Agreement grants discount on the fee charged for scheduling passports at the Italian consulate in Curitiba
The organization that should oversee the integrity of consular services and fight for the rights of Italians in Brazil, the Comites – 'Comitato degli Italiani all'Estero' (Committee of Italians Abroad), is allegedly involved in selling appointments for passport issuance to Italians residing in the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. This is according to the magazine Insieme, which posed as a client to expose the scheme.
An agreement made between Walter Antônio Petruzziello, lawyer and president of Comites, and those responsible for the website “Prenota4u” grants a discount on the fee charged for scheduling passport appointments at the Italian Consulate General in Curitiba. “We do have a discount for those referred by Comites PR/SC,” the “Prenota4u team” responded to the magazine editor.
Instead of paying R$349 for the vacancy, Italian citizens who mention the Comites recommendation pay just R$299 for an appointment that is “normally” achieved within a period of fifteen days.
Petruzziello denies that he made the negotiation in the name of the body he presides over, but rather in his personal name. “I just identified myself as president of Comites and a lawyer,” he says. According to the magazine, he said that the site offered a commission on each nomination, but the president preferred that the amount be reverted to a lower rate for his nominees.
Online scheduling, called Prenota, is one of the biggest problems in Italian consulates in Latin America. Curitiba and Rio de Janeiro, where getting a place for the citizenship recognition service is an almost impossible mission, lead the complaints. In Buenos Aires, for example, it takes an average citizen 2 to 3 years to get a job for the same job, even if they try every day. Professional agents can schedule appointments in a matter of days.
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WHAT ARE COMMITTEES Os COM.IT.ES (Committees of Italians Abroad) They are bodies that represent the demands of Italian citizens abroad in relations with diplomatic-consular representations. They can represent instances of the Italian community residing in the consular district, together with local authorities and institutions. Furthermore, they also contribute to identifying the social, cultural and civil development requirements of their community. Each consular district has a COMITES. In Brazil, there are seven districts: São Paulo, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Porto Alegre. COMITES can be formed by 12 members – for communities with up to 100.000 Italian citizens residing in the circumscription, or by 18 members – for communities with more than 100 Italian citizens residing in the circumscription, as is the current case in the São Paulo Circumscription. Os members They are elected by the resident population and remain in office for five years, receiving no remuneration.
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