Moving to Rome

I had been in Malta for two years and it was time to renew my residency. I went to Identity Malta and asked about renewing my self sufficiency status. They said no problem, just come in about six weeks before it expires (21 January). They gave me the same form I initially used and sent me on my way. The first week in December I appeared with the requested paperwork. The person handed me a different checklist and said I needed additional documentation. I said that's not the form that you gave me a month ago. Nor is that the documentation requested on your website. She said well I don't know anything about that but this is what you need. I said (in the nicest way possible) this is so typical that I've wasted an entire day. I showed up with the documentation you requested, both in person and clearly listed on the website, only to be told it was wrong. She said I'm sorry, gave me her email address and said I could make an appointment when I came back. Of course she never answered the many emails I later sent. It took about 2 weeks to gather the new documentation when I noticed the form was for a different scheme, called Global Residency. Under this scheme I would have to pay a €6000 fee and pay at least €15,000 in taxes. Uh, no!! I spoke to another American friend of mine, Robin, also trying to renew her residency and she was told that program no longer existed. Time to go back to Identity Malta for some answers.

We asked for an expert on the issue of residency, who we then flooded with questions. He confirmed what Robin had said, the self sufficiency program no longer existed. We had two options, Global Residency (tax scheme) or Malta Residency and Visa Program (MSVP or investor scheme)). Under MSVP I would have to buy property worth €320,000, pay a €5,500 non refundable application fee, invest €30,000 for at least 5 years and have an annual income of €100,000. Of course the details of both programs are different depending on which government web site you look at or which government agency you ask. Even the so called residency expert didn't know anything about it, he sent us to a completely different office. When I explained that I had asked about renewing self sufficiency less than a month ago I was told no problem. When I came back with the requested documentation, I was told I needed more documentation, not that the program had been terminated. He took both of our identity cards and disappeared. He eventually came back with the young lady that I had previously spoken to. They both said self sufficiency doesn't exist, there are only two ways for a non-EU citizen to remain in Malta. One is the tax scheme the other is the investor scheme. Their attitude was the oh so common Maltese phrase mela. Which in this case basically means, oh who cares, it doesn't affect me and is not my problem. Unbelievable, one month before my residency expires I need to move to another country. Oh and by the way, that month is December, when offices are closed for at least a week. That really throws a kink in my plan! Many people were so upset by the conflicting information given, they strongly urged me to contact the newspaper, which I did. After the article came out, several people contacted me with offers of assistance, including a former minister, but I had already made up my mind to go. Let me be perfectly clear at why I was angry. Not because the self sufficiency program no longer existed, but because I was assured renewing was no problem on at least 2 occasions when I specifically asked about it. Even now, Identity Malta can't decided if the program no longer exists, or is it just not renewable. The reporter contacted them for the story and they said the program was still valid and I should have no problem renewing.  http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170115/local/ive-basically-been-kicked-out-of-the-country-us-expat.636527  

I had been thinking about Plan B; either Berlin or Rome. When it became clear I couldn't stay, I decided on Rome. It was closer to Malta, where Mic would be remaining, plus it's much warmer than Berlin. So on 1 January 2017 I flew to Rome, alone. Mic of course wanted to come, but he was in the middle of a business deal requiring him to stay in Malta for at least a few more years. We decided the separation wouldn't be too bad since we were only about 1 1.5 hours away by air and we would continue our trips around Europe as well. Several of our friends in Malta have long distance relationships and they all seem to make it work. We figured, so could we. So far, its working out OK.

Before leaving, I went to the Italian Embassy in Malta for more information. I was told the embassy was just for Italian citizens, they had nothing for me. I did some online research and it sounded like a pretty simple process. I go to Rome, fill out a permesso di soggiorno kit from the post office within 7 days, send it in and wait for an interview with immigration. Well, I missed the part were I needed a visa. To be fair, it said IF you need a visa, which as a US citizen I didn't think I did. I spent the first 3 days in Rome just figuring that out. Someone from an expat Facebook page was kind enough to send me an English version of the kit, with really good, detailed instructions. I was lucky that being a resident of Malta, for at least 2 more weeks, meant I could get the visa from there instead of having to go back to the US, where it could take months. To make a long story short, I called an Italian friend in Malta, who contacted the Italian Embassy and the correct person this time, and I had my Visa in 1 day. I found a great apartment and had my stuff shipped from Malta, and I now live in Rome.


It has been a challenge, leaving Mic and all my friends on such short notice. Bureaucracy in Rome is just as frustrating as anywhere else, mainly of course because I do not speak Italian. Yet. The process, once I had my visa, really was that simple. I filled out the paperwork, sent it in and waited for my appointment. After skimming through my paperwork, they took my fingerprints and 30 days later I am an Italian resident. One thing that was a little more difficult, I needed a tax ID. Without this, called a codice fiscale, you basically can't pay your bills, open a bank account, get cable or wifi. As with all things government, I arrived a the office, took a number and waited, waited, waited. Luckily the clerk spoke English. He barely looked at my form and said you sure have a lot of papers here. I told him I didn't know what he would need, so I brought it all. He stapled it all to the form without even looking at it, then started going through my passport. He said he just loved all the pictures in the American Passport, handed me my tax number and said the card would come in a week, which it did. I took my new card to the post office, where you can get a version of a bank account so you can pay bills. She looked at my passport and my codice fiscale and said this is not you. I looked at both and said, uh yes it is. She said my passport had my middle name, but the codice fiscale didn't. Too bad the tax clerk was more interested in my passport drawings than the form! Oh my, back to the tax office, where this clerk spoke no English. Sadly, I'm not doing too well learning Italian. All I could make out was US Embassy, to which I replied, no US Embassy. I used my 'phone a friend option' who said even though she had my passport, the exact same document I used to get the card, she didn't know if I was the same person. No amount of pleading or arguing over speaker phone was going to change her mind, so I headed over the the US Embassy. Mind you each of these little adventure consumes most of a day. I paid $50 for a form that says, yes, I am the person on the passport. I'm so disgusted with the whole thing, I have not gone back to the tax office, but will next week.

I have been trying to study Italian at home, but it's pretty slow going. I decided what I needed was an intensive course. I found a class that met for 3 hours a day and signed up for 2 weeks The first week was great! We had a wonderful mix of students, from Sweden, Spain, the UK, a Ukrainian from Germany, Brazil and the US. We all hit it off great, most of us even hanging out after school. The teacher was fantastic. She only spoke in Italian and I swear would be the all time charades champion of the world. She could act out almost any word or concept and we all got it immediately. She was very high energy and made the class fun. As far as learning, I did learn quite a bit. I understand the grammar rules and I picked up quite a few useful phrases. The 2nd week was a bit tougher. I understood the lessons and the homework was pretty easy, I simply couldn't recall the words fast enough to have a conversation, which is still the case. It was very frustrating, especially since the rest of the class seemed to be doing so much better. I told them all, learn things when you're young. Getting old sucks! My classmates were a sweet group of young girls, who judging from their Facebook posts, still all hang out together. Sadly, I don't get to see them as I've very busy since I finished class. I found a small school down the street from me who is offering private lessons, which myself and another American may start in June. The best part, one of my favorite classmates from the Italian class will be working there teaching English.

And now for an update on my shoulder. As you may recall, I broke it while visiting Torgon, Switzerland. You can go back and read all about it, if you missed it. The next blog post is about going to Germany for surgery. Once I was cleared, I went back to Malta and that's where all the problems started. 3 weeks after surgery I started physical therapy, or physio as they call it here. At my 2nd session, the therapist was much too aggressive and I ended up in the ER with horrible pain. It was all downhill from there. Up to that point, from the time I broke it until my second physio session, I had almost no pain at all. Apparently the therapist put some micro tears in the bicep muscle. Any bending of my arm at all, causing my bicep muscle to flex, caused me intense pain. I now had even more limited mobility because my arm had to be straight at all times. No typing, so the blogs stopped all together. The intense pain persisted up until mid January. By this time, I was in Rome and close to the military base so I went there for help. (I had seen a few doctors in Malta; they gave my Motrin.) The ortho I saw said he wasn't sure what the problem was, he suspected frozen shoulder or nerve damage or both. He said it would require a specialist in shoulders and advised I go back to Germany, which I did. The funny thing was, a few days before this appointment, the pain suddenly stopped. In Malta, the assumption was nerve problems that would hopefully be OK once the substantial swelling subsided. Sure enough, the swelling went down and the pain went away. Of course I never did any physio except try some unsuccessful pain reducing treatments. That physio was wonderful, she was as baffled as everyone else as to why the pain was so bad. 4 months after surgery and I still couldn't move my arm, I though Dr. Toric would read me the riot act for not doing physio. He did not. He was quite understanding and said sure enough, its frozen shoulder. The 3 stages are freezing (lots of pain), frozen (no pain but no movement) and thawing, (where the ligaments and tissue may be stretched to allow movement again). That's where I am now, the thawing stage. I found a really great physio here in Rome and once or twice a week, I literally just lay on the table while he stretches my arm in different directions. Recovery from frozen shoulder typically takes 12 to 18 months to heal. Dr. Toric said often, physio does no good and we are left with no option but surgery. In my case, I'm making great progress; I've gone from about 30% range of motion to almost 70%, so I feel really lucky.

I really miss having pets, so I decided to start a pet sitting service. I'm like grandma, I get to spoil them rotten, then go home to a quiet house. As much as I miss having a dog, another part of me loves the freedom. It's so nice to be out and about all day, then get a call from a friend to go to dinner. Always before I would have to plan my day around going home to let the dog out. Now I can just keep going. I admit the money is nice too, Rome is much more expensive then Malta. It also allows me to travel, since I go to their house and stay.   

The expat community here in Rome is very different then Malta, where most of my friends were retirees and came from all over the world. I knew very few Americans. In Rome it seems everyone I meet is an American, and everyone is younger and still working. I have one good friend who is Swedish and one who is Australian Italian. All the rest are American. I love them and am grateful to have friends, don't get me wrong, but I miss the multicultural experience of Malta. One friend Caron, is a tour guide with her own company. Next year she is leading a small tour on an extended trip to Thailand and I'm going. She and I have decided after the tour, we will stay there for maybe 2-3 months and travel around Asia. No details yet, but life is always an adventure!

I have also started uploading my photos to shutterstock, a website where you sell your pictures. Everyone tells me my photos are so good, why not try to turn a hobby into cash? So far I've sold two pictures, does that make me a professional? The pictures on this post are some of my favorites, but rejected due to 'noise' or focus. You can check out my portfollio here. http://shutterstock.com/g/lisa+crawford

I guess that about catches everyone up with what I'm doing these days. I'll get back to my regular blog posts about trips.