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RESIDENCY PERMITS

How many people get Italian residency every year?

If you’re thinking of becoming a legal resident of Italy, or are mid-way through the process, you may wonder how many others do the same each year and where they come from.

Published: 7 February 2024 14:13 CET
How many people get Italian residency every year?
The number of international residents obtaining residency premits has not changed much in recent years. Photo: Imagedepotpro/Getty Images

Italy has official data showing how many permits are issued in total every year, and to whom – though this includes renewals, and it only gives us part of the picture.

According to Istat, Italy’s official statistics bureau, a total of just over 3.7 million residency permits (permessi di soggiorno) were issued in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.

That’s almost 1.5 million temporary residency permits, and 2.2 million permanent or long-stay permits.

The number has been stable since at least 2016, Istat data shows, with no major increase or decrease in the number of permits issued. There is no official cap on the limit of residency permits available.

Obtaining a residency permit can be a lengthy process involving a large amount of paperwork, which means many applicants are likely to have moved to Italy some time before their first permit was issued.

READ ALSO: What’s the difference between Italian residency and citizenship?

Most residency permits issued in 2022 were for citizens of Morocco (roughly 399,000), Albania (389,000), Ukraine (383,000), China (343,000) and India (164,000).

The data showed that some 36,000 US citizens received Italian residency permits in 2022, 9,183 of which were permanent residency permits.

The numbers of permits given to Brits, Australians, Canadians and South Africans were not specified.

EU nationals are not included, as they are not required to apply for Italian residency permits.

READ ALSO: A complete guide to getting Italy’s residency permit

Istat’s population data meanwhile shows that there were roughly five million foreign nationals living in Italy in the same year, making up 8.5 percent of the population. This figure has been stable since 2014.

The majority of foreign-born residents in Italy were citizens of European countries (some 2.4 million), with more than half of that number (1.4 million) from EU member states.

They were followed by roughly one million people from African countries, one million from central and east Asia, and 370,000 from south and central America.

Broken down by country, the largest groups of international residents in Italy were Romanians (1,081,836) followed by Albanians (416,829), Moroccans (415,088), Chinese (307,038) and Ukrainians (249,613).

READ ALSO: Do foreigners in Italy have to carry their residency documents?

After Romania, the European Union countries with the most citizens registered as living in Italy were Poland (74,387), Germany (34,003), France (29,942), Spain (27,854) and the Netherlands (8,820).

Meanwhile Italy had some 27,758 residents from the UK, 15,582 from the USA, 2,230 Canadians, 1,518 Australians, 769 from South Africa and 354 from New Zealand.

Italy also recorded 1,235 resident citizens from the microstate of San Marino, and 16 from the Vatican City.

Data also shows that Italy’s foreign residents overwhelmingly choose to live in the north of the country: 83.8 percent live in the centre or north, according to Istat.

The Italian region home to the largest number of foreigners was the north-west, with 1,755,332 international residents. One million of those live in Lombardy, the region surrounding Milan.

See more in The Local’s Italian residency section.

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For members

ITALIAN LANGUAGE

Do you need to pass an Italian language test for permanent residency?

After a certain number of years in Italy, you may be eligible to apply for permanent residency - but what language requirements do applicants face?

Published: 30 April 2024 11:05 CEST
Updated: 4 May 2024 08:15 CEST
Do you need to pass an Italian language test for permanent residency?

After five years of continuous residency in Italy, you may become eligible to apply for permanent residency – which, for non-EU citizens, means no more annual or biannual trips to the questura to renew your residency permit.

For most applicants, obtaining permanent residency entails passing an Italian language test at A2 level based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL).

That might sound daunting, but A2 is just the second of six levels running from elementary to advanced, and is pre-intermediate.

READ ALSO: QUIZ: Test your Italian language level on the A1 to C2 scale

According to the CEFRL guidelines, someone at A2 level should be able to understand sentences related to “very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment.”

They should also be able to conduct a “simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters” – something most people who’ve lived in Italy for five years would be able to do even without much formal study.

READ ALSO: How good does my Italian level have to be to get citizenship?

How to apply

To apply to take the A2 language test, you’ll need to start by visiting this instruction page on the interior ministry’s website and following the link to this portal.

You will need to log in with a SPID or CIE login credentials; learn more about what these are and how to get them here:

Your local prefecture has 60 days to get back to you with a time and date for the test.

Booking the A2 test is a fairly straightforward process. Photo by Alissa De Leva on Unsplash

What’s in the test?

The test consists of three components: written, listening, and oral.

You’ll likely be asked to fill in the blanks in a written passage, listen to a recording of someone talking and answer basic comprehension questions, and conduct a simple conversation based around an everyday scenario.

One American reader who described his experience of taking the test in 2022 said that he was initially “petrified”, but it ended up being a fairly straightforward process, ending with a short role play of a visit to the doctor.

Are there any exemptions?

The two key exemptions are for children under 14, and those with significant illnesses or disabilities that prevent them from learning the language (your local health authority, or ASL, must sign off on this).

You also don’t need to take the exam if you:

  • Already have an Italian language certification at A2 level or above from any of The University of Siena for foreigners, The University of Perugia for foreigners, The Dante Alighieri Association, or The University of Rome 3.
  • Are certified at at least A2 level after attending a course at a provincial adult education centre (CPIA).
  • Have a lower-secondary or high school diploma from an Italian educational institution, have attended/are attending an Italian university, or have an Italian university degree.
  • Are in Italy as a manager or highly specialised worker, university professor or researcher, translator or interpreter, or officially accredited foreign correspondent.

What if you fail?

Failing the test doesn’t mean you’ll be kicked out of the country.

According to the interior ministry’s guidelines, you can reapply via the same portal no sooner than 90 days after taking the first exam – which gives you plenty of time to brush up on your Italian.

Find out more about the process of applying for an Italian permanent residency permit HERE.

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