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Italy confirms post-Brexit visa rules for British nationals

After the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31st 2020, British citizens hoping to move to Italy will require a long-stay visa, Italian authorities have confirmed.

Published: 18 December 2020 12:35 CET
Italy confirms post-Brexit visa rules for British nationals
The bureaucratic process involved in moving to Italy is set to get a lot more complex for Brits from January 1st. photo: AFP

“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,” read a statement posted on the website of the Italian consulate in London on Thursday.

It read: “Starting now, British citizens may submit a Long Stay visa application for entry on 1 January 2021 or later”.

If applying for the following purposes:

• Study
• Religious purposes
• Mission
• Elective residency

 
Applications for long-stay visas for the following reasons can be made from January 1st, 2021 (as these require you to obtain the 'Nulla Osta' permission document):
 
– Work (including sport related activities and research)
– Family reunion and adoption
– Investment and start-ups
– Conversion of residence permits originally issued for study or traineeship purposes.
 
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 consulate confirmed.
 
“In accordance with the provisions of the EU Regulation 2019/592, starting from 1 January 2021 (the end of the transition period) the United Kingdom will be added to Annex II of the EU regulation 2018/1806.”
 
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.”
 
No details on the process or cost of obtaining a long-stay visa were given.
 
The consulate advises visiting the Interior Ministry's website for more details about the process of applying for a long-stay visa.
 
Further details about visas can also be found on the Italian government's dedicated visa information website (available in English).

READ ALSO:  

If you are already lawfully living in Italy by the end of this year, your rights should be protected by the Withdrawal Agreement. This extends to your close family members.
 
British citizens who are moving to Italy before December 31st, or are already here but haven't yet registered as a resident, are strongly recommend to register before the end of the year.
 
Anyone hoping to move to Italy after the end of the transition period however would be subject to the new visa requirements.

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

Member comments

  1. Does anyone know if the 90-day rule applies to UK citizens arriving before 31-Dec?

    Arrived in Italy early Dec and submitted residency app that is currently snarled up in bureaucracy and local uncertainty over policy.

    Next appointment is scheduled just over a week before I’d need to leave if 90 days counts from my arrival date.

    Hoping I can stay until at least 31 March to give this time to resolve but the back up plan is to return to UK and apply for the long-term visa so obviously want to avoid an overstay report.

    Can’t seem to find any guidance on whether:
    a) 90 days does apply and starts from when I arrived in EU
    b) 90 days applies only from 1 January when I became a third-country national (so have until 31 Mar)
    c) it doesn’t apply because I arrived before Brexit as an EU citizen

    I will contact the consulate/FCO for their take on it but just wanted to check to see if anyone else has already checked the same scenario and what their answer was.

  2. Me and my partner are in a similar scenario. We also arrived in early December but failed to apply for residency before the cut-off date.

    My understanding is that the 90 days starts from the 1st Jan. This was confirmed by an immigration solicitor. Here is their website – https://www.mazzeschi.it/

    They were very quick to reply so might be worth sending them an email yourself.

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For members

RETIREMENT IN ITALY

‘The visa process was painful’: How easy is it to move to Italy for retirement?

Spending retirement in Italy is a dream for many, but what are the potential obstacles you should be aware of when planning your move? The Local's readers share their experiences and advice.

Published: 2 May 2024 10:02 CEST
Updated: 5 May 2024 07:52 CEST
'The visa process was painful': How easy is it to move to Italy for retirement?

Moreish food, a mild climate and a multitude of art and history are just a few of the reasons people choose to retire to Italy. Plus, there’s the relatively low cost of living and potential tax breaks retirees can benefit from.

But some who have made the move to Italy for retirement tell The Local it hasn’t all been smooth sailing, particularly for those coming from outside the European Union.

READ MORE: Five big reasons people choose to retire to Italy

When we asked in The Local’s Living in Italy Facebook group for readers’ experiences, we had an overwhelming response from retirees who told us that bureaucratic issues and other practical hurdles had made things less than straightforward in their experience.

Steve Knowles, a British citizen residing in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, said the visa process almost prevented his move to Italy. 

“The visa process was quite painful,” he told us. “Getting an appointment in the UK at [visa application portal] VFS Global took ages because their website was faulty which took a whole month to be fixed, so we lost time.”

Steve applied for an elective residency visa, which is the Italian visa most aspiring international retirees will need to get, after the Brexit transition period.

He tells us everything was time-consuming, especially as he had to provide two copies of relevant documents as he applied as part of a couple.

“Our first application was rejected due to issues over our ‘passive income’. This, in my opinion, was due to a lack of common sense on the part of the consulate,” Steve continues. 

READ ALSO: Retirement in Italy: What you need to know about visas and residency

Luckily for him, he was granted another appointment three months later and got his visa issued – but more of Italy’s long-winded bureaucratic processes awaited him when he arrived.

“When we got here, we had the joys of Italian bureaucracy to navigate with regards to getting a permesso di soggiorno. We now have this and our identification cards, but getting the permesso di soggiorno renewed is an annual joy,” he writes sarcastically.

Mary Hanson, a United States citizen living in Italy, also ran into visa-related issues. 

“The consulate can deny any visa application with no further indication of why or how to correct errors,” she says.

READ ALSO:

She applied for her elective residency visa three times before getting it accepted. She cites an unsuitable letter of hospitality and financial documents in the improper format being the reasons why her first two attempts were rejected. 

“All decisions are at the discretion of the consulate and each one has different interpretations,” she adds.    

“It’s frustrating. I am going to bet that every single US expat will report similar experiences although we have now formed large enough communities on social media to help each other through that particular version of bureaucracy hell.”

Better weather is one of the major draws of a new life in Italy. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

She concludes that nowadays consulates seem to be friendlier than they were five years ago when she applied. 

“They’re simply kindergarten compared to the Questura.”

Carl Lobitz, a US national resident in Chieti, commented he had to deal with the Texas state bureaucracy before getting his visa, because the Italian consulate requested his place of birth on his marriage certificate.

Mark Hinshaw, a retired architect also from the States and resident in Marche, said it took him four months to collect all the documents required by the consulate for the elective residency visa and then another three months to receive it.

“It was nothing compared to the insanity of the bureaucratic complexity, confusion, and craziness here,” he writes. 

READ ALSO: How and why Italy’s elective residency visa rules are getting stricter

“I tell newcomers they must learn to laugh. Laugh a lot. After you finish crying of course.”

British citizen Margaret Tyler arrived in Italy before Brexit and has a half-Italian spouse, so visas were not the issue. The problem for her is the lack of financial clarity.

“The tax we have to pay is very high, more than the UK. It seems the government will tax anything and everything. There is no complaint process if you receive bad service which does happen,” she says. 

“Nothing is properly explained and if you are given the wrong information and if you make a mistake it’s your fault.

“Sometimes I feel we are taken advantage of because we are not Italian, which is sad.”

As well as bureaucracy, assimilating into another community and culture was another common theme.

READ ALSO: Five essential things you need to do when you move to Italy

Briton Linda Baker, an artist retired in Veneto, writes: “Probably the most important thing I have learnt is that a community is needed if you are to survive, at least at the outset to cushion the difficulties. To be honest it was terrifying in the beginning.”

Mary Hanson added that the pandemic hindered her chances of assimilation. 

“Originally we were ‘the Americans’ but by the time we crawled out from under our masks? The ship had sailed,” she says.

Dual Italian-American citizen Scott Fabbri said it’s the everyday tasks which were difficult at first, such as getting keys cut or finding an electrician.

However, all of the respondents, when asked, were more than content with the decision to retire in Italy, with the majority saying they would never return home. Perhaps, in all the bureaucratic confusion, there’s a silver lining after all.

Have you moved to Italy for retirement or are you in the process of doing so? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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