How to Get an Italian Student Visa

Do You Need a Visa?

You’re thinking about having a new experience and you want to do it in Italy. It’s really a beautiful idea. But did you wonder if you have to get a visa and what kind of visa do you need?

Italy is one of the European Union member states, so if you come from a country of the EU you are exempted from applying for a visa. There are other countries – that aren’t part of the EU – whose citizens are exempt from applying for a visa like Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela. Find out the complete list and the necessary requirements here. 

If you, instead, don’t come from an EU state and want to stay up to 90 days you have to apply for a short-stay visa, the so-called Travel visa. 

For staying more than 90 days you have to apply for a long-stay visa. 

Requirements for a Travel Visa

If you come from outside the EU, and you want to stay in Italy for less than 90 days you have to apply for a short-stay visa. The documents you need to present are:

• application form correctly filled out
• your valid passport, with an expiration date of at least 6 months after returning to the country
  
• recent passport-sized photograph
• the flight ticket of return
• proof of accommodation or a hotel reservation
• travel insurance with a minimum coverage of € 30,000
• demonstration of personal financial means
• documents showing your socioeconomic status

And if you want to come and study in Italy for more than 90 days? As we already say you have to apply for an Italian student visa. Let’s see how you can get your visa.

Requirements for an Italian Student Visa

If you come from a country different from the European Union member states – like Kenya, the USA, Cambogia, and others – you have to get an Italian student visa to come and study in Italy. Let’s see how you can obtain a visa to stay for more than 90 days in Italy.

You need to have these documents:

• • The certificate of registration for a course of at least 20 hours per week for the entire period of your stay
  • Proof of total payment of the course
  • Accommodation like your own apartment or the booking of a hotel or a residence. If you will be hosted by a person you have to send an Invitation Letter 
  • A health insurance policy that covers the entire period of your stay

• A guarantee of the availability of sufficient financial means to maintain for the duration of the stay in Italy: about 1,000.00 € per month. It is recommended to pay through your bank account or one of your parents/ guardians in the country of origin
• Remember that often the Consulates do not accept bank guarantees and the guarantees made available by residents in Italy
• Proof you have bought the return flight ticket.

To apply for this type of visa, Europass is at your disposal to help you: from the moment you start the application until you obtain the visa.

And remember that you have to prove that you already speak Italian.

One way to improve your Italian speaking can be to start taking Italian language lessons online, with our group classes or our one-to-one lesson, and after getting a visa, continue to perfect it in Italy with other lessons and talking to Italians.

Some Advice for the Visa Application

At Europass, we have already helped a lot of foreign students to make a good application in order to avoid its rejection by the Consulate or the Italian Embassy of their country.

One suggestion we always give to the students who contact us is always attaching a motivation letter to the application. This letter is not compulsory but it can help the members of Visa Offices when they are in doubt about your real availability to come and study in Italy.

The more you can prove to be interested in coming to Italy and in the topic, you will come to study, the more chance you will have of obtaining a visa. Today you can demonstrate a passion in different ways, not only with a letter but also with modern media.

It may seem unbelievable, but some students have managed to solve the problems indicated in the visa refusal with the help of social networks. In fact, they were able to prove their passion for Italian culture through their Instagram profile.

Another thing you need to know is that you don’t already have to know the Italian language, but it’s nice if you want to get a student visa. If you do not speak Italian but have begun to study it in a school like Europass, a member of ASILS and Eduitalia, you can prove that you are trying to learn it in an internationally recognized school.

Obviously, with this advice, we do not guarantee that you will get your visa but we try to help you get it. Sometimes, in fact, it may happen that your application is rejected after all. Don’t worry though! What can you do in this case?

You can choose one of these methods: 

1. Applying for a short visa to come to Italy, and perfect your speaking skills with one of our Italian language courses. 
2. Writing an appeal letter

Let’s deepen what is an appeal letter and what is the best way to write it in order for your request to be accepted and to get your Italian student visa.

The Appeal, in Case of Visa Refusal

If your application is refused by the Italian Embassy of your country or the Consulate, you have 60 days to appeal to the TAR – Administrative Tribunal of Rome.

Europass, in collaboration with the associations to which it belongs – Eduitalia and Asils – will deal with the appeal for you. We will check that all the documents you have sent are filled out – if they’re not we help you correct them – and help you write a well-written appeal letter. We will also find any evidence – to present to the TAR – to prove that the refusal wasn’t correct.

After you will get your visa, don’t forget that within 8 days of your arrival in Italy you must request a residence permit. Let’s see how you can obtain your Italian residence permit.

Obtain a Residence Permit

You can apply for your residence permit at the so-called “Questura”- the police headquarters – of the Italian city you live in. They will give you an appointment to go to the police headquarters with your photos to be registered.

After you are accepted to the course you requested to attend this is the process: the student must go to the post office to take the yellow kit of this procedure, with the forms to be completed. Once done, he returns to the post office, leaves the forms, and immediately receives an appointment at the Questura to issue fingerprints and obtain permission. The student has to go to the Questura with these documents: valid passport, medical insurance cover, and the certificate of your enrollment to a school.

Throughout all processes, the student is helped by our help desk, if you are at Europass.

You have the obligation to attend the course and you can’t miss it for more than two days. But you can also work. Your student visa, indeed, allows you to work in Italy up to a maximum of 20 hours per week, as long as the work does not conflict with the course schedule. Later you can convert your residence permit for study into a residence permit for work reasons if you have the necessary requirements.

So, what are you waiting for? Europass is a member of ASILS and can help you to make your visa application. Contact us to have other information to come and study in Italy. We will tell you all you need to know to have a fantastic experience of studying in Italy.