Relocating to Italy - Questions and Answers

By Richard Greenbury
27 Dec 2020

Relocating to a new place can be challenging if you don’t know the rules and the culture of that country. You might feel a bit lonely while trying to solve these challenges but don’t worry! It is actually as simple as it is.

This is why we have made a shortlist of questions about relocating to Italy that appear in everyone’s minds and answered them for you.

Is Italy safe to live in?

In general yes. It depends on which city you decide to live in. In general, the Italian people are very civil and respectful. They are very family orientated and have good virtues. You might get scammed by the taxi driver, or pick-pocketed on the tram but the chance of a more serious crime against you is quite low.

According to Numbeo, Italy has a lower crime rate than the USA or the UK.

How long can tourists stay in Italy?

If you are a non-EU citizen, you can stay in Italy (or any Schengen country) for up to 90 days in every half a year (whether you need to acquire a Schengen Visa or not). This means that after you fill your 90 days in Italy, you are required to go back to your home country and then be allowed to have another 90 days trip. You can obtain your Schengen visa from the Italian consulate in your country however, if you are planning to acquire a Schengen visa from another European country, remember, your first travel should be that country of which you acquired your visa. (For example, if you get a visa from the German Consulate, you are requested to first travel to Germany with that visa, and only then you can travel to Italy.) It is highly recommended not to overstay otherwise you might end up having some problems at the airport or might get banned from visa rights of Italy.

What should you do if you plan to live in Italy?

Well first of all you need a reason to live in Italy, you can apply to residency if you plan to study, work or have health reasons.

If you’re an EU citizen: it is very simple, you just need to register as a resident with the required documents (rental contract, insurance, a document of income proof) within 90 days of arrival. Full details here

If you’re a Non-EU citizen: you need to apply for a residence permit through the post office. They will give you a kit to be filled out and request some documents. Full details here

For detailed information visit the website: https://ec.europa.eu/immigration/node_en

What should you do once you arrive in Italy?

Within 10 days of arrival in Italy, you must register your residency through your country’s consulate, if you don’t do it on time, you will be asked to pay a fee. It is necessary to keep your residency up to date in order to continue your bureaucratic relation with your origin country.

You need to apply for a residence permit within 8 working days from the arrival in Italy.

Which bank should you use in Italy?

It is advised to have an Italian bank account for several reasons, you might need money from your family or to ensure a document that you are paying your taxes if you’re working. There are several banks in Italy and most of them have global agreements, so check if the bank you chose has agreements with the one in your origin country. This might help you save from some charges.

For ex-pats N26 is also pretty practical since it is an online bank and reduces most of the charges this way. For more about banks in Italy check out this article.

Which health insurance should you use?

There are several ways to apply for a health insurance, first way is to apply in your home country that covers Italy as well. This option might be cheaper a well. Another solution is to apply when you arrive to Italy through post office. If you’re a student, the health insurance costs 100 euros and all you need to do is to fill out a form and pay it there. The last option is to apply for “Tessera Sanitaria”, which is the insurance that Italians use. This one costs a bit more, but you will get free access to all the health benefits. You can ask for your own family doctor and use public health services.

How can you learn Italian?

There are public and private language schools in Italy that usually schedule every half a year. The private ones cost a bit more, but some people prefer them because they can also acquire a residence permit through these schools. The public schools are mostly for residents of Italy, the costs vary between €30 to €150 in each city. You can learn about these schools through the municipality (Commune) website of your city.

Misconceptions

To wrap up we have added a few misconceptions floating around out there on the web that you should not fall for:

You can apply for your visa in Italy. You CANNOT. Visas are not issued in Italy – you must go to the nearest Italian Consulate in your country of residency to obtain it.
Overstaying your tourist visa is ok, the Italians don’t care. THEY DO CARE! And if you overstay and they catch you at the airport on the way out you will most likely have to pay a fine and it will be difficult to come back in the future.
You can work on a Schengen Visa. You CANNOT work here in Italy on a Schengen Visa as it is not a work permit. This Visa simply allows the traveler to remain in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period for business or pleasure.

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Richard

Richard is the founder of Cribmed. He was born and grew up in New Zealand. In his twenties, he traveled and backpacked extensively before finally settling down in Rome, Italy in 2011.