The certification of Italian periods of coverage by INPS to the United States will always be in the following format regardless of the type of employment or self-employment:

The “Period” columns will show the beginning and ending date of the periods of coverage recorded on the individual account record beginning with the earliest period of coverage, but no earlier than January 1, 1937. If only month and year are shown, the period begins on the first of the month. The third column will show the total number of weeks of contributions in each “From-To” period. Contributions that were paid daily or monthly will be converted to weeks. The fourth column will show an abbreviation identifying the type of coverage. The abbreviations are as follows:

These are all valid periods of coverage for which the United States must give credit. The original agreement prohibited the United States from giving credit for periods of Italian voluntary coverage. However, the supplementary agreement, which became effective on January 1, 1986, eliminated the prohibition against the use of voluntary coverage. Therefore, voluntary coverage must be credited for claims adjudicated January 1, 1986 or later.

Since the 84 computation method is used for all claims adjudicated after the effective date of the supplementary agreement, Italian average weekly earnings are not needed for the computation. Italy will not show average weekly earnings on coverage certifications dated January 1, 1986 or later.

The Italian coverage certification form IT/USA 3 bis was designed as a part of an Italian liaison form (IT/USA 3 or IT/USA 5). The liaison form was signed and/or sealed by an INPS official as a means of certifying the correctness and authenticity of its contents including the earnings certification. INPS plans to eliminate the forms IT/USA 3 and IT/USA 5 and will begin sending form IT/USA 3 bis with the transmittal request form IT/ USA 2 which does not have a place for INPS to certify the correctness of the information shown. Also, INPS occasionally sends just the form IT/USA 3 bis with no covering liaison form. The Italian coverage certification should be accepted as correct if it is:

1. 1. 

   An original, carbon copy or photocopy of the IT/USA 3 bis attached to an Italian liaison form (IT/USA 3 or IT/USA 5), transmittal/request form (IT/USA 2) or letter from INPS (stating that an earnings certification is attached).

2. 2. 

   An original, carbon copy or photocopy of the IT/USA 3 bis sent without a covering letter or liaison form but bearing an original signature, stamp or seal from an INPS official.

   Refer any case which cannot be accepted using the above criteria to DTPS for further evaluation.