I found out that with an expired permesso di soggiorno (residence permit) you can’t travel around Europe, but we didn’t know and went to Switzerland. It’s good that the documents weren’t checked at the border. We sent the kit in February, and the questura (police headquarters) only [acted] in December (Novara). Now we’re planning to drive back to Moscow — what consequences could there be if the documents are checked at the border?
Generally, when leaving the Schengen area heading toward Russia, documents are checked more strictly than at internal borders. We had a case — the Carabinieri stopped us in the middle of the road and asked for our driver’s license, libretto (vehicle registration booklet) and identity card (carta d’identità). Not to mention an actual border checkpoint. With an expired permesso (residence permit) they can theoretically record it as an overstay, although I’ve heard that sometimes they issue it already expired from the start — in that case, formally it’s not your problem.
Thanks for the heads-up, I didn’t think they check more strictly when you’re leaving. How can I tell if it was expired from the start — which date should I check?
Look at the permesso (residence permit) card itself — there are two dates: data di rilascio (issue date) and data di scadenza (expiry date). If the time between them is less than a year and this is the first card, it means they issued it already partially expired; that often happens in Novara and Perugia with first-time permits. I saw a case where the permesso (residence permit) arrived valid for only 5 months after 13 months of waiting — annoying, of course, but formally there’s no problem for you.