As a family member of an Italian citizen, you have a full right to enter and stay in Italy. Depending on your nationality and current residence, you may need an entry visa. The most important information is gathered here in 3 steps.
#1 Check
Are you eligible for residency in Italy? You have such right if you can prove one of the following family relations:
- spouse (or same-sex registered partner)
- children and grandchildren (up to 21 years) of the Italian citizen and those of the spouse
- parents and grandparents of the Italian citizen and those of the spouse
- siblings of the Italian citizen
#2 Prepare
If you are a national of a country listed for visa requirement to Italy/Europe, you need to apply at the closest Italian Consulate for a visa for family members (Visto d’ingresso per familiari di cittadini italiani). Such a visa clears your entry through the border checks upon arrival in Europe (more precisely, in the Schengen area). The terms and requirements for this kind of visa are often not published on the Italian Consulate’s websites. In general, the conditions are more favorable than any other visa, the process is free of charge and shorter. The documents to attach to the application may vary from Consulate to Consulate. Documents required for your visa application: In general, this is what the Italian Consulates require:
- Application form filled in with your data (download here) 1 photo in ICAO format (4.0 x 3.5 cm, color photo with white background, taken within the last 6 months)
- Proof of family relation, e.g. official marriage record. The record must be in full format (i.e. including the names of the parents of each spouse or parents, for birth certificates), legalized/apostilled and translated into Italian. Marriage records must be issued less than 6 months before. That is a requirement, in case the Italian citizen did not register the concerned vital record in Italy as yet (at the municipality in which he is a resident or, if not residing in Italy, at the municipality of Rome);
- Invitation letter signed by the Italian citizen (Dichiarazione di ospitalità, download here) your passport + 2 copies (the passport must be valid for at least 3 months after the planned departure date from the Schengen area and was issued less than 10 years before. The passport must have at least two blank and unmarked visa pages)
- Italian citizen’s passport (copy)
- Flight reservation: The reservation document must indicate the applicant’s name, departure city, and destination. In order to avoid any unnecessary expense, flight ticket confirmation can be done after visa issuance.
- Health care insurance: insurance must be valid for the whole Schengen area. It must cover medical fees, hospitalization and repatriation costs of up to 30,000 euros. The insurance must fully cover the initial period of stay within the Schengen area.
- Letter of authorization for visa application/passport return (in case the applicant does not submit the application in person). For those who choose to submit the application by a representative, it is mandatory to provide a letter of authorization, signed by the applicant, mentioning the name of the representative and his/her contacts. The representative ID must be shown and a copy of the ID must be submitted.
#3 Follow The Process
After submitting your application, you are entitled to obtain a visa within 90 days. This term might be extended one time to 30 more days. Please note that, if your application wasn’t complete from the start, the Consulate can stay the process for the time needed for you to give the missing document (max 90 days).
FAST TRACK: The process goes much faster when the Italian citizen has registered in Italy the document proving the relation. For example, if the Italian citizen has married or had a child outside of Italy, it is very important to register the marriage or birth record at the Italian Consulate (if the Italian citizen resided abroad) or in Italy (at the municipality of residence, office of Stato Civile).
What happens next?
In order to secure your residence in Italy, you are expected to apply for a residence permit or a residence card upon your arrival. The family members within the 1st and 2nd degree (spouse, children up to 21 years, parents, grandparents and grandchildren) can obtain a five-year residence card. The other family members are entitled to obtain a two-year residence permit. You may read here about the differences between the two. It is required to prove that you depend on the Italian citizen for your maintenance and to register your residence at the same address.
Would you like to know more?
Download my Free Guide “4-Step Strategy” to obtain a residence permit for family members, complete with the official forms: Invitation statement by the Italian citizen for the family member to show at the border (or to obtain an entry visa, where applicable): Dichiarazione di alloggio e garanzia
- “Dichiarazione di ospitalità” to be submitted to the immigration police within 48 hours
- “Dichiarazione di presenza” to be submitted to the immigration police within 8 days
+ the list of documents required by the police for the application.
Request your Free Guide here:
Hi Lara,
I am from the UK and currently living in Italy with my partner(unmarried) and baby girl(born in UK). I look after our baby while she works. With the looming brexit deal/no deal situation fast approaching what best options are available for me moving forward?
Thanks in advance,
Julz
I suggest to request a permanent residence card as soon as possible. That is a long term residence status for EU citizens and their family which gives the most stable status and will possibly be converted into a long-term residence permit for non EU citizens in an after Brexit scenario. Although there is no certainty about the future regulation after Brexit in Italy, that is a likely perspective.
Hi Lara,
I’m an Italian citizen and my boyfriend is American. We’re planning to get married in Italy and live there. American citizens usually don’t need any entry visa up to 90 days, so I was wondering if he still wouldn’t need any for the marriage purpose and for the PdS after? Can we get married during these 90 days and just apply for the PdS?
It is important to check with the local Italian authorities and the American authorities how much time they take to provide you with the necessary documents for the marriage in Italy. That may take more than expected and upset your schedule.
Goodafternoon sir, I am an italian citizen and wanted to apply for visa for my mother inlaw .Unfortunatly i was told at the visa applicatiom office that i should first apply for nulla osta in Italy.At the immigration office,i was told that it is not needed..That i should send only the declaration of alloggio.What do i have to do??
A nulla-osta is not required in that case because it regards family of an Italian national.
Please i am ltalian citizen and do i need visa for my children i want them to come and stay with me in lreland And another question can they take carta di soggiorno eruopa to lreland.
Depending on your children’s nationality, they may need a visa to join you in Ireland. The fastest way to confirm that and obtain a list of documents to apply for a visa is to check the Italian embassy’s website of the country in which your children are currently living in. In case it is needed, you are applying for a Visto d’ingresso per familiari di cittadini italiani and need to provide the documents listed in the article above this comments section. Good luck!
Hi Lara,
I am a Filipino and married to an Italian National. We are currently living in U.K and we are planning to move to Italy for good. I do have residence card, it says in the consulate website that I can go to Italy without applying Schengen Visa as long as I’m also traveling with my spouse. I wanted ask once we arrived will I apply for permit to stay or I can apply directly for 5 years Italian residence card?
Once you arrive in Italy, you can apply for a 5 years residence card. Based mainly on your marriage certificate and family income, the police will issue the required residence card.
Hi Lara.
I have applied for Italian citizenship back in September 2017. My wife is an Italian citizen and currently resides in Italy. Myself, I have my residence abroad. the embassy needed an additional document which I have sent to them back in March 2018. I have had no news since after then. what should I do next, since September will be here soon?
Thanks!
You may press them to take a decision. You may consider that the Consulate is not the office taking the final decision, rather the Ministry of the Interior in Rome. According to recent changes in the law, they may take up to 4 years from the application date. Here is more information about that: Italian citizenship in 4 years? No, thanks!
Is it possible for an Italian citizen to legalise his non EU asylum seeker nephew in Italy as family member?
Yes, within the limits explained in this article: Family members of Italian citizens: how to obtain a residence permit
If Italians like their families as you said, how come they denied me when I was twenty years of age from my parents? My other siblings have been in Italy with my parents for the past fourteen years.
Different rules apply to the family of Italian/EU citizens from those of non-EU citizens in Italy. If your parents in Italy have Italian or EU citizenship, you should be entitled to join them at the same conditions as other family members of Italian/EU citizens. If at least one of your family members in Italy has Italian citizenship, you should be entitled to live with them, independently of their income.
hi lara
when a spouse enters italy what documents are needed for residence card
in how many days after submission of documents they issue 5 years residence card to spouse? and in this 5 years card how long a person can stay outside italy?
thanks in advance
You can find the answer to your questions in the SPECIAL RESIDENCE CARD KEY. We have just sent it to your email address. a person can lose the right to a residence card if s/he stays outside of Italy for more than 6 consecutive months. Exceptions can be made for serious and proved reasons, such as military obligations, a serious health condition, pregnancy, the need to take care of one’s child….
Hi lara
My wife is a residence of Italy with unlimited permesso di soggiorno and I am going to join her in Italy, am I eligible to receive 5 years residence permit? May I receive special residence card ket as well.
I really appreciate your kind help in advance.
You are eligible for a 2-years residence permit for family reasons, but not for a five-years residence or another long-term residence permit.
Hi Lara
I have 4 years old daughter she is Italian citizen I can get residence card and I have 9 years son he is not Italian citizen we want to live in Italy so we can get residence for me and my son
Provided that you have custody of the Italian child (fully or partly) or a right to visit, you can apply for a residence permit for family reasons (coesione familiare) according to article 30, section 1 d of Decreto legislativo 286/1998.
My sister has nationality of italy. Can she call me in Italy for permanent residence? Not for visiting italy, but to stay in Italy permanently.?
Is there anyway for me to settled in Italy?
If you move your residence to your sister’s address, you may obtain a 2-year residence permit. That can be renewed every second year. For more information, check our article Family members of Italian citizens: how to obtain a residence permit
Hi mam I am Italian citizen and one of my cousin is in india and he is under 18 and financially depends upon me.
Can he come Italy as my family member?
Yes, if you obtain a decision by the competent Indian authority to appoint you as a legal guardian of your underage cousin. Once you obtain such decision, you should obtain a visa for family members of Italian citizens by the Italian Consulate.
Hi Lara,I am a Seychelloise married to an Italian citizen & Seychellois do not require a visa to travel to Italy for a minimum period of 90 days.We got married in Seychelles 6 years ago & now I am planning to move to Italy with my in laws while my husband continues to work in Seychelles.Is this possible.My wedding has already been registered in Italy & have to daughters age 15 & 9 but they are not my husband’s children will they be able to stay.
No, you can obtain a family residence permit only if you move to Italy with your husband. Or if you stay in Italy with Italian family within the second degree (not your in-laws).