The coveted Italian work visa. Since this is a topic of frequent discussion, I would like to address this and explain how I got my visa per lavoro autonomo, then my permesso di soggiorno, and finally my carta di soggiorno illimitata. To find out how YOU can get your Italian work visa, keep reading!

First of all, let me say that there are many types of Italian visas which I will not be covering in this article. I will only be discussing long-term work visas, briefly about the student visa, and the entrepreneur or start-up visa. 

• work visas
• student visa
• start-up visa

Also, as a disclaimer, I am not an immigration agent, an immigration lawyer, or even an expert on Italian immigration. I’m just a humble person who’s gone through the process of applying a visa myself, and have been successful with it, so I hope to help others with my experience. Also, keep in mind also that my results may not be typical.

To start with, let’s first consider some basic concepts, for anyone who is not that familiar with the process of immigration to another country. 

Generally speaking, the purpose of a visa is to just to enter a country for a specific purpose. You’ve met certain requirements in terms of documentation, you’ve passed a security check, and you’re okay to enter. That visa doesn’t necessarily need to cover the entire period you’re in the country. Let me explain how that works.  

Once you’ve entered on a visa, you need to get a permesso di soggiorno, or permit of stay. Once you have a permit of stay, you can later apply for your Italian residence. Once you’ve had Italian residence for at least 5 years, you can apply for the carta di soggiorno.

Nowadays it’s called the Permesso di Soggiorno EU di lungo periodo—therefore, long-term permit of stay—and it’s usually unlimited, or “illimitata,” meaning it has no expiration date. You only need to make certain updates, like change the photos, update your address, your marital status or any other information that has changed. In the past you had to do that every 5 years, and now you need to do the update every 10 years.  

Meanwhile, your initial Visa will have expired, and it’s the permesso di soggiorno that takes over as the legal document that allows you to stay in Italy. So your takeaway is: a Visa is just to enter a country and because of this, you must obtain it outside of Italy, in the Embassy or Consulate of Italy in your home country. The good thing is that you only need to do this once, as long as you stay in the same category. If you change from a student visa to work visa, for example, then of course you’ll need to apply all over again.

A visa is just to ENTER a country! You must apply in your home country. You CANNOT get a visa in Italy!

Keep in mind that both types of work visas are very difficult to obtain, and one way to get your foot in the door to Italy is to come on a student visa. On a student visa, you can work for 20 hours a week, and during this period you can have a look around, maybe apply for full-time jobs, and hopefully get an offer to come back on a work visa. The good thing is you don’t have to sign up for a university course to get an Italian student visa. It can even be a cooking course or an Italian language course.

Tip: sign up for a course, and come on a student visa! On a student visa, you are allowed to work 20 hours a week.

There is also a seasonal work visa which I will not be covering in detail, but I wanted to mention it as an option for anyone who wants to come a short period of time initially. That visa is called “Visa per lavoro stagionale” = visa for seasonal work

Tip: In some cases, a permesso di soggiorno per studio or per lavoro stagionale can be converted into a permesso for work.

Now, about long-term work visas: there are two types of work visas in Italy: 

Visa per Lavoro subordinato = visa for dependent work, employed by someone else.

Visa per Lavoro autonomo = visa for independent work, or self-employed.

The visa per lavoro subordinato is for working full-time for one single employer. You’ll need to have a job with a set number of 40 hours per week in order to obtain this visa. 

Visa per lavoro subordinato = full time for one employer, 40 hours a week

The visa per lavoro autonomo is for independent work, or for people who may work for several companies or clients, like freelancers, consultants, professionals offering services, or if you want to open a business. I had the visa per lavoro autonomo.

Visa per lavoro autonomo = freelancers, consultants, professional services, your own business.

For both types of visas, you will first need to get a place in the “flusso” or annual quota. The flusso is the fixed number of work permits that the Italian government makes available to foreigners. The number is different according to visa type and nationality, and the numbers change from year to year. The flusso only stays open for a certain limited amount of time, and it’s kind of a big mystery. No one knows when the flusso’s going to open, until it’s open.

“flusso” = annual quota of work permits available to foreigners