When something goes wrong
What happens if…
The moments that make people panic at two in the morning. Each starts with the one thing worth knowing first, then what to do, in order.
If 01
Your permit expires before the new card arrives
First, the thing to knowIf you applied to renew before it expired, you are still here legally: the post office receipt, with the old permit, is your document while you wait.
Keep the receipt with your passport
Carry the receipt, the expired card and your passport together. The receipt's pages are what the Anagrafe and the health service accept in the meantime.
Travel only on a direct route home
With a renewal receipt you may go home and come back if you leave and re-enter Italy through the same border crossing, without passing through another Schengen country. Book flights that leave the Schengen area straight from Italy.
Watch for the text message
When the card is ready, the Questura sends a text with the date to collect it. Go on that date with the receipt and your passport.
Not renewed in time?
If the permit has already expired and you have not applied, go to the university's SAOS desk before anything else, the same day if you can. Late renewals are treated far less generously, and every day counts.
Checked against Università degli Studi di Padova, Università degli Studi di Padova and Polizia di Stato on Tue, 29 September 2026.
The full guide: Renewing your permitIf 02
You missed the ISEE deadline
First, the thing to knowIt depends which deadline. The fee reductions can still be asked for, late, at a price that rises in steps. The regional scholarship has no late window.
Work out which one you missed
The regional scholarship closes at the end of September; fee reductions and the 200-hour collaborations close at the end of November. They are different benefits with different rules.
Fee reductions: apply now, not next month
A late application still works, with a late charge that rises in steps through the year. Each step costs more than the last, so today is cheaper than tomorrow.
The scholarship: plan next year's today
There is no late route for this year's scholarship. Next year's needs a new ISEE anyway, so start the parificato in the summer and put the September date in your calendar now.
Checked against Università degli Studi di Padova, Università degli Studi di Padova and INPS on Tue, 29 September 2026.
The full guide: ISEE, scholarships and fee reductionsIf 03
Your landlord will not register the contract
First, the thing to knowYou do not need the landlord to do it. The law allows either the landlord or the tenant to register a lease with the Agenzia delle Entrate.
Ask once more, in writing
A short email asking for the registration receipt is also your record that you asked. Registration is due within thirty days of signing.
Register it yourself
With the signed contract and your codice fiscale, the contract can be registered online through the Agenzia delle Entrate's RLI service with SPID or CIE, or at one of its offices. The registration tax is normally shared between you.
Get help if it turns into a dispute
Tenants' unions assist with Padova's agreed contracts and can take on the registration. If the landlord refuses a contract altogether, look for another room: without registration there is no residenza, and a permit renewal asks for a registered contract.
Say this
“Può mandarmi la ricevuta di registrazione del contratto?”
Could you send me the contract's registration receipt?
Checked against Agenzia delle Entrate, Comune di Padova and Università degli Studi di Padova on Tue, 29 September 2026.
The full guide: Reading an Italian rental contractIf 04
You lost your student badge
First, the thing to knowIt is a request on the university's help portal, not a trip to an office. Only one thing is urgent, and only if your badge works as a payment card.
If it can pay, block it first
Badges with the payment function switched on must be blocked before you ask for a new one: call the card emergency line on 800 303 303 from Italy, or +39 011 8019200 from abroad, at any hour, and ask for a definitive block.
Ask for a duplicate on the help portal
Open a request in the Student Services area (Carta Flash, request for a duplicate), choosing lost or damaged, or stolen or cloned. The request form lists the fee and what to attach.
If it was stolen, report it
A theft request needs a copy of the police report (denuncia). Any police station or Carabinieri station takes it.
Say this
“Vorrei fare denuncia per il furto del portafoglio.”
I would like to report the theft of my wallet.
Checked against Università degli Studi di Padova on Tue, 29 September 2026.
Something else went wrong, and it is not here? The university's SAOS desk helps with anything to do with your permit, and the offices page says who handles what. If it should be on this page, tell us.