Moving to Italy

I landed to Italy only 5 years ago for my PhD. Despite of what people think, moving abroad is not something people just decide to do, buy a one way ticket and go. It requires a lot of preparation, a lot of steps to go through and a lot of emotions - good and bad! In this post, I want to share my experience. 

I will repeat again, I am a Turkish citizen. I have a regular passport and I am obliged to have a visa before reaching Italy, or any other Schengen country. But even if I had an American, German or British citizen, I would need a specific visa for study or for work. 

My motivation of moving was to have a PhD, so the second I received an acceptance letter from my university stating my future insurance plan, income plan and the approximate duration of my study, I visited the closest embassy to find out what I need to do and how they work. At this point, I need to emphasize that each consulate or embassy works different almost every day. So please, do not count on any of the information here, pay a visit yourself as soon as possible!

For a study visa and to get myself registered in the university, I need to obtain a Dichiarazione di Valoro in Loco. This document legalizes your previous degree and states it in Italian terms so that you can register in your new university with this document instead of your diploma. In order to obtain this document, I was sent to the study section of the embassy and I was asked to prepare the following documents:

1. Acceptance letter: This is a document signed and sent by the institution that I was about to enroll to complete my PhD degree. This document should be the official hard copy of the letter, unless you asked and got confirmed, printed out/copied versions are not valid. This document should be in Italian but if possible, ask for an English version as well, you might need it. 
2. Master's degree diploma and transcripts: You should get an apostille on the original diploma, get their notarized translation to Italian and have an apostille on the translation. For transcripts, I had them in English, so I was asked to get an apostille only and skip the Italian translation. If your transcripts are in your native language, ask whether you need a translation. For my case, I could not provide an official diploma but I could only give a temporary graduation proof, which was sufficient the same. 
3. Bachelor degree diploma and transcripts: You should get an apostille on the original diploma, get their notarized translation to Italian and have an apostille on the translation. For transcripts, I had them in English, so I was asked to get an apostille only and skip the Italian translation. If your transcripts are in your native language, ask whether you need a translation. 

Once you receive your Dichiarazione di Valoro in Loco, you are sent to the visa section of the embassy. In order to complete the visa procedure, I was asked to prepare the following documents:

1. A valid passport: Your visa will be at least for 1 year, so should be your passport. My personal suggestion is to have your passport valid during your estimated time of stay so you wouldn't have to deal with it again abroad. 
2. Dichiarazione di Valoro in Loco: This is the document the embassy just gave you, proving that you are eligible to register for and complete your future degree. 
3. 1 Passport photo: They will probably give it back to you, but you will need to present it for scan. 
4. Acceptance letter: All the information about your future insurance, salary, accommodation details might be written here, so have it with you all the time. 
5. A bank statement: This can be your bank account, if you have about 5000€. If not, you can ask a family member or a friend to help you sponsor. In this case, you will need a signed consent letter from them and a copy of their passport.
6. Health/travel insurance: You will need to have a health/travel insurance that is valid for 1 year. You can buy it from INAssicurazipne Italia or any national insurance company that is known by Italian services. 
7. Travel details: Your flight and accommodation details. 

In Turkey (probably also in other countries) there are some travel agencies that perform the visa procedures for their customers. Keep in mind that these agencies cannot perform the procedures for study or work, so do not count on them. Start visiting the closest embassy to you as soon as possible, since the biggest portion of preparation time is spent during the documentation gathering. 

Travel

The study visa is mostly given for 1 year (unless your study will take less than that) with multiple entry. Even though your visa will be valid for 1 year in the Schengen area with no problem, your visa should be validated first by the frontier police in Italy. Which means this: from your home country (or country issued your visa) you should take a flight and arrive to Italy and get your first stamp on your passport here. Once you validate your visa, you can use it to visit other European countries for less than 90 days.

The first thing you should do is to buy yourself a prepaid SIM card. Having a passport is enough to buy one. There are many service providers in Italy, and I purchased WIND upon arrival. Then, I changed to Vodafone, since they offer better monthly deals to change providers every now and then without changing your number.

Permit of Stay 

Your visa is valid for 1 year. This is why Italian law requires students to apply for a permit of stay within 8 days of your arrival to Italy. You can simply go to the closest post office during the working hours and ask for the envelope for Permesso di Soggiorno. I have to say that the whole document is in Italian and you may freak out for a while to understand what they want and what they mean. Eventually, you might get lucky to fill everything right or find a post officer willing to help you. Personally I got lucky because when I went to my institute for registration the day after my arrival to Italy, they sent me directly to the International Office of my university with my documents and they filled the envelope for me! Do not hesitate to ask for help.


To fill the document and send the envelope, you might need the following documents:

1. Copy of your passport: The first page of your passport and the copy of your visa printed on your passport. 
2. Residence or domiciliary address: You should fill the address that you are staying in on the form. 
3. Phone number: I think this is not valid anymore, but when I started the procedure with permesso di soggiorno, they used to text me for the pick-up information once ready. 

Once you fill the form with or without some help, you should head to the post office with the envelope, copy and original of your passport and a 16€ worth marca da ballo (stamp) that you can buy from a  Tabaccheria (tobacco shop). You will need to pay a fee, about 120€. Once you submit everything, the officer will give you a ricevuta (receipt) which shows that you applied for permesso di soggiorno. On this ricevuta, it is written the place and time of your appointment at Questura, Ufficio Immigrazione (the immigration office). This document is VERY important for you, since you will need to show it at your appointment and also during the pick-up. Furthermore, if you need to go abroad in the meantime, you should show your ricevuta to the frontier police upon arrival to Italy, even if you have a valid visa.

As I said, you will have an appointment at Questura. Even if also the timing of your appointment is specified on the ricevuta, my personal suggestion is to ignore it and go there as soon as possible for you. The illegal immigration problem overwhelm the labor burden for the immigration office and catching up the timing gets impossible. It is likely that you will find a long line waiting at the door, so be there in advance. You should go there having the original versions of the following documents:

1. Ricevuta: The electronic line of it will help the officers see your application.
2. Passport: You also should carry a copy of the first page and visa page of your passport along with the original one. 
3. 1 photo: Bring a photo with you to be used for your permit of stay. 
4. Admittance letter: Italian version of the letter you receive from your institution.
5. Health Insurance: Do you remember the travel insurance you bought for your visa? Have a copy of it and present it for your permit of stay. 

Other Italian Documents

Codice Fiscale: This is basically an ID number that is given to Italian citizens or also resident or non-resident foreigners. The code is composed of 16 characters generated by your name, surname, date of birth and randomly. Just like SSN in USA or ID number in Turkey, without this code you cannot perform any formal activities, such as opening a bank account, renting a house, getting paid by your institution in terms of scholarship or salary. You can obtain this number by visiting the closest Agenzia delle Entrate or from the Italian embassy before departure. Make sure that you have your valid visa, passport and their copies with you and you will receive it the same they you apply. Personally, I didn't have to do it since my institution got it prepared on my behalf. If you need more information, check out this Italian link. 

Bank account: Opening a bank account is easier compared to all the other operations in Italy. If you are younger than 27, you can have an account for free, if not you might need to pay an annual fee depending on the bank. Some of the banks might refuse to open an account for non-EU citizens or might ask for a residency. At this point, BancoPosta might be the easiest option to choose. Make sure you have your passport, permesso di soggiorno (or just the ricevuta) and codice fiscale. You will be given an ATM card to withdraw money from the machines or to use directly for shopping and a debit card to use for online shopping. It is important to note that the debit card is not a credit card, so you cannot use it overseas for shopping or renting a car.

Tessera Sanitaria: For your first year in Italy, you can use your travel insurance when you need to visit a medical. But for the following years, applying for a national health service makes your life easier. Students need to go to the posta and pay for a year of health service (about 150€). With the ricevuta you receive from the service of Tessera Sanitaria, you need to go to the closest office of AUSL with the service of CUP - Anagrafe Sanitaria with your passport, receipt of your payment and permesso di soggiorno or ricevuta di permesso di soggiorno. 

The health system in Italy is based on the family doctor system: when you visit AUSL office, you are asked to choose a family doctor that is closest to your home address. Every time you have a medical issue or you need a medicine, you can visit this doctor free of charge within the listed working hours. Each doctor has more than a single office and during the week they keep changing the clinic, so you need to pay attention when organizing your visit. If you need to visit a specialist about your complaints, your family doctor gives you a prescription to have an appointment at the hospital. With this prescription, you need to visit a pharmacy or a clinic that organizes this appointment for you. Unfortunately, you might have to wait 3-4 months before your appointment date. Furthermore, you will need to pay a minimum fee (if you can prove that your salary is below a certain amount) for the visit and for any test you need to get done. So after all, if you have a medical condition that requires you to see a specialist or get some tests done periodically, you should consider to get a private insurance to cover these expenses in private as well. 


Carta d'Identita:  This literally means the identity card and can be taken also by resident foreigners. While Italian citizens can mostly visit other European countries only with carta d'identita, the one that is given to the foreigners has a statement that says "Documento non valido ai fini dell'espatrioé" meaning that you cannot use this card to leave Italy. Nevertheless, having this ID card with you at all times is very practical since carrying around both passport and permesso di soggiorno all the time gets kind of annoying after a point. You can apply for one online and e-mail all the required documents, or simply go to the comune of your residence address and visit Ufficio dell'Anagrafe and do it yourself. You will need your passport, an ID photo, permesso di soggiorno, codice fiscale and a document proving your address, such as house contract or a bill on your name. It is possible that you will be visited by a police to confirm your presence in the given address, but they didn't come for me, they just called on the phone asking if I really live there, I said yes, they said cool. The card form of the ID can be given right away, while the electronic ID is sent to your address in a couple of days.