Italy · Residency by investment
Investor Visa for Italy
Thresholds unchanged. Operates on an approval-first model: the Nulla Osta clearance is issued before any money moves.
The approval-first structure is genuinely unusual and materially de-risks the transaction: you hold the government's clearance in hand before wiring anything, which is the reverse of Greece, Malta and Cyprus. The catch is the back end — 10 years to citizenship against Greece's 7 and Portugal's 5 makes Italy the slowest major EU naturalisation route, so the investor visa is a residence and lifestyle instrument, not a passport play.
Qualifying routes
registered Italian innovative start-up; the cheapest route
share capital of an operating Italian company
minimum two-year residual maturity
public interest project in culture, education, immigration management, research or heritage; non-recoverable
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €250k
- Total landed cost
- Investment plus legal and filing fees of roughly EUR 10–25k. Uniquely, no capital moves until the Nulla Osta is granted, so the pre-approval financial exposure is close to nil.
- Timeline
- 3–6 months — Nulla Osta within ~30 days in principle; then visa issuance and the permesso di soggiorno on arrival
- Physical presence
- No minimum stay to hold or renew the investor permit — but the permit lapses if you are outside Italy for more than 12 consecutive months, and zero presence forecloses both permanent residence and citizenship
- Family
- spouseminor childrenadult children who cannot support themselvesdependent parents
- Permanent residency
- 5 years of legal AND actual residence for the EU long-term residence permit, which requires an A2 Italian test
- Citizenship
- 10 years of legal residence — one of the longest in the EU — plus B1 Italian
- Language test
- B1 Italian
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- non-EU nationalqualifying investment at one of the four thresholds, held at least two yearsproof of lawful ownership and free availability of the fundswritten commitment to make the investment within three months of entryNulla Osta from the Investor Visa Committee before the visa is issuedsufficient resources beyond the investment, health insurance, clean criminal record
- 10 years to citizenship, and those years must be actual residence. The investor visa's zero-presence flexibility and any citizenship ambition are mutually exclusive.
- The investment must be held for at least two years; disposal risks revocation and blocks renewal.
- The EUR 1m philanthropic route is a pure donation — no asset, no return, no recovery.
- The permit lapses after 12 consecutive months outside Italy even though there is no positive stay requirement.
- Initial permit is two years, renewable in three-year increments — renewal is conditional on the investment surviving.
- The EUR 250k innovative start-up route carries real commercial risk in an early-stage company whose failure can unwind your immigration status.
- Italy is a high-tax, high-compliance jurisdiction. Without the Article 24-bis election, becoming resident exposes worldwide income at ~47.2% plus IVIE and IVAFE on foreign assets.