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kacprzaka2
  7/19/2018 16:23 EST

Hi guys, I am reaching out again as I am really struggling on how to get planning for my move. I am a 32 year old from Chicago planning on moving to Rome with my boyfriend in May. (only 10 months away).
I was born and raised in Poland but got my American citizenship about 2 years ago. I have a valid Polish and American passport. My boyfriend on the other hand, only has U.S. citzenship. His great-grandparents immigrated here from Sicily. (not sure if this helps his case).

Anyway, from my understanding. I can legally move to Italy without a visa or sponsorship using my Polish passport. How does my boyfriend go about starting his process to be able to go and live/work there legally?

Additionally, we both plan on moving there without having jobs there. We are bringing our savings (approx. $15,000 USD.) Was hoping to maybe start off with an airbnb situation until we can figure out where to rent etc. When we get there the goal is to pick up a job in a bar/restaurant or even better for a travel company or tour company. My boyfriend and I both have hospitality and travel/tourism backgrounds.

This is our dream and we want to make it happen despite any challenges. Guys, any info or direction would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance

HenryGiovanni
  7/19/2018 17:49 EST

Hi kacprzaka2,
If you are struggling to start, with only ten months to go, then now is a good time to make things happen.

Others on this site can answer your citizenship questions far better than I can, and it sounds (to me) like it's not a huge problem, so I'll start on the technical stuff of starting.

First: make a list. Cut all large jobs into smaller segments. Put a check-box next to each item on the list; mine are on the left, where I start reading. Be sure to use this list and check things off as you do them. Get in the habit of doing it each night (or morning, over coffee). The main thing is to do it. You will find that the jobs take care of themselves if you whittle away at the small stuff.

What to put on the list?
Everything!
Including:
-Researching where you will move to;

-What to do with your "stuff";

-What to do with your pets (bring them, but know the rules, so put down "Research rules for pets" too);

-Plane tickets; who, what, when. If you have pets, do this only after you research the pet rules.

-Banking matters (opening, closing, consolidating, changing, accounts);

-Insurance: home, car, renter, etc;

-What to do with your car, and how it's going to get done;

-Documents in order? What's needed? From whom? Why? Where? Cost? Time needed? Etc.

-List of things you will need to do here, in advance of moving here. (ie- registering, filing docs, finding personnel to help you, such as Notaio, rental agent, etc).

-Notification of all service providers (gas, electric, cell phone, water, internet, etc);

-Paying bills (try to get them all paid off in advance, if you can).

This is only a partial list of things you need to do; you will know your own needs better than me. Be sure to break these down into bite-size bits so you can feel like you are making progress when you check those boxes. Stick with it and you will make progress, even without noticing it.

One last bit of advice: if this is your dream, then do it now. You don't want to be sitting in a rocker sometime in the future wondering why you didn't take that golden chance when it was offered to you. Better to know what your life would have looked like if you had taken the chance, so take it and tell us later how it all worked out!

You might even break down your dream and put it on your list, too. Seems like the list is the dream, and no list = no dream, but do what works for you. Maybe just title the list as your dream, or something. But don't do nothing. Changing countries is a lot of work, so start right now.

Best of luck to both of you.
Cheers, John.

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kacprzaka2
  7/19/2018 17:56 EST

John - Thank you!!! All very super helpful tips. I appreciate them all. I started a list already and have most of these things on there. I decided recently that I am going to leave my dog behind. (not ideal but he will stay with my family while I am gone). I figured bringing a dog along will just complicate things and make me feel trapped. While in Italy I would love to experience other countries in Europe and i think having the dog will just make that difficult. Regarding my car, i plan on selling it, it isnt worth much and this should be fairly easy to do. Our stuff is going to go into storage, so have that part figured out as well. I think the jobs and living situation are our biggest challenge. Along with neither of us speaking a word of Italian haha. Thanks again John, appreciate the advice and info.

Cheers.

Sergios
  7/20/2018 01:03 EST

You may want to review this:
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/family-residence-rights/partners/index_en.htm

Sergios
  7/20/2018 01:15 EST

A minimal reading of what I linked it appears that you will have to establish residency first in Poland and then, once that is done, you may move, with your partner, to other eu countries, based on how they consider your partner. On the other hand, your partner has the right to move to Italy for the purpose of having his citizenship recognized. You need to research how your entry into Italy, with a Polish passport but without a transfer of eu residency, will be handled. However, regardless of you status, if you were a spouse, you would have the right to be with your partner. I'm not sure if that applies to partners.

HenryGiovanni
  7/20/2018 03:48 EST

Hi kacprzaka2,
Good to hear you've already started. Be sure to put the list on WORD or something so you can update it; I went through many versions as I added new things to the list.

Segment the list by job, meaning all things about documents are under one heading, things about cutting off services are under one heading, all car stuff (including notification of DMV) is under one heading. You get the idea. For my house, I put all things into departments by rooms, then had other sections for docs, cars, insurance, banking, etc..

Then be sure, and this is important, to break those jobs down. Sometimes my list showed making one phone call to this or that company. You will get discouraged. Some days you will need the "easy" stuff to cross off in order to make yourself feel a bit better again, like things are getting accomplished. This is really important for sanity, so break down those jobs.

All bridges, when seen in the distance, are long. They will obviously take a lot of effort to cross. By cutting the jobs (bridges) into smaller sections, you are crossing that long bridge (your move to Italy) by bits. When you finally come to that last bit, it is often incredibly short, will take almost no effort to cross, and you will wonder why you even bothered to worry about it. However, had you failed to do the small jobs one at a time, that same bridge would have remained very long when you finally reached it.

Hope this helps.

I see that Sergios posted with the citizenship stuff. He knows that stuff way better than I do. Pay attention to his info.

Cheers, John.

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