union citizen. 
If one of the parents is dead, you should include a copy of the death certificate in your request. In the absence of the other parent's consent, acting as judge supervising the guardianship of minors within the Mission jurisdiction, after carrying out the proper checks, the Head of the Consular Mission can authorize the issuance of passport to the applicant special consular decree.
 
INDIVIDUAL PASSPORT FOR MINORS

As of June 26 2012, all Italian minors travelling abroad must have their passports. From this date, children must possess individual access or an identity card valid for expulsion if the States where the minors travel accept it.
The validity of a passport varies according to the age of its bearer:
up to 3 years of age: 3 years;
from 3 to 18 years of age: 5 years.
Legal parents or guardians may also request that the passport issuing office list their names on the minors' passports. Before travelling, the parents or legal guardians obtain a family status certificate or birth certificate for their minor children.

ACCOMPANYING A PERSON'S DECLARATION, WHAT IT IS?
 Up to 14 Italian minors can expatriate with at least one legal parent or guardian. Up to 14 Italian can expatriate if they are accompanied by at least one legal parent or guardian. Or the name of the person, agency or transport company to whom the minors are entrusted are listed in the passport or in an accompanying person's declaration submitted by someone legally authorized to give consent.
The accompanying person's declaration aims to ensure more excellent protection of minors. It facilitates border controls and applying the statement electronically (e-mail, certified e-mail, fax).
The main characteristics are:
the accompanying person's declaration can concern a single journey (to be understood as including the return trip) from the minor's country of residence to a predetermined destination and cannot usually exceed the maximum period of six months;
New legislation entered into force on June 4 2014, regarding the accompanying person's declaration, which is aimed at ensuring more excellent protection of minors and facilitating border controls and the submission of the statement by electronic means (e-mail, certified e-mail, fax). The significant innovations include:

•          it can go to a single journey (to be understood as including the return trip) from the minor's country of residence to a predetermined destination and shall usually not exceed six months;
• legal parents or guardians can name up to a maximum of two accompanying persons who, in any case, shall remain alternative to each other;
•    when submitting the accompanying person's declaration, the legal parents or guardians can ask that the names of the accompanying persons, the duration of the journey and the destination be stamped on the minor's passport or that said data be reported on a separate statement to be printed by the authorized issuing office;
•    in case the minor is entrusted to the care of an agency of transport company, only the above-mentioned separate statement shall be issued to ensure the completeness and legibility of the journey data. Before purchasing the ticket from the transport company, it is advisable to check its willingness to accept the minor being entrusted to it.

 
DIGITAL FINGERPRINTS AND CASES OF EXEMPTION
 
 As of June 29 2009, the inclusion of digital fingerprints in the data contained in the passport is compulsory.
Issuance of the electronic passport with digital fingerprints and digital signature requires the applicant's physical presence at the Consulate.
Complete with the necessary documents, the application form can be submitted to the competent Consulate by post or through the consular network. Then the applicant can make an appointment with the Consulate to have their fingerprints taken and sign the document, which is then issued.
Minors under the age of 12 are exempt from having their fingerprints taken. Permanent fingerprint exemption is also granted in the following cases:
a) duly documented permanent pathology or physical impediment (e.g. medical certificate from a local health agency, hospital, etc.);
b) evident physical disability or malformation (no medical certificate is necessary in this case).
In such cases, an ordinary passport is issued without fingerprints, which is valid for ten years.
In cases of temporary impossibility of taking digital fingerprints, not by the applicant's choice, a temporary passport is issued.
Digital signature and cases of exemption
When fingerprints are taken, the holder's signature is also digitally acquired and printed on the page containing the personal data.
Children under the age of 12 are exempted from signing.
A permanent exemption from signing is envisaged for:
a) illiterates (after obtaining the declaration instead of an affidavit in the office's records);
(b) persons with a proven or documented physical impossibility of signing.
ORDINARY PASSPORT FEES 
The current cost of an ordinary passport is € 42.50 with an additional administrative charge of €73.50.
Passports are issued free of charge in the following cases:
- the applicant is considered an emigrant Article 10 lays down that "for migration laws and regulations, by emigrant we mean any citizen who expatriates only for reasons of manual labour or small business or to join a spouse, ancestors, siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins, grandchildren and relatives of the same degree who have already emigrated for the same reasons, or who returns to a foreign country where he/she has previously emigrated under the conditions described by the Article";
- Italians residing abroad repatriating to serve in the military;
- Italian applicants who can prove indigence (the indigence threshold is specific to each country; for more information, contact the Consulate jurisdiction of residence);
- Italians belonging to a religious order or missionaries (pending declaration of the order's superior, on letterhead paper with government tax stamp affixed, attesting to the fact and indicating the person's address).
TEMPORARY PASSPORT
The Temporary Passport (not to be confused with the Emergency Travel Document or ETD) is an emergency paper format document expressly described in EC Regulation No. 444/2009. It does not contain a microchip with the bearer's data.
It is issued in cases of temporary inability to provide fingerprints and only in emergency and urgent circumstances. It can constitute the sole instrument to ensure an Italian national's safety, health, or economic interests.
Its validity cannot exceed one year.
It is not eligible for the Visa Waiver Program for entry into the United States of America.
 
DOCUMENTS NEEDED FOR ISSUANCE OF THE TEMPORARY PASSPORT

In addition to the documents needed for issuance of the ordinary passport, you have to submit the following documents: 

• - due documents proving the temporary inability to be taken fingerprints;
• - statement proving the existence of the emergency and urgent circumstances, for which the document can constitute the sole instrument by which to ensure the bearer's safety, health or economic interests;
• - receipt for payment of passport fees

Temporary passport fees
The current fee for the temporary document is €5.20.
 
GROUP PASSPORT
Group passports are issued exclusively by the Italian Police in Italy (Questura) for cultural, religious, sports and tourism reasons or other reasons provided for in international agreements. It allows for expulsion, for travel purposes only, of groups from 5 to 50 persons. A group leader can make the application with a valid passport.
It is valid for a maximum of 4 months from the date of issuance.
The current fee is € 5.50.

REVOCATION OF PASSPORT
According to current legislation, the passport can be revoked:
- in the presence of the same circumstances that would have prevented its issuance, in keeping with Article 3 of Law No. 1185/67;
- when its bearer abroad is unable to provide proof of having complied with alimony obligations resulting from rulings by judiciary authorities or the request of minor or disabled descendants, ancestors or spouse not legally separated;
- when its bearer is a minor who engages in acts abroad that are immoral, dangerous or harmful to health.
THEFT OR LOSS OF PASSPORT ABROAD
For Italian nationals who find themselves in emergencies (e.g. a tourist in transit with an imminent departure, who has either lost or been robbed of a passport), the locally authorized Consulate can issue an Emergency Travel Document (ETD). It is valid only for travel back to Italy or the country of legal residence or, in exceptional cases, to another destination.
Passports were lost or stolen abroad and turned in to the Italian Consular Offices.
Passports lost or stolen abroad and later found by the local Authorities are turned in to the Consulate of the jurisdiction in which they were lost or stolen.
Therefore, those who have recently suffered the loss/theft of their passports abroad and wish to check whether the local authorities have found them are advised to contact the locally authorized Consular Office for further information.
Passports can be collected in one of the following ways:
- directly from the Consular Office;
- by mail, with shipping charges at the bearer's expense.
Once a lost/stolen passport has remained unclaimed at a Consular Office for a maximum period of one year from the date the local Authorities turned it in, it is destroyed without any further communication.
 
In addition to further up-to-date information, all the identity document needed for entry into each country is available on the website http://www.viaggiaresicuri.it/ (safe travelling).
You can also read the following link:
www.esteri.it/mae/en/servizi/italiani-all-estero/documenti_di_viaggio/passaporto.html


If you need help for your certificates or translation you can see my services:
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www.italiancitizenshiptranslator.com/italian-translation-services.html