Italian tourist visa at the Philadelphia consulate

Our overall experience in getting an Italian Tourist visa with the Italian consulate in Philadelphia was fairly smooth and quick. My wife received the visa in a couple of days. Following is a list of what we took with us for the visa application:
  • Visa application form
  • The applicable visa fees. I paid in cash( exact change is preferable) but they do accept money orders as well.
  • A letter from her employer stating her employment status, her salary and that she has been approved for the vacation time period in question.
  • Bank statements. This is required to prove that you are financially able to take care of yourself when in Italy. I took electronic statements from my bank's website and that was sufficient.
  • Medical insurance. This is to prove that you will have medical insurance when in Italy. My wife's medical insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield, confirmed that they would provide coverage when outside of U.S.A., however they dragged their feet on sending a signed letter stating the same. So, I went online to www.quotewright.com and was able to buy an insurance for around $7 that met the requirements stated on the Italian consulate website.
  • A pre-paid, "Express mail" envelope from USPS for them to send back your passport. I went with "Express mail" instead of "Priority mail" because it provides full tracking as opposed to Priority mail's delivery confirmation.
    You can choose to pickup the passport in person if that's convenient for you.
  • They do want to see a return ticket as well as hotel bookings. I made those arrangements before going to apply and showed them a print out of my airline and hotel booking confirmations.
Additional Notes:
  • It took 2 days to receive the visa. They mailed it back the very next day after we applied and we received it the day after since I had opted for "Express Mail" and lived near Philadelphia.
  • The actual process of going over the application was quick but due to the number of folks before us, we spent about 1.5 hours in the consulate.
  • Consulate website for more information: http://www.consfiladelfia.esteri.it/Consolato_Filadelfia

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