Italy visas and residence permits
Since 1 January 2021 a British citizen is a third-country national for Italian immigration law. A visit of up to ninety days in any period of one hundred and eighty needs no visa. Anything longer, and anything which involves working, studying or settling, needs a national visa issued by the consulate before departure and a residence permit requested in Italy after arrival. This page sets out the visas which matter to our clients: those who move to Italy for its own sake, those who move to complete the two years of residence which naturalisation requires, and the British family members of Italian citizens.
Short stays
A British passport allows ninety days of presence in the Schengen area in any rolling period of one hundred and eighty days, counted across all the Schengen States together. The Entry/Exit System has recorded entries and exits at the external borders since April 2026, and the ETIAS travel authorisation, at a fee of 20 euro, is announced for the end of 2026 with a transition period before it becomes compulsory. Neither changes the ninety-day limit. A person who intends to apply for recognition of citizenship at a comune can enter under this rule and lodge the application at the comune of residence. The residence permit pending citizenship, provided for by circular 32/2007 of the Ministry of the Interior, is then issued by the Questura for the duration of the examination and allows the applicant to stay beyond the ninety days.
Elective residence
The visa for elective residence, provided for by the ministerial decree of 11 May 2011 on visa types, is the visa of those who move to Italy to live on their own means, without working. The consulate asks for a stable passive income of at least 31,000 euro a year for one person, and higher for a couple, from pensions, annuities, property or investments, and not from employment or from a business to be run in Italy. It asks for a home in Italy, owned or rented under a registered lease, for health insurance valid for the first year, and for the proof of the income over the previous years. Work of any kind is excluded. The permit which follows is renewable, and the residence it creates, once registered in the anagrafe of the comune, is legal residence for every purpose, including the two years of article 9 of the citizenship law.
A retired couple from Kent, both grandchildren of Italians, whose line is closed under article 3-bis because the grandparents became British before their children were born. They sell the house, buy a flat in Lucca and apply for the elective residence visa with their pensions and the deed. After the visa they register in the anagrafe of Lucca with the residence permit. Two years later, as the grandchildren of Italian citizens by birth, they apply for naturalisation under article 9, with the B1 certificate and the income they already have.
Work
Employment in Italy requires an authorisation requested by the employer, the nulla osta, from the Sportello Unico per l’Immigrazione of the Prefecture, within the quotas fixed each year by the Government. The decree for the three years 2026 to 2028, adopted on 15 October 2025, admits 497,550 non-EU workers, 164,850 of them in 2026, for seasonal and non-seasonal employment and self-employment, and the applications for 2026 were lodged by the employers on the dates set in January and February 2026 through the portal of the Ministry of the Interior. With the nulla osta the worker applies for the visa at the consulate, enters Italy, signs the contract and requests the residence permit within eight working days.
Outside the quotas, article 27 of the Consolidated Immigration Act admits managers and highly qualified staff transferred within a company, holders of the EU Blue Card for highly qualified employment, researchers, university lecturers, journalists, nurses, professional sportsmen and a number of other categories, at any time of the year. The reform of 2025 added, in paragraph 1-octies of the same article, the entry for employment outside the quotas of descendants of Italian citizens who hold the citizenship of a State of major Italian emigration. The ministerial decree of 17 November 2025 lists seven: Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Australia, Canada, Venezuela and Uruguay. The United Kingdom is not among them, and a British citizen uses this route only if he also holds one of those citizenships.
The visa for remote workers and digital nomads, introduced by article 27, paragraph 1-sexies, of the same Act and in force since April 2024, admits a highly qualified person who works remotely for an employer or clients outside Italy, with an income of at least three times the minimum level fixed for the exemption from health contributions, health insurance, accommodation and at least six months of experience in the activity. It is valid for one year and renewable, and it does not depend on the quotas.
Family members of an Italian citizen
The British spouse, civil partner, child under twenty-one or dependent parent of an Italian citizen who moves to Italy enters with a visa for family reasons, issued by the consulate free of charge and with priority under Legislative Decree 30/2007, which applies the European rules on free movement to the family members of Italian citizens. In Italy the family member requests the residence card for family members of a Union citizen, valid five years, from the Questura, and after five years the permanent card. The card allows work without any authorisation. The period of marriage required for citizenship by marriage runs from the date of the ceremony, not from the move.
Study
A British student enrolled at an Italian university, or in a recognised course of more than ninety days, applies for the study visa with the admission letter, the proof of means, the accommodation and the health insurance. The residence permit for study is renewable for the duration of the course, allows part-time work within the limit set by law, and can be converted into a permit for work at the end of the studies. The years spent in Italy with a study permit count as legal residence for naturalisation only from the date of the registration in the anagrafe, which a student should request on arrival and not at the end.
What counts as legal residence
The two years of article 9 of Law 91/1992 for the child or grandchild of an Italian citizen, and the ten years for everybody else, are years of legal residence: registration in the anagrafe of a comune, with a valid residence permit, without interruption. The permit alone is not enough, and the registration alone is not possible without the permit. A person who intends to be naturalised should therefore request the permit within eight working days of arrival, register in the anagrafe as soon as the permit is requested, renew the permit before it expires, and keep the proof of each step. A gap in the registration, a permit left to expire or a move between comuni without a new registration interrupts the period and starts it again.
The residence permit pending citizenship is issued only to a person who has applied for recognition by descent at a comune. A descendant whose line is closed under article 3-bis cannot use it to start the two years, and needs one of the visas above.
If you plan to move to Italy, send us your circumstances and the family line. The written assessment tells you which visa fits, what the consulate will ask for, and how the residence is kept legal from the first day.