Guest of the Italian Ambassador in London, Dr. Inigo Lambertini, Gianluigi Cassandra, Italian lawyer of the Superior Court and Solicitor, met with the Italian Minister for Defense the Hon. Guido Crosetto and the Hon. Edmondo Cirielli, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation .

During the meeting, Mr Cassandra illustrated some critical issues for the Italians living in the consular district of Manchester (with over 120,000 residents); in particular the endemic issue of staff shortages in the consulate and urged the Deputy Minister to prepare, for the Mancunian consulate, the hiring of additional staff,  in order to help the current workforce, who work with great commitment and generosity and to facilitate the disposal of the backlog of work (especially in issuing passports).

Finally,  Gianluigi Cassandra highlighted to the Deputy Minister Hon. Cirielli the problem of the numerous Italian citizens of Pakistani origin, resident in Great Britain, who have difficulty in having an appointment at the Italian embassy in Islamabad to obtain the release of legalized documents to be deposited at the Italian consulates in Great Britain (e.g. marriage or birth certificates). To this end, according to Mr Cassandra, the full application of the Hague convention would be desirable, given that Pakistan has joined it since July 2022 and therefore the Italian foreign Office should instruct all Italian authorities to accept the “apostilled” certificates from the Pakistani authorities, thus avoiding numerous inconveniences for our fellow citizens.