Italian Consulate General

Very impressed with how fast and efficient the Italian consulate has been able to handle my case.
Had to renew my passport and it was ready in 20 minutes!
Fast and professional. Well done.
Tip; parking downstairs is pricey, the time stamp on your parking ticket will probably be 5 minutes fast on your way out, compare to your watch when entering and exiting to avoid over charges.

Consulate is fine but read site carefully to have all docs needed
I got a money order at Wells Fargo gown stairs there’s also a US bank in building
I parked at Westfield which is 5 minutes walking distances I paid $ 3 since I didn’t want to shop to get validation otherwise it would have been $ 1
Go to site to make your appointment asap no walk ins allowed

Very friendly staff. I applied for visitor visa and received in 16 days. They were very friendly and helpful throughout the process.

The visa lady is IMPOSSIBLE! I had prepared everything on the list but she’s a genius! She picked out my hotel reservations had my English name added to my Chinese name, and insisted I contact the hotels and have them send new confirmations without my English name. Italian hotels are not very responsive — I had to call two hotels to have them send me confirmations with the «correct» name. France consulate didn’t have any problem with my English name last year!
After all the extra effort, the visa I’m getting is for single entry, and EXACTLY for 9 days I planned to stay in Italy. Not that I really care but this is insane! What if I needed to stay for a couple more days?

My Application and Passport were submitted on October 21 2015, I still haven’t heard back from them or received my passport. I’m supposed to travel this Wednesday, not sure what to do if I don’t receive my passport … this is really stressful
I checked my fedex envelope tracking number and still shows it didn’t ship yet.
Will update this once i hear back or receive my passport

I am an international student at USC and I decided to visit Europe in the winter break and my main destination would be Italy. I was able to get a slot two weeks away and during this period I was busy gathering all the documents required. You should check their website for the details very carefully. It’s better to get the appointment ASAP because the consulate is quite small and couldn’t handle a lot of applications every day. When I checked in late September, there is no available slot until early Novemeber! Luckily there are always people canceling their reservations but you should definitely plan everything ahead and constantly check the appointment page just to avoid any bad surprise.
The consulate is located on the 12^th floor. Parking in this building is insanely expensive (costs me $ 16 for 40 min) but I was in a hurry and had no time to park in the Westfield (across the street). Definitely go in early (especially if your appointment is in the morning and you are going via I-​10, the freeway has heavy traffic!) My appointment is at 10 and I left home at downtown LA to century city via I-​10 W, I barely made it on time.
The people work in the consulate are typical government workers, so don’t expect they can treat you very nicely. They tend to be impatient and rude if you don’t have all the documents ready. The lady who was waiting before me got turned away immediately because she was not aware what are required to bring. The officer was impatient and told her to come back with all the documents. When the lady asked the officer what should she bring, the officer just told her to check the website and turned her away.
In my case, since I brought all the documents with scanned copies as well, they were okay to me. The officer skimmed thru my documents very quickly but they could immediately notice any mistake. So prepare your hotel reservations and travel plans really carefully and don’t expect that you can trick them. The officer found my flight reservation didn’t match with the hotel reservation, then I realized that I gave him the outdated itinerary. Luckily, instead of turning me away, they asked me email the updated reservation. The officer also told me they do not accept bank transaction record, you must bring bank statements month by month. Fortunately I brought them with me.
The officer took in all my documents and my passport and told me it should take them 10 days to process. I brought a self-​addressed envelope to save the trip to pick up the passport at the consulate. All I have to do is go back, email them the correct flight reservation and wait for the result. So fingers crossed.
UPDATE:
I got the visa! I was amazed by the efficiency of the consulate. So I sent in my passport on 10/​21, the visa was approved the next day, mailed out on the following Monday and I got my passport on Wednesday! The whole process completed in one week! ITALIA HERE I COME!

Parking is 4 $ every 12 minutes and when you waist your time making an appointment on their confusing website you have to waist more time re confirming it between 10 and 3 days before the date and of course they don’t email you to remind you.
Such a tricky system.

Wonderful !!! please go to the website before planning to apply. Follow the instructions and you will get the visa. I went there on August 14^th got the the 19^th. They treated me very nicely. If you have everything they asked on the we site you will spend less than 15min. Also do not park in the building. Park at Westfield mall you will spend $ 1. On my way to Italia!

Reason for visit: Schengen Tourist visa.
Reservations: My trip was decided suddenly and had to fly in one month. Getting an interview slot was hard, so I called them and they advised me to check the reservation website regularly and that I might get a slot if someone cancels it. I started checking the site every one/​two hours from Mon-​Wednesday and I got lucky and got the appointment on Friday same week! Felt so good!
Interview: My appointment was at 9am. I reached 30minutes before. Best Place to park your car is in the Westfield Mall ($ 1 per hour) near the consulate. Make sure you get all the documents in the check-​list. If they ask for 3 bank statements bring all 3. They check everything and very fast! I realized that I forgot my I-​94 print out, but the officer was generous and got it done for me.
Result: They took my passport and told me I will get it in mail in 2 weeks. (I had given them a return envelope)

Great experience at the Italian Consulate on my recent trip there to submit paperwork for dual citizenship. First, be sure to park in the mall across the street. Parking is $ 1 per hour, super cheap!
I got to the consulate an hour before my scheduled appointment I was coming from San Diego and concerned about traffic… my confirmation said if I was more than 10 minutes late, the appointment would be cancelled. This is important because it takes months to get an appointment. I ended up going up to check in 45 minutes early. You have to go through a metal detector, but it’s very easy and the woman who was checking people in at the door was very nice. She directed me to the man at the reception window, who was decked out in typical Italian fashion in a beautiful suit.
I told him I was there for an 11:30 dual citizenship appointment (it was 10:45). He told me to go to window 1 (across the room). There was no one at the window, which is not unexpected since I was 45 minutes early. I sat down, understanding from many trips to Italy that Europeans work a little differently than Americans. I completely expected to need to wait until my appointment time of 11:30 (which really does make sense, that’s why they gave me an appointment time). To my surprise, she came out around 11:00 am and help me. Granted, she was a bit brusque, but then again we are talking about Italian government employees, spend 10 minutes in a government office in Italy and you’ll see what I mean. It’s not that they are being rude or disinterested, it’s just how they conduct business. Once I told her I was there to submit my dual citizenship forms, she was prompt and efficient. The whole visit took a total of 10 minutes and I was done. The funniest part was at the end when she said, «OK, now I take your papers, send everything to Italy, we work on it, and I’ll send you a letter… in a year.» Yes it’s a long wait, but again, this is Italy.
One HUGE piece of advice: make sure you go through the requirements on the website, and have EVERY paper they ask for, translated into Italian, with Apostille when necessary. I had mine all ready to go, which made it super easy. She didn’t even ask for, or take, all the documents the website had asked for, but better to be prepared than not. The woman after me had nothing ready — she was saying to the worker, «what do you mean I have to have it translated into Italian? Who does that? What’s an Apostille?» I mean really people, do a google search, it’s not that difficult. She left having gotten nothing done, and will probably need to wait 6 months for another appointment.
For translations I used
, quick turnaround and decent, no-​nonsense up front price. Apostilles you get from the Secretary of State. Information is on the Sec. of State website, it’s super easy. For Italian birth certificates and marriage records, do a google search to find many blogs of people who wrote to their ancestors local Italian Town Hall (Comune) and they even give you the Italian you need to write to request the documents. The Comune all have websites, some with email, but don’t bother with that. My Mom’s Comune actually emailed me back her birth certificate, but you can’t use that since it’s not stamped. Many of the webistes say you need to include a stamped self-​addressed envelope, but you can’t getr Italian stamps here. The best thing to do is go to a currency exchange, get a 10 Euro note, and slip it in with your request. The city my Mom was married in actually returned my 10 Euros. The town she was born in kept it, but that’s fine, I got the documents I needed.
Bottom line, if you follow the directions carefully, you will have a good experience at the Consulate. Remember Europeans do not respond well to Americans who are pushy — a little politeness goes a long way. You catch a lot more flies with honey than vinegar, after all. The Consulate is Italian Sovereignty, not American.

I was harassed at the Italian consulate. The woman who took my documents was a racist, unprofessional and is not supposed to be working there. What an awful experience!

We paid for our trip to Italy then went online to make an appointment at the Italian Consulate only to find out that the next appointment was 7 weeks away. The problem was, our trip was 6 weeks away. Ooops! I tried calling the consulate at their recommended times several times on different days and finally got someone to answer. The lady at the Consulate told me to check back several times a day online to see if a cancellation occurred. You MUST have an appointment. Then I read here on Unilocal to do the same thing. I started doing that and found someone had cancelled within two days. My appointment was within 3 days, and the benefit to me was I live in the Los Angeles area. If you’re out of town or out of state, you better be prepared to leave within a short time frame.
After that, everything was smooth sailing. My wife was able to get her visa a week after the appointment. The people are very nice, professional and they want to help you to get a visa if you have all your documents in order and it meet their minimum requirements (including a background check which I think they do during that week in between the personal visit and the time they mail or you pick up your passport). The nice thing is when you get to the Consulate, there are no lines and no waiting. Get to your appointment on time. We were in and out of there in 50 minutes (we got there 30 mins before our scheduled appointment time and two appointments were ahead of us). When we went back a week later to pick up my wife’s visa, we were in and out of there in less than 3 minutes. 5 Stars for the Italian Consulate Los Angeles Office.
I would say that whatever you declare on your visa application, make sure you have proof of that. For example: if the person who needs a visa declares they work, then they must have a letter from the employer; if they are a housewife, then the spouse must provide proof of income, employment, position, salary. etc, or if self employed, latest tax return, business license.etc.; if a student, a letter from the school stating they are a full-​time student… etc. They are strict on this. Plus show that the person applying for the visa has sufficient income to travel during their stay in Italy. See visa requirements on the Consulate Website including the chart of funds needed to travel.
One last great tip: Parking at or near the Consulate building is $ 3.50 each 15 minutes with a maximum of $ 28 for the day. So one hour will cost you $ 14; $ 28 for 2 hours. A parking lot next door is $ 12 or $ 14 per day. However, parking across the street at the Westgate shopping mall is… wait for it… $ 1 per hour. Just park, go upstairs and take the walking bridge across to the Consulate building. We paid $ 2 for parking for our Consulate visit. It doesn’t get better than that parking in Century City.

I was not getting a visa interview slot within next 2 months although my travel date was in a month and a half. But the officials over there really helped me out by scheduling an adhoc visa interview so that I could get my visa in time.

So far I’m not having a good experience I really hope it gets better, I’m asking for some info because the website is not that well set up to be understood easily, we will see…

I applied for my less than 90 days Schengen Study Visa. It’s similar to a regular Schengen visa, just it’s necessary for me to apply through the Italian consulate since I’m studying there and to submit a few more forms like the letter of invite from the uni in Florence.
Anyway, my best and biggest advice is to CHECK APPOINTMENTS EARLY. I checked the available appointments three months before my flight and lo and behold — every day is booked until ten days before my flight.
But don’t worry much if you can’t find any appointments. Keep refreshing the appointment page. Refresh multiple times every single day! It took three grueling days of constantly refreshing before somebody cancelled and I got an appointment that was in five days. After rushing to get all my documents together with less than a week’s time, I was at the Italian consulate bright and early at 9:00.
The lady who helped me was extremely nice and patient. I felt she was on my side trying to get this visa so I could study in Italy. Within a week, I got my multiple-​entry Visa!
Other Important stuff:
1. If you are submitting printed bank statements, have a signed bank letter verifying you are the account holder, the average balance, etc. I brought in my and my parents’ bank statements and she refused them, saying that they need more verification than the printout. Thankfully, I had a letter from my campus’ financial aid office saying I had an excess of $ 3600 to use how I please while abroad. You need $ 1000/​mo to visit Italy.
2. Parking rates were RIDICULOUS here. I was there for less than an hour and I paid $ 20. If you have time to search for the consulate, park next door at the Westfield.

The Italian Consulate moved. It is no longer in Wilshire Blvd.

I’m only giving 5 stars because there were some amazing looking women walking around that building. I mean amazing! like these women get off work and go to the gym for like 4 hours, amazing! Power asses. Model grade. Corporate lionesses that dominate the area.
I wish I was a janitor there.

The lady at the visa processing line today was very rude and sorta lazy.
My husband showed up prepared with the application form filled up and all their required supporting documents present. While the other people in don’t even have all their ducks lined up yet!
The lady was not only uninterested but was unwilling to process the application. She kept asking «where is this? where is that?» but she had them all in her hand. She just didn’t want to look at it. She kept saying «I don’t see it. I don’t see it.»
Lady, of course you wont’ see it! You’re not even looking at it!
Because my husband came prepared and all the documents that that were required were already in her hands and she really didn’t have anything else to give my husband a hard time about, she punished him by
1. Requiring him to provide proof that the tour was paid for by him. That wasn’t even in the required documentation list! She just made that up on the spot coz my husband came prepared!
2. She made my husband fill out the application form again. The same exact one that filled out already and handed to her, she made him fill out again on the spot to be handed to her again.
Awful!!! And they said the French were rude and unfriendly. We got better and friendlier service from the French consulate!!! Whose reputation is quite the opposite!
Ssheesh!!!

Ugh, the experience I had with the Consulate in LA was pretty bad, but the processing was done pretty quickly, which I will mention later.
I’m studying in Italy next semester, so I was applying for the student visa. However, I didn’t get my letter from the Italian school for my visa application until April, at which point I immediately made an appointment to see the Consulate online in May, less than a week before I was scheduled to go back home to Hawaii, since that was the only day available on the website that I could attend.
So I go to the Consulate with ALL the documents needed and it turns out that THEIR SYSTEM DIDN’T EVEN HAVE ME for an appointment! And so they turn me away to make an appointment in another month… in which I’ll be in Hawaii. After some arguing, they then tell me that I can’t even apply in LA because I’m supposed to go to San Francisco to get the visa since I’m from Hawaii.
What the f! So I go back home with my tail between my legs and wondering wtf I was supposed to do. I decided to just go back after my exams were finished to complain. So I go back again after a few days and talked to a lady who told me that even though I didn’t have an appointment, I couldn’t even apply for the visa anyway because it was only restricted to 90 days before the first day of class. Then she instructed me to mail in all my stuff (with copies) to the Consulate and to mention her name in a letter, so that they could give me an exception with the Hawaii citizenship status.
Despite the fact that I went to Canada for a week and came back, I mailed my packet to them 5 weeks before the beginning of school. And my passport came back with a visa a week and a half later. Now THAT was fast!
I’m still giving this institution a 3 for really bad customer service. But at least they got everything processed really quickly.

Maybe I should be giving 4 stars and not 5, but seeing as I’m Italian that just wont do.
If you’re looking for advice with getting a visa… I am of no use to you.
However, I can help if you’re interest is in an Italian citizenship. Honestly, the most basic advice I can give will help you out in the greatest way. Be ORGANIZED!!!
It took my family and I about one year to prepare all the documents needed in order to apply for an Italian Citizenship. We checked to make sure we had all the necessary documents and doubled check and then checked again for good measure.
But, because of this it only took 20 minutes when we set down with Raffaella Buiano to finish the application process. Even Raffaella was impressed. She then told my family about the other applicants that aren’t as organized.
Apparently some applicants view this application process as more of a raffle. They put documents in a grocery bag and then randomly select documents to show.
So don’t be the person with the grocery bag!