Passports and Visas

So, now that you have my back story, lets talk about what you need to do first. Chances are your military member just told you that you are moving overseas and you have started the mad dash for information. One of the first things you will want to do is get military issued passports and visas for everyone in your family that will be moving with you, with the exception of the military member. (They typically can travel to their next duty station with just their military ID.) Getting your passports and visas can be done by visiting your current base's passport office with a copy of your military orders. If you don't have your orders yet, they may still be able to help but typically they like to have your orders so they can send in everything at once.

The process of getting a passport isn't very difficult as much as it is time consuming. After you complete the paperwork and the passport personnel send it in, it can take up to 6 weeks to get your passport sent to you. Once this is done, you will then need to complete a visa. This visa is processed by Italy to allow you to come here and live. Without the visa, you typically are not allowed to PCS so make sure you do this shortly after getting your military issued passport. The paperwork for the visa should be given to you by the base passport personnel and is a little bit more complex so please make sure to have the base passport personnel help you complete it. Once filled out, they will send it to the Italian Consulate to be reviewed and then issue your visa directly to you by US mail. It will arrive as part of your military issued passport on one of the pages in your passport and should be valid for typically one year. (Once you get to Italy you will be briefed on extending your visa to a "Soggiorno" which will allow you access in and out of the country for as long as your orders are valid in Italy.

Additionally, if you plan to travel while being stationed in Europe, you will need to get regular tourist passports for you and your family, including the military member. These can be completed online at http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html or you can see if your base passport personnel office can help as well. The cost for adult passports is around $136 each and they can take longer than the military ones to be issued so definitely try and get these done early. Without a tourist passport, you will not be able to travel outside of Italy. Though some do travel on personal time using their military issued passport, it is not wise and could cause some hiccups in your future travels. As I am sure many have been briefed on if you have ever watched the Armed Forces Network (AFN) TV broadcasts, when you are on personal time you want to blend in as much as possible and not raise attention to yourself as an affiliate of the US military.

Another helpful note, when you are traveling in Europe it also wise to carry both your military issued and tourist passports along with a copy of your orders. This is so that when you pass through other countries and try to get back to Italy, you won't be questioned on why you are in the country to begin with. When asked to show your passport in another country, always give them your tourist passport first and then if they begin to give you funny looks give them your military issued one as well. Typically this happens when they can't figure out how the heck you got in to Europe in the first place because your military issued passport will carry the stamp of your initial landing into Europe. Also, when showing ID for something while traveling, always give them your stateside license rather than your military ID. My husband has a bad habit of always showing his military ID when asked for proof of age and it drives me crazy. I also had him remove the air force magnet off the back of our car so that we blend in more.