Starting tomorrow Italian embassies and consulates around the world will employ a new IT system that allows for the immediate verification of eventual impediments and reduces waiting times for passports issued to Italian citizens residing abroad.
“Italians abroad are a unique resource to be both tapped and protected, and the government is especially concerned with their needs”, asserted Minister for Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi, underscoring that the measure is part of the foreign ministry’s general effort toward administrative simplification, innovation and cost-containment.
This new programme, created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior and the State Mint, shrinks waiting times from the present 15-30 days to a just few minutes for the issuance of a passport, and was installed well in advance of the summer holiday period when demand for passports reaches its peak.
Satisfying that demand is a major component in the activities of the diplomatic-consular network, which issued over 217,000 out of the total 1,437,000 passports issued by the Italian State in 2011.
