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UPDATE: How British second home owners can spend more than 90 days in Italy after Brexit

While Brexit is throwing up many complications for British people who live full-time in Italy (or plan to), there is another group who will be impacted by the changes in 2021 - second home owners.

Published: 7 December 2020 14:23 CET
Updated: 28 December 2020 14:22 CET
UPDATE: How British second home owners can spend more than 90 days in Italy after Brexit
Photo: AFP

Italy’s food, weather, and attractive house prices help make it the dream holiday home location for many Brits.

Some intend that eventually their second home will become their main residence – often by retiring to Italy – while others just enjoy spending prolonged periods of time in their second home, but want to keep their main home in the UK.

For those people it’s important to note that the 90-day rule will kick in once the Brexit transition period ends on December 31st 2020.

The rule – the same one which has always been in place for all non-EU citizens wanting to spend time in EU countries – states that you can spend 90 out of every 180 days in the EU without needing to get visas or residency.

OPINION: Yes, second-home owners should be furious about the post-Brexit 90-day rule

So people who currently like to spend long, relaxed summers in Italy, or come here to avoid colder winters in the UK, will find that their plans are curtailed by Brexit.

This site has a fuller explanation of how the 90-day rule works, as well as a calculator to allow you to work out your visits.

A few things to note are;

  • The rule allows for 90 days in every 180, so in total in the course of a year you can spend 180 days in Italy, just not all in one go
  • The rule applies to the whole of the EU, so if you spend a whole three months in Italy you can’t then go for a week in Paris within the same 180 day period
  • The clock only stops once you leave the EU and head to a non-EU country (which the UK will be from December 31st 2020).

But are there ways round this to allow for longer trips?

Will you need a visa?

With the 90-day rule in place, the way for non-residents to spend more time in Italy will now be to get a long-stay visa 

After the end of the Brexit transition period, British citizens will require a long-stay visa, Italian authorities have confirmed.
 
“Starting from January 1st 2021, British citizens planning to stay in Italy for more than 90 days (‘long stay’) within 180 days, will be subject to national visa requirements, according to the Italian immigration rules applied to third country nationals,” stated the Italian consulate in London on December 17th.
 
 
The consulate advises visiting the Interior Ministry’s website for more details about the process of applying for a long-stay visa.
 
You can also find out more about the process of obtaining a visa on the EU immigration portal.
 
British citizens coming to Italy for a short stay of less than 90 days (in a 180-day period) will not require a visa, the Italian consulate confirmed.
 
This means that British citizens will therefore not need a Schengen short-stay visa to spend up to 90 days in Italy within a period of 180 days.

Should you get Italian residency?

If you really want to spend long periods in Italy you may be looking at taking up Italian residency.

This is more than simply declaring that you live in Italy. To become resident you will need to apply for a residency permit or permesso di soggiorno – which comes with its own conditions, see more on those here.

However you will also need to become a tax resident in Italy, which means filing annual tax returns with Italian authorities, even if all you income comes from the UK or elsewhere, and registering with the Italian healthcare system (which may not be free.)

These are some of the most commonly-cited reasons for people choosing not to take up Italian residency.

READ ALSO: 

You cannot be a permanent resident of two countries at once, so if you become an Italian resident you have to give up your British residency which has an impact on things like tax and access to the NHS.

Is it possible to slip under the radar?

Many British people have got used to coming and going with minimal paperwork or checks, and without having to keep track of how many days were spent where.

But passport checks are expected to become stricter from the end of this year, not least because British nationals will no longer be able tp use the EU/EEA/CH passport queue.

If you are caught over-staying your allocated 90 days you can end up with an ‘over-stay’ flag on your passport which can make it difficult to enter any other country, not just Italy, and is likely to make any future attempts at getting visas or residency a lot more difficult.

See The Local’s Brexit section for more details and updates.

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EES PASSPORT CHECKS

How will the new app for Europe’s EES border system work?

With Europe set to introduce its new Entry/Exit biometric border system (EES) in the autumn there has been much talk about the importance of a new app designed to help avoid delays. But how will it work and when will it be ready?

Published: 7 May 2024 10:29 CEST
How will the new app for Europe's EES border system work?

When it comes into force the EU’s new digital border system known as EES will register the millions of annual entries and exits of non-EU citizens travelling to the EU/Schengen area, which will cover 29 European countries.

Under the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), non-EU residents who do not require a visa will have to register their biometric data in a database that will also capture each time they cross an external Schengen border.

Passports will no longer be manually stamped, but will be scanned. However, biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images will have to be registered in front of a guard when the non-EU traveller first crosses in to the EU/Schengen area.

Naturally there are concerns the extra time needed for this initial registration will cause long queues and tailbacks at the border.

To help alleviate those likely queues and prevent the subsequent frustration felt by travellers the EU is developing a new smartphone app.

READ ALSO: What will the EES passport system mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The importance of having a working app was summed up by Uku Särekanno, Deputy Executive Director of the EU border agency Frontex in a recent interview.

“Initially, the challenge with the EES will come down to the fact that travellers arriving in Europe will have to have their biographic and biometric data registered in the system – border guards will have to register four of their fingerprints and their facial image. This process will take time, and every second really matters at border crossing points – nobody wants to be stuck in a lengthy queue after a long trip.”

But there is confusion around what the app will actually be able to do, if it will help avoid delays and importantly when will it be available?

So here’s what we know so far.

Who is developing the app?

The EU border agency Frontex is currently developing the app. More precisely, Frontex is developing the back-end part of the app, which will be made available to Schengen countries.

“Frontex is currently developing a prototype of an app that will help speed up this process and allow travellers to share some of the information in advance. This is something we are working on to support the member states, although there is no legal requirement for us to do so,” Uku Särekanno said in the interview.

Will the 29 EES countries be forced to use the app?

No, it is understood that Frontex will make the app available on a voluntary basis. Each government will then decide if, when and where to use it, and develop the front-end part based on its own needs.

This point emerged at a meeting of the House of Commons European scrutiny committee, which is carrying out an inquiry on how EES will impact the UK.

What data will be registered via the app?

The Local asked the European Commission about this. A spokesperson however, said the Commission was not “in a position to disclose further information at this stage” but that travellers’ personal data “will be processed in compliance with the high data security and data protection standards set by EU legislation.”

According to the blog by Matthias Monroy, editor of the German civil rights journal Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP the Frontex app will collect passengers’ name, date of birth, passport number, planned destination and length of stay, reason for travelling, the amount of cash they carry, the availability of a credit card and of a travel health insurance. The app could also allow to take facial images. It will then generate a QR code that travellers can present at border control.

This, however, does not change the fact that fingerprints and facial images will have to be registered in front of a guard at the first crossing into the Schengen area.

So given the need to register finger prints and facial images with a border guard, the question is how and if the app will help avoid those border queues?

When is the app going to be available?

The answer to perhaps the most important question is still unclear.

The Commissions spokesperson told The Local that the app “will be made available for Schengen countries as from the Entry/Exit System start of operations.” The planned launch date is currently October 6th, but there have been several delays in the past and may be another one.

The UK parliamentary committee heard that the prototype of the app should have been ready for EU member states in spring. Guy Opperman, Under-Secretary of State at the UK Department for Transport, said the app will not be available for testing until August “at best” and that the app will not be ready in time for October. The committee previously stated that the app might even be delayed until summer 2025.

Frontex’s Särekanno said in his interview: “Our aim is to have it ready by the end of the summer, so it can then be gradually integrated into national systems starting from early autumn”.

READ ALSO: How do the EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

Can the system be launched if the app is not ready?

Yes. The European Commission told The Local that “the availability of the mobile application is not a condition for the Entry/Exit System entry into operation or functioning of the system. The app is only a tool for pre-registration of certain types of data and the system can operate without this pre-registration.”

In addition, “the integration of this app at national level is to be decided by each Schengen country on a voluntary basis – as there is no legal obligation to make use of the app.”

And the UK’s transport under secretary Guy Opperman sounded a note of caution saying the app “is not going to be a panacea to fix all problems”.

When the app will be in use, will it be mandatory for travellers?

There is no indication that the app will become mandatory for those non-EU travellers who need to register for EES. But there will probably be advantages in using it, such as getting access to faster lanes.

As a reminder, non-EU citizens who are resident in the EU are excluded from the EES, as are those with dual nationality for a country using EES. Irish nationals are also exempt even though Ireland will not be using EES because it is not in the Schengen area.

Has the app been tested anywhere yet?

Frontex says the prototype of the app will be tested at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, in Sweden. Matthias Monroy’s website said it was tested last year at Munich Airport in Germany, as well as in Bulgaria and Gibraltar.

According to the German Federal Police, the blog reports, passengers were satisfied and felt “prepared for border control”.

This article is published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

 
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