What types of visas and permits do you need?
To enter Italy a non-EU citizen needs a passport and an entry visa, which must be requested from the Consulate General of Italy in the country of residence (for tourism, for work, for study, etc.).
Entry into Italy is allowed with:
Visas for short stays, under 90 days (no residence permit is required). Visas issued by diplomatic authorities from other states with which Italy has ratified agreements are considered valid. It is not possible to stay for tourism reasons for more than three months.
Visas for long stays, more than 90 days: a residence permit with the same reason as for the visa is required.
• If the stay is motivated by study, work or medical treatment, the foreign citizen must provide, in addition to the application form for the entry visa, proof of the availability of accommodation (e.g. rental contract) and the means sustenance (the minimum amount varies depending on the reason for the stay).
• For those who want to come to Italy for work or business there is the possibility of obtaining a visa valid for two years, Investor VISA, which in addition to being renewable, provides significant advantages in investments in SMEs and Innovative StartUp.
For more details read here.
It is also useful to know that if you enter Italy for tourism you cannot carry out a work activity and you cannot convert your tourist visa into a residence permit for work. Instead, those who have a residence permit for study or work can carry out work in Italy according to current regulations.
What are the requirements to be considered resident in Italy?
Resident in Italy is the foreigner living in Italy more than 183 days within a solar year, enrolled in an Italian town’s Registry Office (Registry), with his/her domicile in Italy, or who habitually live in Italy.
Resident in Italy must file a declaration and be taxed in Italy for all earnings, wherever these are produced.
What is the tax regime for non-EU citizens
Italy introduced special tax regimes to encourage foreigners to transfer their tax residence into Italy.
• Foreigners and Italian citizens working abroad, who moves to Italy to run a business activity in the Italian territory (impatriated workers) within certain requisites, have tax reductions from 70% up to 90%. For more details read here.
• Foreign pensions paid to Italian residents are generally declared and taxed in Italy, except for the case of public pension, according to the double taxation agreements.
• From 2019, Italy offers retired people abroad an alternative to normal taxation: a substitute tax of 7% on all income produced abroad (not only on foreign pensions) for five years, depending on the southern region or small town of the Italian residency. For more details read here.
• Finally, there is an optional tax regime accessible, under certain conditions, to natural persons who have transferred their tax residence to Italy, regarding earnings produced abroad a substitute tax equal to €100,000 per year for earnings from non-Italian sources, in place of the normal tax payments (extensible to family members). This regime exonerate from the obligation of declaring investments abroad or foreign activity of a financial nature that produce earnings in Italy.
For more details read here.
Sources
Farnesina
https://vistoperitalia.esteri.it/home.aspx#BMSommario
Testo unico sull’immigrazione d.lgs. n.286/1998
