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.
Can children over 22 (22+ years old children)of an Italian citizen be legally brought to Italy? If so, please explain how to do it
They may, if their Italian parent resides in Italy. To that end, they need to obtain a visa (or enter Italy visa-free for visiting the parent) and then apply for a residence permit for family members (so-called procedure of “coesione familiare”). There is no specific visa for adult children of Italian citizens, unless they are legally incapable or have a mental incapacity.
Hi Lara, I’am Italian citizen and married to my filipina wife and currently residing in Italy. Can i bring her parents here in Italy from Philippines. Thank you
You may. The parents of Italian citizen’s spouses are allowed to stay in Italy, provided that they are registered in the same household. The information for obtaining a visa in these circumstances must be requested directly to the Italian embassy. In general, the requested documents are the ones listed in the blog post at this page.
I am an Italian Citizen with dual citizenship (Italian/Canafian) that resides in Canada. My husband is Canadian citizen. If I was moving to Ireland could I bring him with me as I do not require a visa or does he need a visa and work permit? We are married and the marriage is registered both in Italy & Canada.
Your husband can obtain a single journey short-stay C visa which will permit him to enter and reside in Ireland along with you as an EU citizen. For more information, please check this page of the Irish Immigration service website.
Hello Lara
First of all, thank you for answering the questions with kindness and patience.
My sister is an Italian citizen.
I am 33 years old, married and living outside of Europe.
I know that if I come to Italy with a tourist visa, I can apply for a 2-year visa with my sister’s address.
The question is, if I get this 2-year visa, can I apply and join for my wife?
In general, there is no impediment to obtaining family reunification for holders of a residence permit for family reasons themselves. What counts is showing the requirements for reunification, primarily to have suitable housing and the means to maintain the whole family.
On the other hand, in practice, it can be difficult to meet all the requests of the authorities for reunification when living in an apartment with another family or part of it. Moreover, many local immigration police offices tend to deny reunification in these circumstances. I had some successful cases. But I had to fight in Court to affirm the right.
It is more feasible to obtain family reunification once you have a job or business and swap your residence permit for family reasons into one for employment or business. Those permits allow family reunification more smoothly (or in a less complicated way).
Hi Lara, please I am Italian citizen residing in UK registered in AIRE. I have a brother residing in Italy, could I sponsor my junior brother to obtain a tourist visa to Italy from Nigeria to visit my
brother who resides in Italy.
Unfortunately not. Sponsorship works only when the Italian citizen resides in Italy, it doesn’t operate from another country. So it should be operated always from Italy in favour of a family member who joins the Italian citizen who lives in Italy.
Hi, I am an Italian citizen from birth, but I haven’t been living in Italy for quite a few years, but I want to bring my partner to Italy with me, am I required to reside in Italy to make this application with them?
Yes. The right of residency of family members depends on that of the Italian citizen. So the Italian citizen has to reside in Italy with them.