Renewing the Permesso di Soggiorno, Parts 4-6

(Continued from here.)

I went to the questura on my designated appointment day. I waited about 3 hours, and then I was told I had to come in the afternoon. Apparently the appointment times have some meaning: you're either in the morning or in the afternoon.

So I returned that day in the afternoon, waited maybe 2 hours, and was told the permesso wasn't ready yet, and I should come back in 7-15 days (depending who I asked). The procedure in the afternoon, by the way, is slightly different than the morning. You have to stand in line outside the questura, then they take your letter with your appointment time on it and you move in to the entrance area (holding pen), where you stand and wait for them to call your name. When they call your name, you receive your number. So, instead of getting a number that only gets you another number, you just wait in line longer for the real number.

On the questura's website, you can check to see if your permesso is ready or not, and the website confirmed that mine wasn't ready on my appointment day, but I didn't know what would happen if I missed my appointment day (probably nothing, but you never know). Notice they didn't mention the website to those of us whose permessi weren't ready.

Anyway, according to that website, my permesso was ready about a week later, so I went back a day or so after that. I got there after the main rush, so there wasn't much of a line anymore. I only had to wait 20-30 minutes to find out that I had to show up between 12 and 2.

So today I went back around noon, waited in line outside, waited in the holding pen, then waited in the main area for a total of about 4 hours. Luckily I was in line between two other American women, so talking to them passed to time more pleasantly. Then I finally received my permesso di soggiorno. I NEVER HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE QUESTURA!