Entry visa and temporary residency permit

Entrance to Italy - the Visa

Students outside of the European Union must request an entry visa from the Italian consulate for the purpose of study prior to arrival in Italy. The list of Italian diplomatic consulates abroad can be found on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  • Students who are not members of the EU, but attend university in an EU country

Foreign Students participating in a European exchange program and who got a residence permit issued by a country member of the EU, may enter Italy for stays longer than three months without needing a visa. As long as the student is enrolled at a university or in a university course, he or she may enter Italy in order to continue studies already begun in their host county or in order to integrate themselves with a program of related study.
In this case, the student must attach a document issued by their home university to their permit to stay attesting that the courses that student will take at the University of Siena accord with their area of study at the home university.

The permit to stay
  • EU students

EU students who plan to stay in Italy for longer than three months are not obligated to ask for a permit to stay. After three months the student must register themselves as residents of Siena. In order to do this, the student must present a document that attests to their enrolment at the University of Siena.
For stays less than three months students are not required to register as residents.

  • Students from outside of the EU

For stays shorter than three months, students are not required to apply for a permit to say but are required to declare their intention stay.
students coming from a country which does not apply to the Schengen Agreement must declare to the border police at the time of entry into Italy
students coming from a country that applies to the Schengen Agreement must declare at the Siena Police Station within the first 8 days in Italy

Failure to submit a declaration of presence will result in expulsion from Siena. The same penalty is enforced if the student overstays his or her declared time of study.

For stays longer than three months, foreign students must apply for a permit to stay within 8 working days of their entry into Italy.

 

Under the agreement signed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Italian Postal Service, requests for permits to stay must be submitted to the post office by filling out the application forms (available at all post offices). Upon submission of the request, student must be prepared to show a valid form of ID and the OPEN envelope containing all of the appropriate forms.

The following documentation is required for the first issue of a permit to stay:
- copy of the student’s entire passport
- copy of a document that certifies registration at the University of Siena
- copy of an insurance policy that guards against the risk of illness and injury, and that is valid in the pertaining territory for the duration of the stay.

The postal employees will issue a receipt which serves as a documentation of the application’s submission. In the second stage of the process, the student will be given a date to meet with the Police. During this appointment the applicant must bring 4 passport size photographs and they will be digitally fingerprinted. The student will then be given a second date during which he or she must go to the Police to withdraw his or her permit to stay.

 

Cost of a Permit to Stay

€30.00 for shipping and handling
€27.50 to submit electronically
€14.62 for the stamp, available at all tabaccherie