Disclosure: The links on this website may contain affiliate links. This means that we may receive a commission if you decide to make any purchases using our affiliate links, at no cost to you. Please check out my disclosure policy
The Painful Process:
It’s not uncommon to hear that the bureaucracy in Italy is less than ideal. I read horror stories about how painful the process is to file paperwork and be able to stay in Italy.
Here are the steps I took and my experiences.
1. Acquire a visa if necessary
To get to Italy from America for less than 3 months, you do not need a visa. A valid US passport with your boarding pass will do just fine. Border control might require you to show your return ticket home, FYI!
Keep in mind, if you are traveling from another country, you may need a visa to enter even for a short period of time. Make sure to go to your embassy website and find out before planning your trip.
If you know you want to stay in Italy for longer than 3 months, you can apply for a visa, specific to your reason why.
You might want to study there. Maybe you want to go for religious activity. It’s possible you need to visit a family member or friend. Maybe you want to live there forever.
Whatever the reason, it is best that you apply for a visa BEFORE coming to Italy if you plan on staying.
Once you arrive in Italy, you can NOT apply for a visa to stay in Italy. You will have to go back home, start the paperwork, and then consequently, book another trip back to Italy.
You will start this process by searching where your Italian Consulate is located in your state. In Florida, there was only one building, located in Miami. This made me want to rip out my hair because Miami is a 4-hour drive from me (one-way) and of course, they require you to go in person.
Just know, you may have to take a day or two off work to get this done as the Italian consulate in Florida had working hours only on Monday-Friday from 9-4.
When I applied, it was by appointment only and I had to wait 4 months for the appointment. What a headache!
However, there is a loophole*** around this. If you are in a serious relationship and he or she is an Italian citizen and wish to keep you in Italy, you can get married, while you are in Italy, with or without a visa.
If you are in this kind of a situation, read more below! If not, just skip on down to #2.
***The Loophole
When I arrived in Italy, I knew I wanted to marry Marco, but he had not asked me yet. Along with many others who had plans altered because of the pandemic, my 4-month long wait for my visa appointment was postponed.
The Italian consulate only remained open for “emergencies” and despite my many efforts to explain why I needed to move there immediately, they didn’t think that an American citizen relocating to stay in Italy was on the top of their list. Yeah, I still feel a little salty about it.
I had already sold my home and nearly all of my things in America in anticipation of my move to Italy. Due to COVID-19, my flight was canceled and I ended up living with my dad in my 30’s. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad and he’s the best. I’m just super independent and it wasn’t in my plans.
Anyway, I decided to go to Italy and stay with the maximum allowance of 3 months. Then if I had to go back to the US for 3 more months (the amount of time you have to stay out of Italy after being there for 90 days without a visa) while trying to acquire my visa in the meantime, I would do it.
Long story short, Marco proposed while I was in Italy (Whoooo Hoooo!) and we decided if we could get married before my 3 months was up, maybe I wouldn’t have to go back to America and we would never be separated again.
We discovered an easy way to get married, online! With fluttering hearts, we were ecstatic that there could be a way to keep love together. Love knows no boundaries!
We had our marriage certificate mailed to us from America in the next 3 days and we were off to the Italian City Hall. Hooray!!! I get to stay in Italy!!
By the way, if Marco didn’t propose and we didn’t get married, I would still be waiting on that visa. It’s been 1 year now since I made that first appointment and I’ve still yet to hear back. Mamma Mia (imagine in my best Italian accent!
2. Notify police upon arrival
I had no clue that I needed to do this. Upon reading tons of articles and all the fine print on the government sites, I feel like I may have read this somewhere but perhaps it was lost in all the other important to-dos to get to Italy.
Trust me! It’s important!!!
It doesn’t seem to make sense, because many people come and visit Italy for a month or so and never report to the authorities that they are staying with a friend. They arrive, they explore, they leave. The end.
Well, when you want to stay in Italy, you must not skip this step or later on, it will come back to haunt you!
Honestly, I am still a bit confused about what is required and what’s not. So, I’m going to tell you how it went for me, and what I’ve found out. I’ll also share some links to help you navigate your way through this process. It is not a “one size fits all” type of thing!
Find your local police station (Carabinieri, Polizia, or Municipale) and give them a call or email them to tell them you are reporting that you have entered the country.
They will probably ask you for your address and inquire about a few other things. Maybe they will require you to go fill out some paperwork, I don’t really know because I have read on official government websites different things ANDDDD I accidentally skipped this step. Don’t worry, I’ll give you all the details on this story, just keep reading!
The important thing is that you call them immediately and see what you need to do!
1. If you want to stay in Italy...
....You must get a Permesso di Soggiorno
In short, you need a permesso di soggiorno, also known as PDS. This is the Italian residency permit and if you want to stay in Italy for longer than 90 days, all non-EU citizens have to apply for one.
Similar to the visa process, there are several types of PDS you can apply for. For example, family reasons, study, voluntary work, adoption, work, medical care, etc.
I’ve read that you need to apply for this within 8 days upon arriving to the country if your goal is to enter and stay in Italy.
3A. How to get a PDS to stay in Italy (for the spouse of an Italian citizen)
Step A:
Typically, if you’re entering Italy from outside of the EU, you need a visa. Remember, I shared my loophole with you and how I got around that process.
Step B:
Make an appointment at the Questura. Prior to COVID-19 you could just show up. Now, you have to schedule your time to apply for the PDS.
As a spouse of an Italian citizen, you can call the Questura and they will give you the website on where to schedule the appointment directly. You can also try to do this if you aren’t married, but prior to COVID-19, you had to apply at the post office.
Yes, you read that right, the post office. Italians do many things there!
Now, when you call or email (writing a message might be best if you don’t know Italian well and don’t have someone to help you- google translate will be your best friend!!) to schedule your appointment, ask for a list of all the documents you need.
I didn’t find this list on any of the official websites and if I wouldn’t have searched and read a blog about it, I would have showed up to my appointment empty handed like an idiot!
Step C:
Hunt down the documents you need to bring to the appointment.
This is the list of what I had to bring/do:
- 4 passport photos
Find a photo shop. You can’t take just take a selfie. Think “passport photo.” At the photo shop, they took my professional pictures and printed them in a matter of minutes. It was inexpensive too! I think around 8 euros. YAY!
- Marca da bollo (these are available at any tabaccaio)
This is pretty straight forward. This is a stamp. You have to ask for the marca da bollo that is 16 euros.
- Original Passport with a photocopy of every page with information (including stamps and visas)
- Copy of Permesso di soggiorno, if you already have one. For example, you were already located in Italy with a different PDS.
- Declaration of hospitality- This form needs to be validated by the local police (It is signed by the owner of the property where you’re staying that declares you have permission to dwell there.) **This is also why you should report where you are staying as soon as you arrive in the country.
If you didn’t report to the police that you arrived in the country, this is the point where you will get caught. On this form, it asks you the date you entered. If you don’t date the document within 48 hours or 8 days, or something like that…. they can fine you up to 1100 euros or I’m sure whatever number they feel like. Yikes!
Please learn from my mistake!! Thankfully the officers here were very kind and understood that I entered the country not knowing I was staying. I was very lucky!
- Marriage certificate and photocopy– your marriage certificate must be translated into Italian (by a professional) and contain an apostille stamp if you were married anywhere outside of Italy.
- Registration at the Anagrafe (registry office)– If your spouse is an EU citizen, you have to go here to get a document to prove he/she is registered.
- Copy of ID document (of the spouse) Passport or ID card.
- Certificate of Residence (of the spouse)-This is also a document they can give you at the anagrafe. It basically states where you are living. You need the original and a copy.
- Declaration of support- this proves you or your spouse have enough money to support you to live and stay in Italy. It’s the tax form called “modello unico” that EU citizens fill out every year.
Since I teach online while in Italy and can provide for myself, my spouse didn’t have to provide the modello unico. The officer asked me to show my work contract instead.
I handed her copies of my bank statements as I had printed off my balances for the last 6 months. As I frantically searched for my work contract in my email, she waved me away to go to the next step. I guess my bank statements were enough. Whew!
Here is the original copy of the list the Questura gave me (in Italian):
The Questura
You might be reading and asking yourself…what even is a questura? It’s ok. I remember asking Marco too.
The questura is basically the headquarters for all the police departments in town.
Each city has its own questura. You can do multiple things here but for the purpose of this article, this is where you will obtain your PDS.
Here they will double check all of your information in the database and fingerprint your hands.
I read a lot about people who wanted to stay in Italy and their terrible experiences at the Questura. I’m not sure if I got lucky or if the mandatory appointments due to COVID-19 actually helped make the process smoother.
What I Read:
- This might be your worst nightmare. Seriously, people were upset!
- Expect to wait…. A long time! Someone said they waited FIVE hours!
- Assume you will have to make several trips, and wait each time.
Bring some books and snacks to save yourself from boredom and to keep your your belly happy.
Side note- bring tissues or a roll of tp in case you need to use the restroom, many Questura’s don’t supply toilet paper. That would be tragic for me (an avid water drinker) with countless hours of waiting.
What I Experienced:
- You will walk right in, fill out paperwork, and they will call your number to be seen within minutes!
I was fully prepared to stay for hours but never even had the chance to crack open a book, eat a snack, or even use the restroom. High five, Italy!!
So far, going to the Questura was the easiest of my tasks completed to stay in Italy. I hope it is as simple for you too! 🙂
Obtain your codice fiscale
Lastly, to stay in Italy you will want to get your codice fiscale, it is like a social security number for an American.
You can actually get this immediately after your successful appointment with your temporary permesso di soggiorno. You don’t have to have your physical card yet to move on to this step.
The codice fiscale is issued by the agenzia delle entrate. To contact them, was a tricky task to accomplish.
First, Marco typed “agenzia delle entrate” into google to get the phone number. He called multiple times throughout the week and no one ever picked up. Surprise surprise!
Next, he drove to the nearest agenzia delle entrate building. On the door was a sign with not 1, 2, or even 3 phone numbers to contact. We are talking about 6 flipping phone numbers! S-I-X! You might imagine how the next steps went!!
Then he dialed the first number, surprise again……no answer. He repeated this most joyous process with all of the phone numbers he received. On the very last try, finally someone answered!
The operator told him about a form online we needed to fill out and gave him the correct email address to the agenzia delle entrate that coincides with where we live.
Lastly, Marco emailed them requesting the codice fiscale and attached the form along with my ID (passport.)
They responded back to the email a couple of days later with the codice fiscale attached! WOW! That was much faster than I ever dreamed of!!
They told us the permanent “tessera sanitaria” which literally means “health card” would arrive to our home through the regular post service within a month. It is a physical card, very much like an insurance card.
You need this card every time you go to the doctor or hospital. They scan the card at each visit and it records all of your medical records and history.
Reasons why you want the codice fiscale:
- Sign up for free healthcare (general doctors, emergency room visits, etc.)
- Open a bank account
- Work
- Buy a car
- Buy a house
Just to name a few! It’s a great perk of living in Italy!!
Do you really want to stay in Italy?
If your answer is yes, you will make it through this seemingly never-ending process. Aren’t all good things worth fighting for?
Check out these websites for further information on your exact situation.
A full comprehensive guide to move to Milan.
Steps for foreigners to enter Italy (government site).
In conclusion, you may shed a few tears but I hope this guide on how to stay in Italy will minimize your troubles along the way.
If you haven’t already read my article on what to do now in Italy, go check it out for more useful tips!!
Comment below with your experience! I would love to compare stories and learn more helpful tips for future readers.
XOXOXO
