Philly Consulate Website

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

Ciao Tutti,

In my unsuccessful attempts to get a chance to present my doc's for citizenship at the Philly consulate, I occasionally go on their website in the largely futile hopes of finding the online appointment maker working. I do this every once in a while.

Today, the entire Philly website is down. Odd and a bit disconcerting considering the prevalent closure rumors.

Anyone have any idea if the Philly consulate is still out there?

Grazie.

[beauac]

Website doesnt work for me. Wouldnt it be better for you if it closed down, then youd be in a different jurisdiction with appointments.

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

I like the way you think.

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

The site is back up. I guess it was just maintenance or something. Oh well.

[jennabet]

I find it difficult to believe that the Philly Consulate will ever close. It is probably just overwhelmed with business.

As of 1990, the US Census Bureau claims at least one of every ten Americans has Italian blood and the number of descendants of Italian immigrants is 26 million.

The most Italian city in America is New York with 1,882,396 inhibitants of Italian origin, followed by Philadelphia (497,721), Chicago (492,158), Boston (485,761), Pittsburgh (316,351), Los Angeles/Long Beach (308,409), Detroit (280,051).

The State with the most Italian-Americans is New York (2.9 million) followed by California and New Jersey (1.5 million each), Pennsylvania (1.4 million), Massachusetts (845,000), Florida (800,000), Illinois (730,000), Ohio (640,000), Connecticut (630,000), Michigan (412,000).

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

I don't know, supposedly with the hard economic times, the foreign ministry is supposed to close a bunch of consulates around the world and philly was on the list. But, as you pointed out, it is hard to see them closing a consulate that is so busy. All their appts are taken already for 2011, so you'd think that would tend to make a case for keeping the consulate around.

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

Now the site is down again! First, they can't even schedule an appt now they can't keep the website functioning. It does make one wonder if they'll stay open. I'm not sure if I'm better off hoping they stay open or close at this point.

[timo]

Now the site is down again! First, they can't even schedule an appt now they can't keep the website functioning. It does make one wonder if they'll stay open. I'm not sure if I'm better off hoping they stay open or close at this point.

If you're expecting 24x7x365 and 99.99% uptime, you might reconsider the whole cittadinanza thing Surely you know the story of the Americans rolling into Rome with their fancy typewriters and sliding drawer filing cabinets at the end of WW2, and the Italian office equipment that put those typewriters to shame for its sheer beauty and simplicity?

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

Still 5 months to just schedule an appt? That seems excessive, even for a gov't agency, no?

[timo]

Still 5 months to just schedule an appt? That seems excessive, even for a gov't agency, no?

High demand, finite resources.

Maybe we should all just get on a steamship in steerage class and show up en masse?

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

Yeah, nothing compared to what the GGF went through to get US citizenship.

[DeFilippis78]

I hope they dont close. My appt is in June. But I never scheduled it through their "appt maker" because it never worked. I sent them an email and they responded. And still by the time I walk in there it will have been a 15 month wait!Its not easy getting into Philly. They are VERY busy. I believe the issue now is they will not make any more appointments until this year is finished and some of 2011 being that is booked solid also. You might have to wait further into 2011 before they will even consider making an appt.

[ForzaItaliaPgh]

Yeah, I tired everything I could think of to get an appointment. I spoke with the cittadinanza office (who were very nice), I spoke directly with the consul (again - very nice), I had members of the Italian parliament get in touch with them on my behalf (which surprised me that they did) and none of it worked. My translator even tired for me, but again nothing. Presently, I'm just waiting. It's all very frustrating.