Permesso di soggiorno
Residence permitWithin 8 working days of arrivalThe visa only gets you across the border; the permesso di soggiorno is what lets you stay legally. Non-EU students have to hand in the “yellow kit” — the kit giallo — at a post office within 8 working days of entering the country. Miss that deadline and it counts against your renewal, or you can be asked to leave.
Step by step
- 1
Pick up the yellow kit at the post office
At the Sportello Amico counter ask for the “kit per permesso di soggiorno”. It is free. Inside are Modulo 1, which everyone fills in, and Modulo 2, which only applies in certain cases.
Take two kits while you are there — spoil one and you will not have to come back.
- 2
Fill it in at home, in black block capitals
For a study permit, tick “studio” on Modulo 1. Do not correct anything: if you make a mistake, start a clean sheet — the post office will not accept correction fluid. Your university’s international office will usually check the form for you, free of charge.
- 3
Buy the marca da bollo and pay
Buy the €16 marca da bollo at a tabaccheria and stick it in the marked box on Modulo 1. Everything else is settled together at the post office counter.
- 4
Hand it in, and guard the receipt
Once the counter has taken your papers you get a ricevuta — the receipt — and an appointment slip for the questura. That receipt is your proof of legal stay while you wait: it works for the codice fiscale, the bank and health registration, and together with your passport it gets you back into Italy if you travel.
Scan it into the cloud straight away. Replacing a lost one is painful.
- 5
Go to the questura for fingerprints
Bring the ricevuta, your passport, the originals of everything you photocopied, and the photos. This step is called rilievi fotodattiloscopici. They will tell you there how to follow the file from then on.
- 6
Track it, then collect the card
Check the status on the Portale Immigrazione using the number printed on your ricevuta. When it reads “consegnato al comune”, or when the text message arrives, go and collect the electronic permit at the questura.
Where people get stuck
- !The fees move. Right now they run roughly: €30.46 to produce the electronic card + €30.00 for the post office’s registered service + €16.00 of stamp duty + the contributo (about €40 for up to 1 year, about €50 for 1–2 years). What the counter charges on the day is what counts.
- !The 8 working days run from the date on your entry stamp, not from the start of term. Do the permesso first; everything else can wait.
- !EU students do not apply for a permesso di soggiorno. Their route is iscrizione anagrafica — registration with the comune — instead.
- !If your landlord is a private individual, the proof of accommodation has to be a registered rental contract. An unregistered one may not be accepted at the questura.
- !Start the renewal at least 60 days before the permit expires. Waiting until it has lapsed counts as overstaying.