Italian Bureaucracy: A Brief Overview of the Different Documents

Who wants to deal with paperwork? No-one, but you might want to be aware of these things beforehand, just to make the most of your years here. In this article you will find a brief collection of things that require Italian bureaucracy that you may encounter throughout your life in Italy. 

The first and most important (required) is the Codice Fiscale and the ISEE, which we will cover in a separate article. Then comes the public health system and how to access it. Lastly, you might be wondering about driving, and what on earth SPID and PEC stand for, and if you need to really know this much information.

Codice Fiscale – Your tax identity number, equivalent to the American “Social Security” or the British “National Insurance Number”

Residenza – declares you as an official tax resident in Italy, meaning you are declaring your primary home as being in Italy (Don’t worry, as a student you won’t have to pay taxes or anything)

Carta D’Identità (CIE)– national identity card that can only be issued once you declare residency, a Carta d’Identità is not essential to living here, but it is if you want to do your driving school in Italy

SPID – Digital Identity which is used to access various government sites

PEC – A certified email address, it’s the legal equivalent of a registered snail-mail, which can legally prove that you sent and/or received an email, and is conveniently also certifies your identity to the receiver.

Truth is, many people sail right through their years without needing any of this information, and many others end up being baffled when they hear that they need so-and-so for the first time after about 4 years of being in Italy. It’s always better to be aware of how the bureaucracy works.

Codice Fiscale

This is a unique identifier number that is necessary for any and all official paperwork, such as enrolling into the university, opening a bank account, obtaining a sim card etc. You can easily get one by going to the local Agenzie delle Entrate with your passport and a proof of address. 

You will have to fill in a form at the office, which is usually only in Italian. The clerk will give you a stamped sheet of paper which can be used as official proof, and you may or may not (depending on the city/competence) receive a green codice fiscale card by post. However, in everyday life you will see people use a blue card instead. This is the Tesera Sanitaria (Health Insurance Card) which can be substituted for the Codice Fiscale Card.

Residenza

A person’s primary residence, or main residence is the dwelling where they usually live, typically a house or an apartment. A person can only have one primary residence at any given time, though they may share the residence with other people.

Wikipedia

The purposes of declaring residency are varied, and numerous. If you are British, you will do it for {Brexit purposes}. If you want to get around to obtaining an Italian driving permit, you also need to declare residency. Residents also have access to more banking options. In Italy, declaring residency essentially opens up access to many state rights, and is the first step in obtaining citizenship.

To obtain residency, all you need is to have a rental contract, a landlord who is ok with you declaring residency, valid identity documents and LOTS of patience. To register, you should check your local municipal (comune) website, (Rome, for example, has various administrative municipality zones so you should check which office you should be contacting). You will have to fill in a form and either submit by email or in person at the office, and eventually municipal police will come and check that you do indeed live there.

The certificate will need to be requested seperately, and depends on the city you’re living in. For example, in Rome, it is requested either directly at the municipio or at the post office, whereas in Milan, you may need to go to certain listed edicole instead. You can also download the certificate directly from the commune website if you have a SPID.

Having a residenza is crucial for many things: getting a cheaper bank account, getting an Italian identity card, getting the driving license and even to officially declare your residency in case you are planning on obtaining citizenship (5 or 10 years of official residency).

Carta D’Identità

A Carta D’Identità is a national identification document. It can be used anywhere you would need identification in Italy, and comes with the added benefit that it is in a format recognisable to everyday Italians. (Try showing your greek identification card to someone and they’ll be left scratching their heads). It is often abbreviated as CIE – Carta d’Identità Elettronica.

To obtain it you need the residenza, and afterwards it’s as simple as booking an appointment with a Municipal Office, going there with your identification documents, and a couple of passport pictures of yourself. The office worker will enter all your information, you pay on the spot (under 20 euros), and in a few weeks the city will send you a letter containing your card. If you are non-EU the card is NOT valid for travelling without a visa.

SPID

A SPID (Sistema Pubblico di Identità Digitale) is a non-physical identity card like we described above. It is basically what you use to log in to various government websites or access online government services. You can create it for free using the poste.it website, although there are other services that can also register you.

PEC

PEC (Posta Elettronica Certificata – Certified Email) is just like the previous forms of official identity, but this time it is an email that is certifying your identity. Usually you would not need a PEC during your first few years of school, which is just as well since it is not free. Prices vary but generally its under 5 euros a year. A PEC is used to communicate official documents or email requests with offices, the government and businesses. At the end of the degree, you will need it to request your medical licence from the governing body.

Driving

Now, if you are going to drive in Italy, you will need to either convert your existing driving license following all the protocols or you need to obtain one from scratch. To convert your existing licence, we suggest you directly speak to an autoscuola to understand the process.

First of all, you will need to speak Italian. The exam will be in Italian, unless you are in Trento or Val d’Aosta in which case you will be offered the option to do it in German or French respectively. Second, it costs about 600-800 euros overall for the whole process, plus a lot of patience – the process from start to finish can take anywhere from a couple months to a year. Third, you will have to obtain residency and the carta d’identità. Fourth, and this shouldn’t be too discouraging, you will most likely learn to drive manual. Automatic cars are not very common in Italy.

Once you have your residency and carta d’identità sorted, you will go to an autoscuola to register yourself there and begin your theory lessons. This will cost about 230-280 euros, depending on the package and the school. When you have practiced some quizzes and feel ready, the school will offer you dates for the theory exam and you either confirm it, or ask for a later date. The theory is quite tricky, and even Italians might fail it the first time. Don’t be discouraged! You can always try again (for 70 euros).

Your driving school will now provide you with a foglia rossa (provisional license) which allows you to start practicing driving. Lessons at schools usually cost 30 euros an hour, and you are legally obliged to take 6 hours with them. 

You can however also practice outside of the school provided that the accompanying driver has had their licence for at least 10 years. When you are ready for the exam, the driving school will provide you with dates which you either accept or reject, just like for the theory. You will also have to pay the fee for the practical exam (80 euros). On the day of the exam, you will be asked to drive around with an examiner, and your driving instructor in the back seat. If you pass, you get the license right there on the spot.

Sweta Singh, writing for acadimat.