Short stays, Schengen, EES and ETIAS

A British citizen, like a citizen of the United States, of Canada or of Australia, enters Italy without a visa for a visit, for business, for study of less than three months or to see a family, for at most ninety days in any period of one hundred and eighty, counted across the whole Schengen area. The rule is simple and the consequences of ignoring it are not, and since 2026 the border no longer relies on a stamp to count the days.

The ninety days

The ninety days are counted backwards from each day of presence over the preceding one hundred and eighty, so that a stay of three months in the spring excludes any further stay until the autumn, and a day in France or in Spain counts as a day in Italy. Days spent in Italy under a national visa or with a residence permit are outside the count. The passport must have been issued less than ten years before the entry and must be valid for at least three months after the planned departure from the Schengen area, and a visitor who stays beyond the ninety days without a permit risks a refusal of entry and a ban from the whole area of up to three years. A visitor who does not lodge in a hotel declares his presence to the Questura within eight days of the entry, on the form of the law of 2007, while the hotel makes the declaration for its guests.

The Entry/Exit System

Since 12 October 2025 the external borders of the Schengen area register the entries and exits of third-country nationals in the Entry/Exit System, which became fully operational on 10 April 2026 and has replaced the stamp in the passport. At the first entry the traveller gives the fingerprints and a photograph, free of charge, and the record is kept for three years, after which the system counts the days of every later visit on its own. A traveller who holds a long-stay visa or a residence permit is registered as such and is not subject to the count.

ETIAS

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System, the authorisation which visa-exempt travellers will request online before a journey, is not yet in operation. The European Commission has withdrawn the date it had announced for the last quarter of 2026 and will announce the new one several months before the start, which the trade press now expects in 2027. The fee has been fixed at twenty euro, the authorisation will be valid for three years or until the expiry of the passport, travellers under eighteen and over seventy will be exempt from the fee, and the holders of a visa or of a residence permit will not need it. Until it starts, nothing is requested before the journey.

The short-stay visa

A citizen of a country whose nationals need a visa for the Schengen area, as India, Nigeria, Pakistan or South Africa, applies for the uniform visa at the Italian consulate of the country of residence, through its visa centre, with the form, the passport, the photographs, the proof of the purpose and of the means of the journey, the accommodation, the return and a medical insurance of at least thirty thousand euro. The fee is ninety euro since 11 June 2024, forty-five for children between six and twelve and nothing under six, and the decision is given as a rule within fifteen days of an admissible application, a term the consulate extends where it must consult. A resident of the United Kingdom who is not a British citizen applies in London, Manchester or Edinburgh with the proof of the British status. A second home in Italy gives its owner no right beyond the ninety days, and the elective residence visa is the route for those who wish to stay longer.

If you are not sure how many days you have left, or whether your plans in Italy need a visa, send us the dates of your journeys and your situation. We tell you what the rules allow and which visa, if any, is the right one.