Golden visa in Italy

• The visa allows entry and long-term stay for non-EU citizens who invest in Italy or make a qualifying donation. It has reduced investment thresholds and no minimum residence requirement; a PEC (certified email) address is enough for the application.
• The Foreign Ministry describes two uses: moving your residence to Italy and enjoying the preferential tax regime, or investing without living in Italy permanently while keeping free access to the Schengen area and the right to stay in Italy at any time.
• The programme is suspended for all Russian and Belarusian citizens, including holders of several citizenships where one is Russian or Belarusian. It is still on offer: a consulate checklist updated in July 2026 lists it, and a February 2026 news report says Italy’s scheme remains open.

Sources: Embassy of Italy in Pretoria (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Consulate General of Italy in Sydney (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The thresholds depend on the route: about €250,000 for an innovative start-up on the official list, about €500,000 for a joint-stock company, about €1 million for a philanthropic donation and about €2 million for government bonds. To be safe, have more than €260,000, €510,000, €1.1 million or €2.1 million respectively.
• The bonds must have a residual maturity of at least two years. The donation must support a public-interest project in culture, education, immigration management, scientific research or recovery of cultural and landscape heritage.

Sources: Embassy of Italy in Pretoria (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Consulate General of Italy in Sydney (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The core document is the Nulla Osta (authorisation) issued by the Investor Visa for Italy Committee after you submit the application and supporting documents on its online platform. Without it the consulate will not issue the visa.
• Consulates add the usual papers on top of the Nulla Osta. London asks for the application form, a passport photo, a passport with two blank pages valid at least two years, a UK residence permit and a one-way ticket reservation; Sydney asks for a hard-copy inbound ticket, proof of address and health cover.

Sources: Consulate General of Italy in London (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Consulate General of Italy in Sydney (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• You apply online to the Committee, not at a consulate, for the Nulla Osta; you then apply for the visa at the consulate, in person. Sydney says processing takes from a few hours to 15 days and does not accept applications more than 180 days before departure.
• A February 2026 report says the Committee’s two-part approval takes an average of 30 days to three months and that the Nulla Osta can be used for a visa within six months. After entering Italy you apply for the residence permit within 8 days at the Questura.

Sources: Consulate General of Italy in London (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Consulate General of Italy in Sydney (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The national visa fee is €116, charged in local currency at a quarterly rate (New York’s table for October to December 2026 gives $133.60). The pages we read state no fee for the Committee’s Nulla Osta.
• The permit costs €16 for the revenue stamp, €30 postage and €30.46 for the card, plus a contribution of €50 for a permit of more than one and up to two years.

Sources: Consulate General of Italy in New York (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Embassy of Italy in Wellington (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Polizia di Stato (Italian Ministry of the Interior), Questura di Pavia (Polizia di Stato). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Visa holders get a two-year investor residence permit, renewable for further three-year periods for as long as the investment is kept.

Sources: Embassy of Italy in Pretoria (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026.

• The Polizia di Stato says the EU long-term residence permit can be requested after five years with a valid residence permit, with income above the annual social allowance, an Italian A2 test and criminal-record certificates.

Sources: Polizia di Stato (Italian Ministry of the Interior). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Since 2024 you are Italian tax resident if for most of the year (183 days, 184 in a leap year) you are on the population register, have your residence or domicile in Italy, or are physically present. Residents are taxed on worldwide income. The investor visa does not itself require you to live in Italy.
• The new-resident option charges a flat €300,000 a year on foreign-source income for people who move their tax residence to Italy from 1 January 2026 (€200,000 for earlier moves), and €50,000 a year for each family member it is extended to. It needs nine of the previous ten years of non-residence and can run up to 15 years.
• For 2026 the IRPEF scale on Italian-taxed income is 23% up to €28,000, 33% from €28,000 to €50,000 and 43% above, with regional and municipal surcharges on top. To be safe, have more than €51,000.

Sources: Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency), Embassy of Italy in Pretoria (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Ministry of Economy and Finance (mef.gov.it). Checked 16 October 2026.

• Digital nomad visa in Italy
• Retirement visa in Italy
• Work permit in Italy
• Family visa in Italy

• Visas in Italy
• Italy

1. US citizens abroad: filing requirements, Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Checked 11 October 2026.
2. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), FinCEN (US Treasury). Checked 11 October 2026.
3. Italy: tax treaty documents, Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Checked 11 October 2026.
4. Canada-Italy convention (2002), text, Department of Finance Canada. Checked 11 October 2026.
5. Leaving Canada (emigrants), Canada Revenue Agency. Checked 11 October 2026.
6. Investor visa checklist (Sydney consulate), Consulate General of Italy in Sydney (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), PDF. Checked 16 October 2026. Updated 21 July 2026 as printed.
7. Biometrics requirements for national visas from 11 January 2025, Embassy of Italy in Wellington (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. News item dated 3 January 2025.
8. Cost for a visa and how to pay (Wellington embassy), Embassy of Italy in Wellington (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. National visa EUR 116, Schengen visa EUR 90 for adults, charged in New Zealand dollars at the quarterly consular rate.
9. Visa for Italy Investor Program (news item), Embassy of Italy in Pretoria (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. News item dated 14 May 2024. Exact figures: EUR 2,000,000 (bonds), EUR 500,000 (company), EUR 250,000 (innovative start-up), EUR 1,000,000 (donation).
10. Investors (investor visa), Consulate General of Italy in London (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Checked 16 October 2026. Written for applicants living in the UK; undated page.
11. Consular fees, fourth quarter 2026 (table), Consulate General of Italy in New York (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), PDF. Checked 16 October 2026. 1 October to 31 December 2026; EUR 1 = USD 1.1516 as printed. Long-stay visa EUR 116.00 = USD 133.59 (USD 133.60 rounded); Schengen visa EUR 90.00 = USD 103.64.
12. How, where and how much (residence permit), Polizia di Stato (Italian Ministry of the Interior). Checked 16 October 2026. Page dated 7 April 2014, amended 18 April 2019; Italian only.
13. New amount of the contribution for issuing and renewing the residence permit, Questura di Pavia (Polizia di Stato). Checked 16 October 2026. Notice dated 12 June 2017 on the ministerial decree in force from 9 June 2017; Italian only.
14. EU long-term residence permit (Carta di soggiorno per cittadini stranieri), Polizia di Stato (Italian Ministry of the Interior), PDF. Checked 16 October 2026. Italian only. Records Law 238 of 23 December 2021 (ten-year validity for adults).
15. Circular no. 20/E of 4 November 2024: tax residence of individuals after Legislative Decree 209/2023 (English), Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency). Checked 11 October 2026.
16. New residents: optional regime (what it is), Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency). Checked 16 October 2026. Last updated 16 January 2026; Italian only. A banner gives EUR 300,000 and EUR 50,000 for moves from 1 January 2026; the body text still shows EUR 200,000 and EUR 25,000.
17. Incentives for people who move their residence to Italy (intermediaries page), Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency). Checked 16 October 2026. Last updated 27 March 2026; Italian only.
18. IRPEF rates and calculation, Agenzia delle Entrate (Italian Revenue Agency). Checked 11 October 2026. Table still shows 35% for the middle band; a notice on the same page and the Finance Ministry (X3) confirm 33% for 2026.
19. Main measures of the 2026 budget law, Ministry of Economy and Finance (mef.gov.it). Checked 11 October 2026.