Visa
A visa allows non-EU nationals temporary entry into the Schengen zone. Some passport holders might not require a visa to enter the EU as tourists, but if you intend to study, you will need to get a student visa (not a tourist visa). This is important because when you will apply at the administrative office, you will need to present your student visa if you are a non-EU citizen, regardless of where you are from.
To obtain a student visa, you will have to provide the Italian embassy in your home country with documents including proof of enrolment into an Italian institution. This can be a catch 22 seeing as the institutions might not be able to provide you with official documents proving enrolment before you arrive in the country, just the rankings that you have from the IMAT exam. You might have to explain this to your embassy. Speak to your embassy as soon as you can to avoid last minute stress.
Exact details are available on this link: https://studyinitaly.esteri.it/en/visa
Permesso di Soggiorno (Residence Permit)
Once in Italy, non-EU citizens will need to apply for a residency permit. The permits are valid for a year at a time, and you must renew it annually providing proof that you have been doing exams, and are actively enrolled in the university program. The form and the offices are all in Italian, so it helps to have someone guide you with the process.
The Kit
First you will need to obtain the “Kit” from the post office, simply walk into any post office and ask if they have “Un Kit per il Permesso di Soggiorno”, and they should hand you a large white envelope with a yellow accent. If the post office doesn’t have it, try another post office or ask them when they would have it in stock again. This envelope contains all the forms you will need to fill out.
There are pages for dependants, children, and a Modulo 2 for work income/taxes that you can ignore, don’t be intimidated by the number of pages! There will be a little sheet that you will need to fill in for the price of the yearly permit, which as of 2022 is 70,46€ (settanta euro e quarantasei centesimi). You will also need to buy a “Marca di Bollo” from a tobacco shop for 16 euros, to stick onto the form.
The cost of the “Permesso di Soggiorno” is €70,46 as of 2022, which will also require a “Marca di Bollo” costing €16,00
Obligatory Insurance
For obligatory insurance coverage, the university office can recommend a private insurance office in the city. Usually these cost is around €100 depending on the plan. You may also purchase insurance in your home country, as long as it covers all emergency medical costs for your stay in Italy. You might find that your public university provides coverage for students, so ask the help desk if that is the case. You might even be a citizen of a country that has bilateral agreement with the Italian government; in this case your need to pay for private insurance would be waived – speak to your embassy in Italy and ask. We have a detailed article on insurance and healthcare. How to access Healthcare in Italy as an International Student
Submit Forms at Post Office
Once you fill in the form, you will need to find a post office which has the “Sportello Amico”, you can do this by searching on the Post Italiane website and filtering for “Servizi al Cittadino“. The clerk will look through the documents, and fill in details manually on the post office computers. Once they have entered everything and verified your documents, they will seal the envelope and you will pay for an insured postage stamp (30€), the cost of the permit itself (70,46€) and a small post office fee (~1,50€). The clerk will then hand you a receipt – a sheet of paper which will tell you when your fingerprint appointment is.
Finding a Sportello Amico: https://www.poste.it/cerca/index.html#/
Fingerprint Appointment
The fingerprint appointment is conducted at the local “Questura: Ufficio Immigrazione”. The sheet will clearly state the date and time for the appointment. At the appointment, you may be asked to present your original documents, give your fingerprints or to provide missing documents you may not have been able to enclose in the envelope when you sent it.
Once this is done, you should confirm with the official where he is sending the permit, usually it will be to the university’s police station, or one in the neighbourhood you are residing in. You can always check the status of your permit online, as well as where it is available for collection.
In 2020 the waiting time for the fingerprint appointment has been extremely long ranging from 7 months from date of application at the post office in the larger cities, to a couple months in smaller provinces with less immigration backlog.
Being able to collect the card after the appointment is another few months, which for some people meant they received their permits just a few months before they were due to expire again. Do not worry about this timeline, you are legally allowed to stay in Italy and to travel back to your home country providing you enter and exit the Schengen only via Italy and furnish your post office receipt to any officials or at border control.
Complete Cost of the Residency Permit (Permesso di Soggiorno)
Price: https://portaleimmigrazione.eu/tag/costo-permesso-soggiorno/
There are a few costs to consider:
– Cost of annual insurance: ~ 100 Euro
– Cost of issuing the Residency Permit: 70.46 Euro
– Marca di Bollo (official Stamp): 16 Euro
– Post Office Seal: 30 Euro
– Post Office Processing Fee: 1.50 Euro
TOTAL COST: ~217.96 Euro
Renewing the Residency Permit
Guidelines suggest you apply for renewal of the permit 2 months before it is due to expire, though there is a grace period of a month after expiry. Do not risk it, as you may be reprimanded or even banned from the EU for overstaying your permit. With COVID creating a severe backlog, there have been extensions for the validity period of expiring permits.
Travelling out of Italy
When travelling across borders in the EU, you will need to present your valid Permesso di Soggiorno. You cannot travel across borders with an expired date printed on the permit, nor can you use the receipt you received at the post office. This is because other nations simply do not have the capacity to recognise or validate these documents, whatever their legal status in Italy may be. If you have an urgent need or residency opportunity in a different country, you can go to the Questura with a letter of invitation or evidence attesting to the matter, and apply for a provisional visa. Some individuals have been able to travel freely in the past, holders of US or other passports who can travel as tourists visa-free in the Schengen. However, with the border restrictions caused by COVID, immigration scrutiny has heavily increased