Consulate General of Italy

**This review is only for citizenship services** By definition, Consulate General of Italy "assistance" is the help and advice provided by the diplomatic agents of Italy to Italian citizens in Canada. It is clear to me and many, many others (based on the below user 1-star reviews and negative comments) that Canadian citizens legally and earnestly seeking dual-citizenship are treated as SECOND CLASS CITIZENS and subject to: 1) harassment; 2) misinformation; and 3) shocking and downright shameful appointment wait times. Today - October 1, 2017 - the official website informs users that salaried employees are unavailable to schedule Italian citizenship meetings until September 2019 (!!). The system is appalling, pitiful and a total sham; I must underscore the fact that rather than scheduling an ambiguous meeting with this inefficient office in Toronto, some people are actually better off legally residing in Italy and becoming naturalized Italian citizens. I repeat - some people will have their paperwork processed faster and more efficiently if they actually RELOCATE TO ITALY. I think that tells us a great deal about the state of this office, and how it runs its operations. To anyone pursuing Italian citizenship through this office: I wish you great luck, courage, stamina, and patience.. you will need them all to persevere in spite of office inefficiencies and to achieve your citizenship goal. And to the staff: it is time to action what you already know - you can and should be providing better services to the people of Toronto. I would be pleased to provide you with additional in-person feedback. Please direct message me, or reply to this review to set up a meeting. I should have availability in October 2019.
1 7 years ago (01-10-2017)

My experience here was great. All time slots were full when I was trying to book an appointment two weeks before my departure date. But my friend had an appointment and on the day of her appointment she suggested I could go with her and they might let me in. I didn't prepare for any documents before since I didn't even have an appointment. We gathered these documents 1 hour before the appointment and I took the photo on the way to the consulate. I told the security I didn't have an appointment but I really had to get the visa. The security was super nice. She said I could try and let me in. I explained my situation to the interviewer and asked if I could apply for a visa. He was super nice and said "Anything is possible". He granted me to submit my application after everyone else is done. I only printed my transaction history because I didn't have time to go to the bank. He was so generous and said I could bring my bank statement when I pick up my passport (he even approved the application of someone with an expired Canadian visa). It was one week before my departure and the processing time was 15 days according to their website. I thought I would have to reschedule my flight, but surprisingly the interviewer told me to pick up after 3 days. And they didn't charge anything because it was a student visa.
5 7 years ago (22-07-2017)

BE AWARE !!! KNOW YOUR RIGHTS BEFORE WALKING INSIDE THE ITALIAN CONSOLATE Verbal harassment,racist comments , misinformation and violation of the Human rights these is some of the things that you may have to put up with . A Proud Italian Citizen living in Canada As I have promise to the Mr Console I will send a letter to every site out there so that everyone can read what kind of peoples are running the Italian Consulate . I would love to post the original email but unfortunately google does not allow to use too many words so I will keep it short . We have drove 2 hours to get to Toronto to apply for a tourist visa for my wife which is a Srilankan citizen and she has being registered at the Italian Consolate for 8 years has my wife .We also have three children`s which they all hold an Italian Passport. The Vice Console Which was the clark of the visa office of the day and who claimed to have 20 years experience in the field ,when we have finally arrived at the little window of his visa office , he requested a list of documents that are totally ILLEGAL to ask to a spose of an Italian Citizen. DocumentS like banks statements ,travel insurance and round trip tickets. Those documents are only required if you are visiting the Shenghen Area When if you are not married with an European Citizen . We have travelled to Spain two years ago and the Spanish Consulate of Toronto issued a visa in one week free of charge and with the only request of bringing to them a copy of the marriage certificate . This accident did occurred in the past at the same office but the issue was fixed right away when I have showed them a document downloaded for The European Commission on what a consulate can ask and what they cannot ask to a Non- EU spouse .At that time they have promised us that all the employees were going to be trained better on the matter . Our Mr Vice Console was extremely rude a disinformed but he lost his cool yelling at me saying that I don`t know anything and that He was the expert in the matter which was fine to me but when he called my wife`s name "Scimmia " traslate into Monkey ,then, I have knew that that man was not only rude but he was a big racist . He called Her Monkey because she was born in Srilanka and because she is a brown person . My wife told me not to do doing anything otherwise our Mr Vice Console he was never going to assist us with our visa application. I DID NOT CARE AT ALL. I KNEW MY RIGHTS AND I KNEW THAT I COULD FIGHT BACK VERY WELL. I have confronted him and told him that he was RACIST and that what He was doing was an ACT of VIOLATION of HUMAN RIGHTS . We have left the visa office and moved to the waiting room just to calm down our self . We have told to the super professional ladies at the citizenship office that their Vice Console was RUDE ,RACIST and not helpful with anything . On the way out of the building the Vice Console was waiting for Us along with other colleagues ready to yell at us that his final decision regarding our application was that he was only requiring an Airline ticket from us in order for him to accepting our visa request . I did not want to take anymore verbal abusing from this man so when I have replayed to him on how come he was changing the cards on the table ,the abuse continued so badly that the security guard and of his colleague had to stop him. I HAVE PROMISE TO HIM AND ALL THE OTHERS WITNESSES THAT THEY WIL HEAR FROM ME AGAIN AND THAT A FORMAL COMPLAIN WILL BE SENT EVERYWHERE FROM RADIO ,TV ITALIAN AND CANADIAN BROADCASTER ETC... SO NOBODY ELSE DESERVE TO EXPERIENCE WHAT WE DID. I HOPE THAT SOMEBODY WILL KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THE SITUATION BECAUSE NO A WORD CAME OUT OF THE CONSOLATE AS YET . I`M WAITING PATIENTLY FOR A RESPOND TO MY COMPLAINTS . LIKE THE OTHER GENTLEMAN ON THE OTHER REVIEW I`M OPEN FOR A MEETING WITH THE CONSOLE .
1 7 years ago (09-01-2018)

Great service. My application was incomplete and they allowed me to email the missing document later. Got my visa in two weeks by mail.
5 7 years ago (27-11-2017)

I was there today with my mom to renew her passport.... the staff were friendly and the service was fast.... it took under 1 hour from when we got there to when we left... we were lucky that only 3 people were ahead of us...
5 7 years ago (08-09-2017)