Traveling to Germany and schengen area is allowed with expired permit and poste intalian receipt (permesso+ricevuta)

The new circular published on http://www.interno.it/
"Dal 1° agosto 2008 al 31 gennaio 2009 i cittadini in attesa di regolarizzazione del permesso di soggiorno possono transitare nell’area Schengen"
according to this new circular, starting from 1st AUG 2008 to 31 Jan 2009, one can transit via schengen countries while going to their home country with the expired permit and ricevuta along with a passport.

Update: Recently I found on the Fragomen site, which says that "Both first time and renewal applicants may travel to Schengen countries if they obtain a temporary travel residence permit directly from their local police station (Questura)."

Please do not believe this Fragmon website, Now I have found the link on the Official Journal of the European Union, where the poste italiana ricevuta along with the expired residence permit (permesso di soggiorno) is allowed as a residence permit to travel to schengen states/ countries.

The Update of the list of residence permits has been Published and can be downloaded from the following link:
In ENglish
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:207:0012:0013:EN:PDF
In Italian
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:207:0012:0013:IT:PDF

In All EU language
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?mode=dbl&lang=en&lng1=en,it&lng2=bg,cs,da,de,el,en,es,et,fi,fr,hu,it,lt,lv,mt,nl,pl,pt,ro,sk,sl,sv,&val=477005:cs&page=1&hwords=

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/ is the official european union documentation server or gateway to the EU law which givens the online access to European Union law and is updated regularly.

You can find this text in this article

ITALY
Additional type of residence permit
— Special Italian Post Office receipt for residence permit renewal application The use of the Special Italian Post Office receipt is possible exclusively in conjunction with the passport of the alien and the expired residence permit. This receipt will be used from 1 August 2008 until 31 January 2009.

Now you can take the printout of this pdf to avoid any confusion.

This article is exclusively for Update of the list of residence permits referred to in Article 2(15) of Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (OJ C 247, 13.10.2006, p. 1, OJ C 153, 6.7.2007, p. 5, OJ C 192, 18.8.2007, p. 11, OJ C 271, 14.11.2007, p. 14, OJ C 57, 1.3.2008, p. 31, OJ C 134, 31.5.2008, p. 14)

Article 2(15) of Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament
15. ‘residence permit’ means:
(a) all residence permits issued by the Member States according to the uniform format laid down by Council Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002 of 13 June 2002 laying down a uniform format for residence permits for thirdcountry nationals (2);
(b) all other documents issued by a Member State to thirdcountry
nationals authorising a stay in, or re-entry into, its territory, with the exception of temporary permits issued pending examination of a first application for a residence permit as referred to in point (a) or an application for asylum;


Before this article on EU website, it was little bit confusing, whether this new circular allow us to travel to schengen countries or not. To avoid further confusion. I wrote an email to German embassy. At first reply they wrote to me that " unfortunately I have to inform you that the new circular only speaks about transit via Schengen countries on the way to your home country, not about business, holiday or family visit visa without leaving the Schengen area."

After few days, I received one mail from German embassy, Rome, which says that now german embassy has accepted this circular ans also allowed the foreigners in Italy having applied for their renewal of permesso can travel to Germany for a short visit (upto 90 days in every 180 days). Here is the mail

============================
Dear Sir

About two weeks ago we were informed by Italian officials, that, in contradiction to the new circular given by the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the postal receipt and the old Italian residence permit should also allow to go for short visits to other Schengen members. This information was given to us on demand and not circulated by Italian officials.

We verified the information, with the German border police, which was also not informed by the Italian authorities about the new regulations. Finally the German Ministry for Internal Affairs decided to accept the new Italian regulation, though it had not been published the correct way.
About a week ago the German Officials send out an order to all border controll postings, to accept the old Italian residence permit together with the Postal receipt and a valid passport as a valid travel document to enter Germany.

My reply to you was dated August 6th, so some time before the new regulation came out. By then the information was complete and correct.
I'm sorry that confusion is caused but I want to reiterate , that it is not the German authorities taking one decision and communicating another.

Sincerely
b.o.
Jana Kirch


Generalkonsulat der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Consolato Generale della Repubblica Federale di Germania
I - Via Solferino 40, 20121 Milano
Tel: 0039 02 62311030
Fax: 0039 02 6554213
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Its a good news for US, now enjoy travelling to schengen coutries with your expired permit.

If you want the copy of the mail, please leave your email ID, I will forward it to you.