h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do these moderators keep removing URLs. If people reference them, there must be a reason. How am I supposed to see for myself? I could search for the same information. But it would be much easier to just click the link someone else found. I must say I don't understand.

If that is the case a lot of the European counties are moving far behind the pace on getting the European community up to the level that has been ratified in treaties. I know for a fact that any EU citizen does not require a permit to work in the UK for example. But then the UK dispite being Euro sceptical has always been one of the best nations in getting EU legislation ratified by our own Parliament once it has been passed into legislation.

Thank you kindly for the comment.
I'm going to keep my article aimed at an American privilege level. If I keep it based on my own personal experience, then it retains its "streetwise" authenticity of information, which is what the Guide is all about. If there's anyone out there who knows a whole lot about this subject from an EU citizen's point of view, then you are heartily invited to comment, or to contact the editor after the article is approved. While I was struggling to avoid being an illegal alien in italy, I heard lots of contradictory information from different sources; the foreigner office in the city hall of Carrara would tell me one thing, and the US embassy in Rome would tell me quite another. For this reason I hesitate to put forth information that I haven't confirmed with personal experience.

Hi i.v.
I found the new thread - thanks for the pointer!

As you can see, DD's understanding was the same as mine - there's no actual limit on your length of stay if you're an EU citizen.

However, most European countries have rules about reporting your address to the local government or police (these apply even to their own nationals). Registration as a foreigner, even an EU one, may require proof that you have somewhere to stay; that you have a job; and that you have health insurance - these are to ensure that you don't get "welfare migrants" within Europe.

I agree with all the above comments that this is an excellent article, though I might quibble about certain sentences, eg
"Leaving Italy means also eaving the EU" implies the EU is contained within Italy! I'd say "It is not enough simply to leave Italy; you must also leave the EU".
"Questura is the name of an Italian police station" - implies it is one specific place. It should read "Questura is a type of Italian police station" or "Questura is the Italian for police station" - it's not clear which is the case.

Anyway, here's hoping for good news soon on this one.

GVI

Thanks, GVI!

I asked around, got some feedback from some of my EU co-foreigners, and amended that hideous gap in the article. It should be accurate now, and provide useful information to just about everybody.

Thanks also for the quibbles, too. There were other sentences that needed rewording, as well. In all, I've given the thing a good polishing. Will it shine enough to attract the attention of an editor?

IMHO there are only miiiiinor things left to deal with:

need to leave *the* Italy and re-enter -- drop 'the'
Ideally, you should get both *and* exit -- it's an 'an'
Be sure ** do everything -- insert 'to'

'Permesso di Soggiorno (see below)' -- you can get rid of all the '(see below)'-s plus Footnote 3 if you attach '(Permit to Stay)' into the first occurrence.

"Proof of insurance" -- please tell which, I could guess it's not the one which covers household items against fire, but...?

And it *does* shine!

A star that shines this bright cannot long be ignored...

and this one hasn't been. The Editors were very impressed to see such useful information, and have sent it forward to the next stage in the process, which is the sub-editing. That should take just a few weeks (or less!), then your article will join the queue for release as part of the Edited Guide - at which point you will receive a congratulatory e-mail.

In the meantime, you'll find you can't edit the article further: if you can confirm in this thread whether you meant (as I suspect) health insurance, or maybe some kind of 3rd party liability insurance (quite common in Holland, from personal experience), the sub-ed can include it in the final copy.

Thanks for contributing to the Guide, and congratulations!

GVI

didn't I say so?

Editorial Note: This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review forum because this entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

If they have not been along already, the Scout who recommended your entry will post here soon, to let you know what happens next. Meanwhile you can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!