An office of Poste italiane in Naples | Photo: ARCHIVE/ANSA/CIRO FUSCO
An office of Poste italiane in Naples | Photo: ARCHIVE/ANSA/CIRO FUSCO

Poste Italiane, Italy's postal system, released an internal memo in which it explained that an asylum seeker stay permit is sufficient for opening a basic banking account at the post office.

A valid Italian stay permit for asylum seekers is sufficient for opening and managing a basic Bancoposta banking account at any Italian post office, even if the stay permit isn't accompanied by a passport, according to the Italian postal system Poste Italiane. 

The stay permit is to be considered as a "unique and valid identity document." 

In an internal memo to all post offices published on the website of the Italian Interior Ministry in the "Migrant Integration" section, Poste Italiane said the asylum seeker stay permit is also proof of a taxpayer code (codice fiscale) when it is provided on the document and the permit is a valid ID for transactions "both occasional as well as continual." 

Limitations for asylum seekers 

In the memo, Poste Italiane said the stay permit cannot be used as an ID for opening an account other than the basic one, or for prepaid cards with names, cards with names that have an IBAN, or savings bonds. The certificates issued by the police to applicants for international protection while the applicants are residing in temporary reception centers are not valid. 

Poste Italiane said those certificates do not qualify as identification for any Bancoposta product or service. 

Implements part of Italian Bank Association circular 

The Poste Italiane memo implements part of a circular on directives for opening basic accounts for asylum seekers that was issued last April by the Italian Banking Association (ABI). In that circular, ABI said that in addition to the stay permit, the certificate issued to applicants for international protection also qualifies as an identification document, as long as it is valid and includes a photo and the name and birthdate of the applicant. It also clarified that the asylum seekers' tax codes would be considered valid both in the provisional 11-digit format as well as the alphanumeric 16-character format.