The Italian elective residency visa is a type of Italian long-stay visa.
It is the type of Italian visa for foreigners – retired persons, persons with high self-sustaining incomes and financial assets – who have chosen Italy as the country of permanent residence and who are able to support themselves autonomously, without having to rely on employment while in Italy, whether as dependent employees, as self-employed employees or employees working remotely online.
This means that if you apply for an Italian Elective Residency Visa, you are not allowed to work. In fact, as a typical prerequisite for this kind of visa, you must prove you can support yourself in other ways (such as through pensions, annuities, property income, income from joint stock or shareholding in a company, etc.).
ITALY ELECTIVE RENSIDENCY VISA – Requirements
When you submit an application for an Italy Elective Residency Visa, you must have a set of documents proving you are eligible to receive it. The requirements for an Italy Elective Residence Visa are:
For a single person the minimum financial requirement is EUR 31.000 (or equivalent home currency amount). For a married couple it is EUR 38.000. The amount is increased by 20% for every dependant child that comes with you.
The Elective Visa Residency will be valid for 6 months, for short stays up to 90 days (valid throughout the Schengen area). Within 8 days upon arrival in Italy, you must register with the local Police Department (Questura) to obtain the Elective Residence Permit , which is the only legal document that legitimizes your stay in the country.
Your Elective Residence permit will be issued for one year, after which you have the opportunity to renew it by the Police Authorities with territorial jurisdiction on condition that all the original requirements continue to be met over time.
Pay attention: The residence permit cannot be renewed or extended if the foreign national has interrupted their stay in Italy for a continuous period of over six months, unless the interruption was due to military service obligations or other serious and substantiated reasons.
Once you have lived in Italy with a temporary residence permit for at least five years, you become eligible to apply for a permanent residence permit.
After living in Italy with a permanent residence permit for at least ten years, you can apply for Italian citizenship.
If you are contemplating a move to Italy, our lawyers in the Immigration Team are uniquely placed to approach all your immigration-related questions with efficiency and great commitment. Whether you are interested in obtaining or have been refused such a visa, TIL can assist with the application process or during the appeal stage.