Customs Regulations and Visa Requirements of Italy

maternityetchic May 16, 2022

Obtaining a visa

Italy is a country included in the Schengen zone, so to visit any of the cities of the ancient center of Europe, you will have to apply for a Schengen visa. Despite the general standards of this document, the Italian entry visa requirements will vary slightly. In general, Italy is considered one of the most democratic countries regarding the strictness of requirements for tourist documents. Check a2zdirectory for history of Italy.

A standard tourist visa to Italy will require the following package of documents from the applicant:

Passport and copies of all its completed pages. The validity of the document must be at least 180 days from the date of return to Russia. If there were previous passports, their copies must also be provided.
Russian passport with copies of all pages.
Application form, filled out on a special form. You need to fill in the questionnaire in Italian or in English with a ballpoint pen in block letters. It is highly desirable to fill it out in the presence of the consul, so that there are no unpleasant consequences or errors.
Certificate of Employment, printed on company letterhead. Italian consuls have the following requirements for this document:
The certificate must contain all information about the organization, including TIN, registration certificates, bank details and contact details;
The position of the employee is indicated along with an explanation of his labor duties ;
The employee’s salary is indicated taking into account the salary and all bonus incentives, as well as fines and other penalties for the last year ;
The certificate should contain a line that the employee is provided with paid leave during the trip, and upon returning to his homeland, he will return to his previous position with the same salary;
The document must be translated into Italian by a qualified specialist. The translator must indicate his contact details in the headers and footers on each page of the translation.
Two photographs 3.5×4.5 cm. The rules for photographs are different from the Schengen requirements, and for Italy they mean the following:
The picture must be taken on a light background – white, beige, blue, light green or gray;
The face in the picture should occupy 80% of the entire area;
It is not allowed to be photographed with glasses on Italian documents. Even the most inconspicuous and neat frame will cause a refusal to take a picture;
The photo should not have any ovals or corners.
Bank account statement. The requirements for this document are:
The minimum account balance required to enter Italy is 280 euros ;
The calculation of the remaining funds is carried out according to the formula: 50 euros per person per day ;
The statement should contain information about all transactions with funds for the last six months.
For non-working tourists and pensioners, you need to have a sponsorship letter attached to the sponsor’s income statement and bank account statement.
For schoolchildren and students – a certificate from the place of study. The certificate must indicate the date of admission and graduation, as well as information that the student is going abroad during the holidays or holidays.
For underage tourists – a birth certificate and permission to leave from their parents.
Insurance policy with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros. The insurance company must have a permit to operate in Italy and a good reputation.
Documents confirming the purpose of the trip. This may be a copy of air tickets, a travel route detailed and confirmed by a travel agency, a certificate of hotel room reservation for the entire period of the trip. For the last document, a certificate confirming the full prepayment is required.

In addition, Russian tourists have a great opportunity to apply for a visitor visa to Italy. In order for the document to be approved by the Consulate, in addition to the above, the following documents will be required:

An official invitation from a private person or organization. It is drawn up strictly on a form of a certain sample in hand, certified by the authorities at the place of residence of the inviting party and sent to the address of the Consulate of Italy on demand.
A document confirming the Italian citizenship of the inviting person or his residence permit.
Certificate of income of the private inviting person for the last six months and a statement of readiness to take on all financial responsibility for the period of the guest’s stay.
Certificate of ownership or lease of residential property. In this document, the inviting person undertakes to guarantee the accommodation of the guest in any situation, despite the paid hotel reservation.

Also, do not forget that when applying through the visa center, you must write a power of attorney to provide documents and personal data to the courier service. The application must be certified by a notary. Most often, visa centers offer this service for a fee.

Italy visa processing time

According to the official data of the Italian visa centers in Russia, the standard procedure for issuing a visa takes from 16 to 20 business days. Taking into account the fact that some of the certificates required for obtaining a visa are valid for a month, this period is quite enough.

Obtaining an express visa is not guaranteed, because the demand for tours to Italy has always been high, and the Consulate may simply not even have time to consider an “urgent” order.

They refuse to issue a visa to Italy for the following reasons:

Loan/utility/alimony arrears;
Criminal record or valid travel ban;
Incorrectly completed application form;
Photos that do not meet the requirements;
Erroneous or deliberately false information in certificates.

Consular fee

The amount of the consular fee for obtaining a visa to Italy is fixed, like in most EU countries – 35 euros for standard processing times and 70 euros for express visas.

The amount of the service fee may differ depending on the type of visa and the length of stay of the tourist. For 2015, the prices of Italian visa centers in Russia are as follows:

For a standard tourist visa for a period of 15 days, the service fee will be 3,600 rubles.
For a tourist or guest single-entry visa that allows you to stay in Italy at a time from 30 to 90 days – 7300 rubles.

A multiple tourist or visitor visa to Italy is issued for a period of up to two years and allows you to stay in the country at a time for up to 90 calendar days every six months. Such a visa can be obtained only the next year after a successful trip to Italy, that is, having at least one closed Italian visa or 2 closed Schengen visas.

It is also worth remembering that Italy is one of the few countries in the European Union that allows you to issue multiple-entry visas for children, provided that the parent who is going on a trip has fulfilled all the conditions for obtaining such a document for himself.

A person traveling to Italy for the first time can only count on a single entry visa for up to 15 days.