Check-in Procedures

In-processing is handled by your  Command Personal Pass Administrator (CPPA) at your command 

Please check with your Command Personal Pass Administrator at your command within 72 working hours.

Be aware that due to weather sometimes flights are diverted and land elsewhere. The airlines may bus their passengers to Catania. You must have the number of your sponsor. Understand your sponsor may have no idea where your flight is. Also keep the command letter which should have an alternate number for you to contact someone. If your flight is diverted or delayed, and you should decide to take a taxi, make sure that the taxi will give you a receipt, which you can turn in for claims of $75 or more.

If you arrive at Catania–Fontanarossa Airport via commercial airline, be sure that your sponsor knows the time and place of your arrival. The Catania–Fontanarossa Airport was recently renovated. There is limited access to the baggage pick-up, therefore you will meet your sponsor after picking up your luggage and exiting the baggage claim area. The outside walls are glass, and your sponsor may have a card with his or her name on it. Be sure you know your sponsor’s name. The card may have either your name or your sponsor’s name on it. If your sponsor is not there, please contact the Command Sponsor Coordinator (Commercial 011-39-095-864516 or Cell. +39-335-758-9689) or e-mail sicily-sponsor@eu.navy.mil. Wi-Fi is available at the Catania–Fontanarossa Airport.

The individual check-in appointment process consists of filling out various personnel forms and completing a DD Form 1351/2 (travel claim/voucher). It is imperative that you are present at the appointed time for check-in within 72 hours after you arrive on the Island. Upon reporting to a command at Naval Air Station Sigonella, service members are required to see their Command Pay/Personnel Administrator (CPPA) to have their orders endorsed and to start the check-in process. All service members must complete the check-in process with their CPPA within 72 hours of reporting to their command. You are not officially checked in until a travel claim has been completed. We are unable to create gain documents, start any overseas pay entitlements or print out page two without a completed/signed travel claim. Please remind incoming personnel to keep all receipts and itineraries as the travel claim is not complete without them. Members reporting onboard who do not promptly complete a travel claim will be overpaid or underpaid on their pay account once the gain documents have posted at Defense Finance Accounting Service Cleveland. Members and their sponsors are reminded they should not wait to check into Personnel Support Detachment in with their command’s administrative department and CPPA. Your leave status ends when your plane lands on the island. Written permission is required from the receiving commanding officer if you plan on remaining in a leave status after landing on the island.

It is very important that all documents needed for your travel claim and gain are in your possession when you report for check-in, as they are needed to start overseas pay entitlements and complete your travel claim. Failure to provide these forms could delay the check-in and travel claim process, which will create an over or under payment to your pay account. Have your sponsor bring you to the Fleet and Family Support Center located at NAS 1, Building 319, the same building where the housing office is located, for all the services that are available for you and your family. Also, have your sponsor walk you to the Base INDOC, so you get familiar with where the next indoctrination class will be held and be brought up to date with current information. For more details you can also call +39-095-56-4696 (Base Education & Training Department "BETD") or Fleet & Family Support Center at +39-095-56-4291, located at NAS 1, bldg. 319

At the time of your appointment please bring all required documentation and ensure you bring all of your original receipts procured during your permanent change of station travel.

• At least 10 copies of permanent change of station orders
• Service Record (if applicable)
• School Records
• Immunizations
• Passports/Visas
• Birth Certificates  

You can make free copies at the  Fleet and Family Support Center, NAS 1, Building 319. Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (walk-in service) , Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Telephone: +39-095-56-4291

If you have a child that was born in Italy, you must bring his or her Italian birth certificate and not just the English translation.

• Four passport photos for each family member (Sojourner's Permit)
• Command Sponsorship letter (if applicable)
• Shipping documents
• At least two changes of clothes
• Euro
• Anything else you consider to be important and/or valuable

Passport Requirements

Active duty members must have military identification and orders; Family members must have no-fee passports with an Italian Visa to enter Italy. Tourist passports, in addition to no-fee passports, and International drivers licence are strongly recommended for traveling purposes. Active-duty members wishing to live out in the economy must obtain a travel passport or no-fee passport prior to arriving.

It is much easier to obtain a tourist passport while still in the States rather than waiting until arrival in Italy. All civilian employees (General Schedule, Department of Defense Dependents Schools) must obtain an official passport with a visa for work purposes ("Missione"). Contractors must obtain a tourist visa with Status of Forces Agreements stamp. Visit https://www.fcg.pentagon.mil/fcg.cfm for more details.

Visa Requirements

According to Italian immigration policy, family members of military and civilian personnel are required to obtain a mission visa from the Italian Consulate/Embassy before leaving the United States or country of origin where you are stationed. For family members, there is a cost involved. Family members must have the mission visa to be granted entry into Italy/Europe. Airline personnel will not permit family members to board the flights without a mission visa stamped in the passport. Visit https://www.fcg.pentagon.mil/fcg.cfm for more details.

If you get married before your permanent change of station or en route, you must inform your Command Pay and Personnel Administrators (CPPA) and follow the procedures exactly as you are given them. The military will not pay for travel and housing of your spouse if you do not follow the proper procedures.     Service members must complete an overseas screening for their family member(s). Family member(s) must apply for a "No-Fee"/official passport (U.S. citizens) and contact the nearest Italian Consulate of that city, state, to obtain an Italian Mission Visa prior to arrival in Italy.   Service members must obtain an order modification, which lists their new family member(s).   Obtain a "No-Fee"/official passport and a Mission Visa from the nearest Italian Consulate in the United States or the country where you are stationed (if applicable) before your family member(s) arrival in Italy. Failure to do so will affect the ability for your spouse to obtain employment and will need to return to country of origin to obtain proper documentation.

• These requirements will be presented as part of indoctrination or (BASE INDOC). Italian law on immigration matters requires that all Non-European citizens entering Italy, who intend to remain beyond 90 days and have a mission visa issued by the Italian consulate or embassy in their state of origin, apply for a sojourn permit within eight calendar days of arrival in Italy. All dependents of active duty service members (including children of dual military or single parent), Civilian Employees (GS) and their dependents, Contractor Employees (TR) and their dependents, American Red Cross and Navy Marine Corps Relief Society representatives and their dependents must apply for a sojourn permit within 8 calendar days of arrival through the U.S. Region Legal Service Office, DSN 314- 624-5247 / 5056, Comm. +39-095-56-5247 / 5056. The office is located on NAS 2, Bldg 564, next to the galley. It is strongly encouraged to contact RLSO (Legal Office) upon arrival to familiarize with the process.