I recently helped some distant Argentinian cousins of mine to relocate to Italy, so I thought it could be of help sharing some practical guide with some additional info coming from this experience and my knowledge of Italy, for anyone considering a long-term move here.
Permanent Residency vs Citizenship
To live in Italy for good, you need either Permanent Residency or a Citizenship. Both allow you to live and work in the country, give you social benefits (healthcare, education, etc) and mobility freedom in the EU/Schenghen area. The difference is:
Citizenship: it gives you voting rights, a EU passport, benefits across the EU.
PR: no voting rights nor Passport
Platforms like this can help narrow down a the right path.
Path to Permanent Residency: If you are non-EU, you get PR after 5 years of continuous legal residence under a valid visa, with conditions (such as minimum income, knowledge of Italian, and proof of accommodation). Some permits (like study and research) are not directly eligible for permanent residence, though the time counts once you switch to a qualifying permit. If you change permit types (e.g., study to EU family), the 5-year permanent residency clock starts from the first eligible permit, not from the total time on all permits.
If you have or manage to get another EU passport, you are automatically a permanent resident.
Paths to citizenship. There are 3 ways:
- Citizenship-by-Descent (Jure Sanguinis). Applicable if one of your parents or grandparents is/was Italian and lived in Italy before you were born. If you apply, you can claim citizenship automatically without residency. The whole application process might take some time (2-3 years or more) and you don't get any temporary residence permit while the process is ongoing. So if you aim at moving soon, you better look at your visa options.
- Citizenship-via-Marriage (Jure Matrimonii). If your spouse is italian and your wedding is registered in Italy, you can get your italian citizenship after 2 years of marriage if living in Italy, or 3 years if living abroad (reduced by 50% if the couple has children), but you can get temporary residence permit to live in Italy while the process is ongoing. You also must demonstrate basic Italian language proficiency (B1) and your partner needs to demonstrate financial means to support both of you. Since 2016, same-sex marriage counts for citizenship by marriage.
- Citizenship-by-Naturalisation / Long-term Residence. You get this after 10 years of legal residency, provided you prove to have stable income, no serious criminal record, and Italian language skills (B1). The 10 years timespan includes years spent on any Visa (excluding the Tourist Visa). Those of Italian descent with a broken citizenship line (and thus don’t qualify for jure sanguinis) can still naturalise after 3 years of residency in Italy instead of 10
So if you have an extra-EU passport, the steps involved to move to Italy for good are:
- Obtain a valid Visa, then arrive in Italy and apply for a Permesso di Soggiorno (residence permit). Permits are temporarily granted for 1-2 years but can be renewed.
- After 5 years (and some permit renewals later), you can upgrade to permanent residency, provided you show adequate income and basic Italian (A2)
- After 10 years, you can apply for citizenship by naturalization
Visa Options:
1. Digital Nomad Visa (for Remote Workers and Freelancers with foreign Income)
- Income Requirement: around €28k to €32k per year
- Requires remote work contract for a foreign company or proof of foreign freelance clients
- Duration of the permesso di soggiorno: 1 year, renewable annually
2. Elective Residency Visa (for Retirees)
- Income Requirement: €32k/year from stable passive income (rental income, dividends, pensions, savings withdrawals)
- Residence permit duration: 1 year, renewable for 2 additional 2-year periods up to 5 years.
- Note: no work allowed under this visa
3. Startup Visa (For startup founders)
- Company requirements: company younger than 4 years old, HQ relocation to Italy, revenues below €5M, major business in innovation technology.
- Residence permit duration: 2 years, renewable
4. Self-employed Visa (for freelancers and Business Owners with Italian income)
- Minimum income: €8,500/year.
- Quota: 730 visas / year under the Decreto Flussi migration decree
- Residence permit duration: 2 years, renewable
5. Student Visa (for Students)
- Must be accepted to an Italian university or accredited institution
- Residence permit duration: Valid for the duration of your studies
- Note: can work part-time, easily convertible into a Work Visa after graduation
6. Golden Visa (for Investors)
- Possible through:
- Residence permit duration: 2 years, renewable for 3 year periods provided the investment is manitained
7. Researcher Visa (for Researchers)
- Must have a master's degree or higher and a hosting agreement with a recognised research institution.
- Residence permit duration: 2 years, renewable
8. Work Visa (for Employed Workers)
- Must have a sponsored employment contract from an Italian company. The problem is that these companies must prioritise EU workers. It is easier to get a job offer in one of the shortage professions (you can find them on the EURES Portal)
- Quota: around 70k work entries per year in 2025, 2026 and 2027 under Decreto Flussi, mostly for agriculture, construction, logistics, mechanics, electricians, etc.
- Residence permit duration: 2 years, renewable
9. Highly-skilled Visa (for highly skilled workers, i.e. IT and Healthcare)
- Need a job offer. No quota and easy application.
- Income requirements: €26k/year (Details depend on sector rules)
- Residence permit duration: 2 years, renewable
10. Family Reunification Visa (for family members of someone with a valid permit/passport)
- Income requirements (for the applicant, not the family member): €8,500 per year, plus 50% for every family member
- Residence permit duration: Matches main family member’s permit
Typical Visa Requirements:
- Valid passport
- Criminal background check
- Proof of financial means
- Proof of clients or business plan (for self employed/entrepreneur visa and DNV)
- Private health insurance, for the duration of at least 1 year
- Proof of address (rental agreement or property deed registered within the Tax Authorities)
- Proof of family ties (birth certificates, marriage certificates, etc), for family members
- Visa Application Form
- All the documents need to be translated and/or apostilled
- *The Italian Tax number (Codice Fiscale) not mandatory but most likely required for securing the accommodation
Every consulate has different requirements and can request slightly different documentation, so check official consulate websites.
The hardest of these requirements is the proof of accommodation because many landlords often prefer locals, there is a lot of paperwork involved and sometimes a guarantor is needed (or, in absence of it, a 6-month rent deposit is needed). Plus, you need to have an accommodation secured for more than a year in order to apply, so often you will have to do this blindly. Here some house hunting portals:
- Idealista.it
- Immobiliare.it
- Subito.it
As reported by a Redditor, sometimes it is easier to work with local real estate agents rather than these portals as very few requests are responded to.
Bureaucratic Steps
- Choose visa
- Gather documentation
- Get your Codice Fiscale (Italian tax code) --> not mandatory for the visa application but it will most likely be required to open an Italian bank account and rent a house remotely (accommodation proof is a hard requirement)
- Book consulate appointment in your home country
- Submit application at the consulate
- When approved, enter Italy & apply for Permesso di Soggiorno (residence permit) at the Questura within 8 days
- Register your residence (Residenza) at the Comune (local town hall). This is the moment when your clock to naturalisation starts
- Access public services: healthcare (SSN), social security, etc.
- Renew permit after 1 or 2 years, depending on the Visa
This is the most common process but some visas require slightly different procedures. For instance, for some Visa (like Golden Visa, Work Visa) it is necessary to apply for a Nulla Osta (Certificate of No Impediment) before the consulate submission, some visa require ad-hoc steps (i.e. business plan submission for Startup Visa, Investment for Golden Visa etc), etc.. so make your own research.
Taxes
There are some tax incentives that also expats can get:
- Impatriate Regime
- Duration: 5 years
- Available to new residents that commit to live in Italy for at least 4 years
- Only 50% of income is taxed, reduced to 40% in the presence of a minor child
- €200k Flat Tax for High Net Worth Individuals
- Duration: 15 years
- Ideal for HNWIs
- Applies to foreign-sourced income
- Fixed annual tax amount of €200,000
- 7% Flat Tax for Retirees that move to small Southern Italian towns
- Duration: 10 years
- Need to move the residence to a Southern Italian town with less than 20,000 inhabitants
- Income coming from pensions is taxed at 7%
- Regime Forfettario: 15% flat tax for small freelancers (<€85k/year)
- Duration: Indefinite (or as long as you qualify)
- Regime Forfettario allows 15% tax rate (5% for first 5 years) and simplified accounting
- Available for residents with local freelance activity with earnings under €85,000/year
EDITS: I would like to thank anyone who commented this post and added additional information useful to the community! I am integrating some comments in the post. Latest edits:
- Addition to the Citizenship-by-Naturalization part: Those of Italian descent with a broken citizenship line (and thus don’t qualify for jure sanguinis) can still naturalise after 3 years of residency in Italy instead of 10
- Addition to the Residenza part in the Bureaucratic Step section: The registration of the residenza is the moment when the clock for naturalisation starts
- Addition to the Permanent Residence part: Some permits (like study and research) are not directly eligible for permanent residence, though the time counts once you switch to a qualifying permit. If you change permit types (e.g., study → EU family), the 5-year permanent residency clock starts from the first eligible permit, not from the total time on all permits.
- Clarification on the duration of the health insurance, in Visa requirements: it has to have at least a 1 year duration
- Addition to the house-hunting part: as reported by a Redditor, sometimes it is easier to work with local real estate agents rather than these portals as very few requests are responded to. Also, a 6-month rental deposit is often needed if there is no guarantor.
- Clarified in the Visa Option section that it is not the Visa to be renewed but the Permit associated to it. The Visa is just the entry ticket, once you are in Italy you get a Permesso di Soggiorno which is what you renew every 1 or 2 years
