“Years in Limbo”: Foreign Residents Describe the Nightmare of Italy’s Residency Permit System

Expats across Italy recount years-long waits, vanished paperwork, and unanswered calls as the country’s permesso di soggiorno backlog deepens into a nationwide crisis. Italy’s permesso di soggiorno—the residency permit required for foreigners to legally live in the country—has become a source of mounting frustration and despair among residents who describe years of waiting, missed communications, and Kafkaesque bureaucracy. […]