Consulate of Italy — Local services in Manchester

NOTICE OF MARRIAGE INFORMATION/REVIEW (BANNS) This review is for anyone wanting to give notice of their marriage.

Getting the appointment This was by far the most frustrating part of the process. They never seemed to have any appointments available. However, with research and trial and error, I discovered that they have a set schedule for releasing appointments. There are two options... Every Monday morning at 06:00 they will release an appointment for Thursday at 14:15 of that same week. These appointment seem to be from people that have cancelled that slot which has now become available. Every Thursday at 17:00, they will release a new appointment two months in advance... the appointments are always on a Thursday at 14:15.

Whether you try and get a cancelled appointment by trying on Monday morning or an appointment in advance by trying on Thursday evening, you must be incredibly quick as these appointments will be taken by other people doing the same as you. Set an alarm on your phone, don't give up and keep trying.

Never try to call as you won't get an answer, it is not worth emailing as they take forever to respond. Just follow the above.

Before the appointment Follow their instructions carefully and accurately. You must re-confirm your appointment 10 days before, make sure you do this! You must also send them the documents via email 10 days before. If you managed to get a cancelled appointment for the same week, send your documents straight after. They will give you the email address to contact and the subject of the email must be exactly how they say. Do not forget to do this before your appointment or you risk your appointment being cancelled.

At the appointment The waiting time is not too long, you will not wait more that 45 minutes. Once you are called, the process is straightforward and won't last more than 20 minutes if you have all of your documents in check. The staff are very friendly and will help you if you have any problems. One particular staff member, Ludovica was amazing with us and helped us with one issue we had with the AIRE system. If your appointment doesn't go to plan (like ours), they will help you reschedule ASAP and they will be in direct communication with you until everything is sorted.

After the appointment The notice of your marriage will be published for 10 days, after this, they will email your certificate directly to you.

Final comments If not for the frustration of getting the appointment which should honestly be better, I would have given five stars for the care of the staff members while at the appointment from when you enter the building onwards.

Review written in June,...

We had an appointment recently at the Italian Consulate in Manchester to do my partner's first passport as an Italian citizen. My partner is from outside the UK and we live together in the UK. This was the final step in a long process and we were naturally very anxious that things would go well. After reading the reviews we were nervous that despite following all the instructions the people there could find some minor detail incorrect. However, everything was absolutely fine.

We took along:- The completed Prenotare Form available on the Manchester Consulate Esteri site which we filled out by hand, filled out on the computer on Word and took along 2 blank copies just in case. The copy used was the one we filled out on Word. A proof of address - although this was not asked for Photos that met the clear guidelines on the form which you can easily find on Google as well The money in Cash All other forms that we had from the citizenship process - They asked to see a form showing our marriage registration in Italy.

Our appointment was one of the first in the morning. The security guard was perfectly pleasant and just checked our names and we went up to the room. We met another security guard upstairs who was again very pleasant and instructed us to leave our things in a locker. The person who attended my partner simply asked for the forms, filled in the details on the computer, registered finger prints and asked for payment which probably took around 15m/20m and then told us to come back in an hour to pick up the passport. We came back in a hour, went up to the desk to make sure they knew we were they and within 5 minutes or so were called up, signed a form and picked up our change from payment and the passport.

I have nothing negative to say about the process which was perfectly efficient. There were other people there who seemed very confused and didn't seem to necessarily be following proper processes. I think it's important to just follow instructions and remember that the people there at the Consulate don't always have an easy job to do. I would like to thank everyone there and wish them all the best!

Just as a final comment this is a review on the process of picking up the passport / the in person process and not on the appointment booking process which of course is a totally...

My review is not about the people who work in the Consulate but about the appointment booking process which is simply atrocious and not worthy of a civilised country. A third world one more like. For weeks I tried to access the prenot@mi booking system, as advised on the Consulate website. EVERY time I tried it I was immediately told that there were no appointments available. After several failed attempts and a lot of frustration I wrote to the passport office using the designated email. I received an automated reply saying that you have to log on at 5 p.m. when they release the new appointments. Nowhere on the main website is this mentioned. Are people supposed to guess it? I since discovered that you basically have 1 minute, if so, to access the calendar on the website. If you miss that one minute window at 5 p.m. you have had it. The problem is that hundreds of other poor people in need of a passport log on at the same time with the result that the website keeps on crashing and you can’t access the designated page to access the bookings.For days I tried to log in at 5 p.m. only to miserably fail. In the end I tried the phone line. They only have 2 HOURS a week in which to call them. One on a Monday and the other on a Friday. Obviously lots of other people try to call them at that time with the result that the line is always engaged. I tried writing to the Consul to highlight the website issue. No luck there either. And of course emails are not answered other than with an automated one with explanatory links that DO NOT WORK. Why is somebody not listening to all the Italian people complaining? What sort of service is this? A disservice, more like. It has caused me an enormous amount of stress and anger. Is it possible to have to go through all these obstacles to renew one’s passport? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Italian Foreign office. Review the way you serve your citizens abroad. At the moment it...