Of course, the first thing that I did was go to the police. So I spent all day with Italian officers, who sent me to another police department to take my fingerprints. When everything was done and they saw that I was really Alina Lykholat, they let me go with an official document that confirmed that all of my ID’s were stolen.
After that, I went to the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome. Compared to all the other embassies that I have seen in Rome the Ukrainian one was the worst one. While some Malaysian, Bangladesh and Indian embassies were located in the central part of the city, the Ukrainian one was forsaken by God and situated in one of the worst Roman districts.
I shouldn’t even bother with the fact that Ukrainian Embassy employees don’t know what it means to be polite. I had to spend 40 minutes in the rain, waiting for the guard to let me and 10 other people inside. When I finally entered and got to the person who was responsible for documents, I was treated like a homeless dog. I was treated this way by my own people who are from the same homeland.
The embassy had to issue me a so-called temporary passport, valid for one month. But since I didn’t have anything confirming my identity, I couldn’t get even this temporary passport. Because of this, the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome sent a request to the Ukrainian passport office to confirm that I, Alina Lykholat, really had a passport with this name.
When in the embassy, I asked how much time this process can take. They answered that, for Kyiv, it takes the longest – a minimum of three and a maximum of 12 months or more. But I also was told that if I send one of my friends to the passport office in Kyiv to intervene, I will get a confirmation in a few days. So when one of my friends in Kyiv went to the passport office, he was told that nobody’s going to check anything as everybody is busy now with current visa openings for tourists.
OK, so I decided to ask my other friend who had connections inside. I was told that processing my request will cost money. I was ready to pay, just to confirm that I am I!!! They told me to wait, but still nobody could find the mysterious request from the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome, although I gave them the email and fax number from where my request originated.
Nothing was found and money was useless in this case.
My student visa was expiring last summer. I miraculously found a person who understood my situation and helped me to apply for a working permit to stay. I was told that I would get it in spring. But nobody would give me the little plastic card called “permit to stay” without an official document, like a driver’s license or passport. And eventually it’s a closed circle again.
So today, I’ve been locked up in Italy for more than year. I cannot move anywhere and I live like a criminal because my government cannot do for me the most elementary thing – to confirm that I am who I am.
I cannot open a bank account.
I can’t go to the hospital.
I can’t move around the European Union.
The scariest thing is that when my “permit to stay” is ready, I really don’t know how I am going to get it in my hands with just a student ticket and a copy of my passport.
Somebody, please help me.
Alina Lykholat, a former Kyiv Post intern, is stuck in Rome, Italy and struggling to have a normal and legal life abroad. She can be reached at [email protected].
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Post called the Department of State Migration Service of Ukraine in Kyiv Oblast where Alilna Lykholat said the Ukrainian Embassy in Rome sent her request for a new passport. Officials told the newspaper that they receive about 1,500 requests a month and needed to know the number of this request, the address in Ukraine where Alina was registered when her foreign passport was issued and the name of the agency that issued foreign passport to her. We will update readers on her situation as we learn more.
