Last modified 01/26/2024

Italy has been one of the few countries in the world that have been constituted, for more than 100 years, in the origin country of millions of immigrants who, for reasons that involve the war their country was involved in, the economic crisis, the dictatorships and for many other reasons, which forced them to leave their cities, lands, families and with the adventurer spirit that characterizes them, they immigrated to the United States of America, Latin America, other countries inside Europe and Australia.

All the citizens who belong to countries that are part of the European Union do not need visas to enter into Italian territory; additionally, there is a group of countries who have signed a visa extension agreements with Italy, which indicate that their citizens do not need any type of authorization to be able to enter into the Italian territory.

There are many ways in which an immigrant can obtain the Italian citizenship; among them we find the following:

1. For been the son or daughter of Italian parents.
2. For having been born in Italy and not knowing who their parents are.
3. For having been born in Italy and having parents of other nationalities, the newborns are not forced by any law to keep their parent’s nationality.
4. For directly descending from immigrants who descend from Italians. Only from 1948 this right is also given to the sons and daughters of female Italian citizens.
5. For serving the army and / or the Italian state, for those foreign people who have been residing in Italy for more than two years.
6. For residency, after turning 18 years old, to foreign people who reside in Italy, at least two years.
7. For marrying an Italian citizen, after three years the marriage was consummated.
8. For naturalization, for all of those who have a legal permanent residency and the period depend on the type of authorization they might have. If the person is a European citizen, he or she requires only four years; if he or she is a refugee, more than five years are required; with permanent residence, only to those who are over the ten years.

The legal Latin American immigrants in Italy are mainly young people with a fairly high level of education and are directed to the tourism sector, domestic service and health care of children and old people, in the case of women and to the construction sector in the case of men.

Every foreign citizen who requires the tourist visa to enter into the Italian territory, will have to demonstrate that he or she has enough economic capacity to sustain him or herself, that he or she has a round trip flight ticket and, also, it is necessary to prove that he or she has a hotel reservation to stay at or enclose the declaration of a resident or Italian citizen who states that is going to accommodate him or her once arriving into the Italian territory.

Every foreign citizen who wishes to obtain the student visa must be aware that the visa allows the entrance into the Italian territory for a predetermined lap of time, been the maximum period of approval of one year. For that, the student must be able to demonstrate that he or she has the acceptance of the course or program that he or she intends to develop in Italy, as well as the economic funds to be able to maintain him or herself and, also, a medical insurance with coverage for any kind of injure, including hospital care. The student visa can be renewed once a year, in the measure in which the student approves all the courses of the authorized period, with a maximum of three years. Every visa allows the student to work for 20 hours per week tops during a year. Under certain circumstances and conditions, it could become a Work Visa.

For overseas citizens or legal residents who wish to bring their family members from their countries of origin, there is the Family Regroup Visa, which allows the reunion with family members after a time of staying in Italy or allows the family members the entrance into the Italian territory immediately after the resident or Italian citizen has entered into Italy.

No immigrant who has a tourist visa can stay in Italy for more than 90 days, only some exceptional cases and only as long as they have the required authorizations and documentations they can be authorized to stay in the Italian territory. The necessary documents in this case are known as permanence permission and permanence carnet, and can only be given by the respective Italian authorities or the European Union.

The permanence permission is processed before the police headquarters of the city in which the immigrant is found before 10 days of been in the Italian territory have passed. It allows the immigrant to enroll him or herself in the population record which, at the same time, makes it easier for him or her to obtain the identity carnet, as well as the fiscal document that is needed to be able to pay taxes, to be able to hired by a company or to become an independent worker, to be able to enroll in the health service, to be able to subscribe contracts and open any bank accounts. It must be renewed 30 days before it expires.

The permanence letter allows the immigrant to reside in the Italian territory indefinitely, with a maximum term of renewing of up to 10 years. A minimum requirement to obtain it is having lived in Italy for, at least, 5 years; it is also necessary to have permanent income and not having any criminal record.

Summing up, the integration of Italy with the European Union has meant for it to become a developed economy and, therefore, it has become a destination country for, mainly, Latin American immigrants who descend from the waves of Italian immigrants of the past century, who, today, as their forefathers, leave everything in the search of a better life option.