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VISAS

What type of visa will you need to move to Italy?

If you're planning to move to Italy from outside the European Union, the first step is getting a visa. But which one will you need? Here's a look at the different visa types available to help you get started.

Published: 23 August 2021 13:08 CEST
Updated: 11 July 2023 09:23 CEST
What type of visa will you need to move to Italy?
The view from Rome's Capitoline Hill. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Non-EU citizens planning to stay in Italy for more than three months will need a visa (visto). And the type you’ll need to apply for depends on the reason you want to live in Italy.

If you’re a citizen of a country covered by European Union freedom of movement rules, visa requirements do not apply, although you will need an Italian residence permit for stays longer than 90 days.

READ ALSO: ‘Do your homework’: An American’s guide to moving to Italy

For everyone else, this article looks at Italy’s long stay visas, also known as the ‘Type D’ or ‘D-Visa’. This is the type of visa you’ll need to get if you want to stay in Italy longer than 90 days – eg. when moving here for study, work, family reasons, or retirement.

Remember that a long-stay visa allows you to enter Italy. After that, you will also have to get an Italian residence permit (permesso di soggiorno) in order to be allowed to stay for longer than 90 days. 

For employees: work visa

If you’re a citizen of another EU country, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Switzerland, you don’t need a permit to work in Italy.

If you’re from another country, you will need a work visa. You will also need to check the requirements according to the type of work you intend to do, as Italy uses a quota system for visas for lots of occupations.

Italy’s government in 2022 approved a special ‘digital nomad’ visa for remote workers, which would operate outside the quota system. But so far, there’s no sign of this visa type becoming a reality.

In all cases, you must find a job before applying for the visa. The good news is that your employer will then complete most of the visa application process for you. All you need to do is provide them with the relevant paperwork.

Your employer will apply for permission to hire a migrant worker from the immigration desk at their local Prefettura (prefecture, the regional office of the central government). They will then be given your authorization to work. The Prefettura will inform the Italian consulate or embassy in your home country that your application can go ahead.

READ ALSO: ‘The job can come as a shock’: What it’s really like working as an English teacher in Italy

Your local embassy will provide you with an entry visa, which should take less than 30 days. You’ll have six months from the date of authorization to visit your local Italian embassy and collect your visa.

Photo: Andreas SOLARO/AFP

For students: student visa

Non-EU students are required to obtain a student visa prior entering Italy.

There are two types of student visas in Italy, depending on the duration of the study program:

  • Type C: Short-stay visa or travel visa (for a period not exceeding 90 days).
  • Type D: Long-stay visa (for more than 90 days).

When applying you should provide a letter of acceptance to your course in Italy, as well as proof of accommodation, sufficient financial means and health insurance.

READ ALSO: Five things to know before you apply for an Italian student visa

For people with relatives in Italy: family visa

There is a visa available for dependents of an Italian citizen, or a non-EU citizen with an Italian permit of stay. This allows entrance in Italy to their spouse, children or dependent parents.

You will need to provide evidence of your relationship with the person whose dependent you will be, for instance marriage or birth certificates.

For entrepreneurs, artists and qualified professionals: self-employed visa

Foreign citizens can also apply for a visa in order to start a company in Italy, to work as a qualified, self-employed professional (for instance an accountant or translator) or as a professional artisan, artist or athlete, or to take a corporate managerial role.

Applicants must demonstrate that they have the equivalent qualifications and meet the same conditions required of Italians doing the same activity.

Photo: Andreas Solaro

For people with money: investor visa

Italy offers a “golden visa” for those planning to invest in strategic assets in Italy. Both non-EU citizens and people from within the Schengen zone can apply.

In exchange for a minimum investment of €500,000 to €2 million in certain companies, charities or government bonds, the visa entitles you two years’ residency, renewable for further three-year periods, and special tax benefits. Investors’ families are eligible to apply for dependent visas.

Read more about applying for the investor visa here.

For retirees: elective residency visa

This lesser-known type of visa is designed for those who want to live in Italy and have the financial means to support themselves without working. It is often referred to as a retirement visa.

The Italian Consulate of San Francisco describes it as being for people who “wish to reside permanently in Italy and who can demonstrate a stable and ample pension income and high financial resources”.

READ ALSO: ‘What I wish I’d known’: An American’s advice on getting residency in Italy

It is not for extended vacations or sabbaticals. Nor is it for anyone who wants to work in Italy – even freelance or remotely – or who does not have the means to support themselves without a job.

But if you’re an independent retiree looking to move to Italy, it might just be for you. Find out more about applying for the elective residency visa here.

For young people: working holiday visa

Italy also has a a type of visa available only to people aged 18-30 from certain countries under a working holiday program.

Currently, Italy has Working Holiday Visa agreements with the following countries and the requirements vary for each:

Young people aged 18-30 from the above-mentioned countries can apply for this visa, which allows them to live and work in Italy for up to a year.

Note:

Whichever type of visa you need, you should apply for it at the Italian embassy or consulate in your home country before you leave. Bear in mind that the process can take a while – it’s best to ask your embassy for an idea of the required timeframe and then start as early as you can.

And remember that your visa isn’t the only permission you’ll need if you want to live in Italy. 

After you enter Italy with a long-stay visa, you have 8 days to apply for a residence permit (permesso di soggiorno). The length of time this document will remain valid depends on the type of visa you have.

Find out more about the process of applying for a residency permit once you arrive in Italy here.

Please note that The Local is unable to advise on specific cases. For more information about visa applications, see the Italian Foreign Ministry’s visa website, or contact your embassy or local Questura in Italy

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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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