Elective Residence Visa in Italy.

Visa applications and appeal against refusal of elective residence visa in Italy.

Foreign citizens can reside in Italy without exercising any job. The Italian law provides for a special visa for foreign wealthy people, who wish to reside permanently in Italy.

The main two requirements for elective residence visa are:

1) a house to be elected as own residence in Italy;

2) economic means not less than 31.000 Euro.

About the first requirement, it's not necessary to be the owner of the house, because also a rental contract is sufficient in order to demonstrate the availability of a house in Italy. Even if the Italian law doesn't say much about that, we suggest that the rental contract or the deed of property are always definitive and registered at the tax office in Italy. Indeed, the Italian consulates may refuse the application if the purchase of the house is still pending or if the rental contract has not been registered at the competent tax office in Italy.
There is no a minimum required size for the house, so there is no difference between large villas and small apartaments.

About the economic means, according to the Italian law the economic means of the applicant must be not less than 31.000 Euro and they must be legal, stable and regular, also in the future. They may come from the ownership of incomes (pensions, annuities), properties or stable economic activities (as owner, not employee). Incomes from current salaries are not accepted (because the visa is only for people who doesn't need to work while residing in Italy). Also the spouse and the dependent relatives of the applicant can receive the elective residence visa.

The application for elective residence visa must be submitted at the competent Italian Embassy or Consulate. For example, if the applicant resides in New York, the application must be submitted at the Italian Consulate in New York, while if he/she resides in Sydney, the application must be submitted at the Italian Consulate in Sydney.
Once the Italian visa office grantes the visa for elective residence, the applicant can travel to Italy and apply, within 8 days from his/her entrance to Italy, for the elective residence permit. The duration of the resident permit is for 1 year, but it is renewable each year directly in Italy, without the need of a new visa, so without the need to travel back.

Unfortunally, not all elective residence visa applications are accepted. Indeed the Italian consulates refuse many applications, because according to them the applicants don't have or they could not demonstrate to have the requirements provided by law. But many times the Italian consulates are wrong, because they refuse the visa despite the applicant has all requirements.

According to our experience, we can say that the most of refusals are issued because the Italian visa offices don't understand the economic and tax documentation of the applicant or because the same applicants misunderstand the Italian rules and they don't show the correct documents (it's not only a matter of how much you have on your bank accounts).

For this reason, we always suggest the assistance of an Italian lawyer also before and during the visa application. Before you move to Italy and buy or rent a property, we suggest you to be sure if you are eligible for the elective visa residence.

Against the refusal of visa for elective residence, the applicant can appeal before the T.A.R. of Lazio (the Administrative court, based in Rome, competent for the appeals against the Italian embassies and consulates). The assistance of an Italian lawyer is mandatory, because the applicant cannot appeal by himself and the foreign lawyers are not authorized to exercise in Italy (there are many agencies on internet who provide for legal services in Italy, but they don't have any authorization in Italy and all their actions will not have any effect in Italy).

We are an Italian Law Firm, based in Rome, very well experienced with immigration law and elective residence visa, as well as with appeals against the visa refusals.

We can help you both with the visa application both with the appeal at TAR of Lazio against the visa refusal.

If you need some legal assistance, don't hesitate to contact us (click here).

Please, see also:

Appeal against elective residence visa refusal in Italy

Appeal against the denial of visa for elective residence issued by the Consulate General of Italy in New York

How to appeal visa refusal in Italy

Appeal against the refusal of visa for family members of EU citizens in Italy

Appeal against visa denial of the Consulate General of Italy in New York

How to win a visa denial appeal in Italy

Appeal against business visa refusal in Italy

Lawyers in Italy for the appeal against Visa refusal

Italian lawyers for foreign nationals against Italian Embassy and Consulate