CorporalMaxSterling

UPDATE: We got it!

After quite a bit of nasty attitudes from the representatives, they approved the new insurance letter + we also bought traveler's insurance as an added measure. What a pain in the .... Thanks for all of your feedback!

Original post below:
-----------------------

Hi all, I'm having a small crisis and I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice!

I'm a native NYC resident, but my wife is a Chinese citizen (with a Green Card), and we recently booked a fairly expensive trip to Italy for almost a month duration. She applied for her visa, all documents were accepted, etc., and we waited for about 3 weeks. We never got her passport back in the mail.

We contacted the visa agency, who told us that we hadn't submitted enough proof of health insurance coverage, and they had basically just let the documents sit on a desk, never alerting us to the problem.

They are very agressive and rude on the phone, and refuse to accept any responsibility. Fine, so we ask what next steps are. I get a letter from the insurance company proving coverage today, so we'll reapply.

The issue is, the representative at the counter was (apparently) supposed to give us a receipt for when we return with said documents - and he never did. There is a possibility that they will deny us. The trip is in 15 days, and they don't have an opening to reapply for another 20+ days.

My question is this: can she travel to Italy without a visa? And if so, what hurdles should we begin jumping ASAP?

I don't mind spending some extra money for expedited processing, etc., since we've already sunk a lot into this trip. Thank you so much in advance for any advice!

Yoshi212

She won't make it onto the plane without a passport with visa in it (for Chinese Citizens). The airline won't board her for fear of fines for transporting her.

Contact an expediter. Luckily you live here in NYC so you can do some legwork if needed also.

CorporalMaxSterling

Awesome Yoshi212, thanks for getting back to me so quickly.

She has a passport but not a visa, so I think your comment still holds true?

More importantly, I've never heard of an expediter - where can I find one? I am in Manhattan so I can easily go wherever necessary to move things along.

MSPeconomist

It sounds like you used a visa service agency (aka expeditor) that is at best incompetent and irresponsible and perhaps even a fraudulent scam. How did you decide to apply for the visa through these people? Was this agency recommended by your travel agent? You might do others a favor by naming names here. If your travel agent or tour group operator recommended this visa agency, IMO you should contact them about the problem and insist that they pressure these people to fix their mistake. Alternatively, you might enlist the help of a different and much better visaa service agency and pay a lot for their best and fastest service, perhaps called concierge, expedited, rush, urgent, emergency processing, etc.

Unless wife has dual citizenship and a second passport that doesn't require a visa for Italy, she will not be flying to Italy without a visa.

Since you live in NYC, can't your wife just apply for the visa herself, without using an agency? It sounds like she needed to appear at the consulate for an interview anyway, so what is the visa service agency doing for you that you cannot do yourself?

CorporalMaxSterling

No no, we went through the official Italian Consulate General on the upper east side. That's why it's so frustrating - we've traveled internationally before, but typically if there's an issue with the visa application they will tell you immediately. The reason we're in a pinch is they held on to it without telling us for weeks, and now we're near the departure date and can't reapply in time.

When I tried explaining the situation, the women on the phone basically said "it's not our fault, and if you continue to argue I'll just deny it right now. Consider yourself lucky that we're letting you bring the proof of insurance documents later this week."

So, theoretically, if we bring the official insurance letter (which I have), and they accept it, we can get approved in time. My concern is that my wife went the last time w/out me to pick up her visa (before we found out about the issue) and they never gave her a receipt, which according to the nasty woman, we need to continue the process.

I've heard of people getting across boarders (legally) without a visa in some cases, with proper documentation (and extra stuff like more thorough searches at the gate), but they were US citizens, and she's not. We were ready with (we thought) all necessary documents, and we were patient and polite.. I can't believe what .......s they're being for no reason.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

If possible just go to the consulate yourself - you will need an appointment!!!

http://www.consnewyork.esteri.it/Consolato_NewYork

http://www.consnewyork.esteri.it/Con...eca_in_italia/

CorporalMaxSterling

Thank you, but that's where we went, and the next available appointment is not until the 23rd - almost a week after our departure =/

GUWonder

That is what I would indeed do myself, if in the OP's shoes.

Private sector visa facilitation agencies? I try to avoid them as much as possible. These services, even the supposedly good ones, tend to be the major fail point -- or magnify the fail point -- time and time again. It's such that I try to avoid them as much as possible.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

You might look at other consulates like in Washington DC. I recently flew from SLC->SFO to pick up a Visa that could not be done via the mail.

In the mean time I would suggest your wife makes arrangements to plant her self at the agency to get her visa in an expedited fashion while you make arrangements on how to postpone the trip. Good luck.

seawolf

Is she Chinese citizen as in Mainland China or Chinese citizen as in Hong Kong? If she has a HKSAR passport, a visa is not required for visiting Italy for tourism.

CorporalMaxSterling

Nah, Shenzen. Very close to HK, but not quite =/

CorporalMaxSterling

UPDATE: We got it!

After quite a bit of nasty attitudes from the representatives, they approved the new insurance letter + we also bought traveler's insurance as an added measure. What a pain in the .... Thanks for all of your feedback!