Italian Tourist Visa

Tourism has encountered an enormous boost in Italy and the country had been able to improve its socio-economic situation due to its prosperous hospitality sphere. The national government, in order to guarantee the security of the foreign tourists and provide better law and order, enhanced a tangled way of getting visas for the British residents. We are more than happy to share a detailed clear procedure on how to obtain an Italian visa in 2022.

Picture of visa to Italy — Visa to Italy

Let’s consider this:

Introduction

1. Top questions

1.1 What is a visa & who needs to get it?

1.2 What Tourist Visa is to enter Italy?

1.3 How long is a Tourist Visa valid for?

1.4 When should I start applying to get a Tourist Visa?

1.5 How long does it take to get an Italian Tourist Visa?

1.6 Where is the Tourist Visa processed?

1.7 How much does it cost to obtain an Italian Tourist Visa?

1.8 How to pay?

2. Application process

2.1 Documents to apply for an Italian Tourist Visa

2.2 Steps to apply for an Italian Tourist Visa

3. Tourist Visa Extension

In overall

The boom in the number of international travelers in Italy has led to numerous benefits in terms of local business & study generation. This is also linked to global funding and infrastructure improvement. In parallel, there is an issue about their influence on the local population in Italy. While questions have been raised on the detrimental effects alongside the increase in the Italian travel industry, it is of high importance to say that, by enforcing strict law and order and implementing clear and transparent legislation, authorities may regulate most of these bad effects of trips to Italy. For this reason, certain visa requirements have brought innumerable perks to Italy and especially the local citizens. On the other side, we are sure that the procedure of obtaining a visa to enter Italy is not an as complicated thing as it seems to be. Let’s start to answer as well as get the responses to some questions to find out the Italian visa application process.

1. Top questions

1.1 What is a visa & who needs to get it?

According to Wikipedia definition, a visa is a permit given by Italy that allows someone to fly, stay in, or pass through the border of Italy. This document is stamped on one’s passport by a Visa Application Center. It goes without saying, there is the type of visit and the duration of staying in the country. In rare cases, people have to be interviewed at the Visa Application Center before they obtain a visa. Henceforth, it can be confidently conveyed that some categories of citizens who reside in the UK are offered visa-free conditions to see Italy.

British citizens are exempted from visas for short stay visits to the Schengen area (up to 90 days in any 180 days period) but will require a visa if staying more than 90 days in Italy. On the other side, if you do not hold a UK passport or a BOTC, BOC, BPP, or BS passport meaning that you are a UK resident there is a need to get an Italian Schengen visa to visit Italy.

Please, take a look at the tables to check out whether your nationality requires you to apply for an Italian visa or not.

[expand title=”The countries whose citizens are required to get an Italian visa in order to enter there are”]

A
Afghanistan	Algeria	Angola	Armenia	Azerbaijan

B
Bahrain	Bangladesh	Belarus	Belize
Benin	Bhutan	Bolivia	Botswana
Burkina Faso	Burma/Myanmar	Burundi

C
Cambodia	Cameroon	Cape Verde	Central African Republic	Chad
China	Comoros	Congo	Cote D’ivoire	Cuba

D
Dem. Rep. Of Congo	Djibouti	Dominican Republic
E
Ecuador	Egypt	Equatorial Guinea	Eritrea	Ethiopia

F
Fiji

G
Gabon	Gambia	Ghana	Guinea	Guinea-Bissau	Guyana

H
Haiti

I
India	Indonesia	Iran	Iraq

J
Jamaica	Jordan

K
Kazakhstan	Kenya	Kosovo	Kuwait	Kyrgyzstan

L
Laos	Lebanon	Lesotho	Liberia	Libya

M
Madagascar	Malawi	Maldives	Mali
Mauritania	Mongolia	Morocco	Mozambique

N
Namibia	Nepal	Niger	Nigeria	Northern Mariana’s	North Korea

O
Oman

P
Pakistan	Papua New Guinea	Palestinian Authority	Philippines

Q
Qatar

R
Russia	Rwanda

S
Sao Tome And Principe	Saudi Arabia	Senegal	Sierra Leone
Somalia	South Africa	South Sudan	Sri Lanka
Sudan	Suriname	Swaziland	Syria

T
Tajikistan	Tanzania	Thailand	Timor-Leste
Togo	Tonga	Tunisia	Turkey
Turkmenistan
U
Uganda	Uzbekistan

V
Vietnam

Y
Yemen

Z
Zambia	Zimbabwe

[/expand]

With the primary condition such as a UK residence permit valid for at least another three more months beyond the date you plan to leave Italy / the Schengen Area comes a plethora of benefits like you can live in Italy for less than 90 days but if your idea is about staying in Italy for more than 90 days, then there is a need to apply for a residency permit, not an Italian Schengen visa.

If you have a 3 month UK visa, you can extend it for three more months to be eligible to apply for an Italian Schengen visa from within the UK. You must apply for an extension before your visa expires and while you’re still in the UK.

1.2 What Tourist Visa is to enter Italy?

This is the most frequent visa and as the name indicates, it is issued for stays that are for traveling for sightseeing and experiencing their culture, architecture, food, and much more. First of all, it means that you are not allowed to engage in any professional activity in Italy unless you are a young traveler eligible to take part in the working holiday program.

1.3 How long is a Tourist Visa valid for?

The time of visa to be actual is primarily dependent on a visa type. Consequently, this enables us to pay attention to the duration and prepare some documents to make your trip with great pleasure.

A tourist visa is normally issued for a maximum of 90 days per 6-month period. Remember that if the total duration of your stay exceeds 90 days, you will be issued a long-stay national visa.

1.4 When should I start applying to get a Tourist Visa?

It is highly recommended to apply for an Italian Tourist Visa at least 15 calendar days prior to the planned trip.

1.5 How long does it take to get an Italian Tourist Visa?

You will be replied to by the Visa Application Center in 10 working days or less because it takes time to proceed with all the documentation and the traveler’s request.

Normally proceeding time takes up to two months if there is something unusual in a certain situation.

1.6 Where is the Tourist Visa processed?

IF YOU VISIT ONLY ITALY THEN you need to submit your application at the Italian Visa Center IN THE UK.

IF YOU VISIT MORE COUNTRIES THAN ITALY THEN you need to submit your application at the Visa Center IN THE COUNTRY:

– you will be spending more days;

– you will come in first since you plan to spend an equal amount of days in each.

Picture of VFS Center's official website page — VFS Center’s official website page

A VISA APPLICATION CENTER IN LONDON – VFS JOINT VISA APPLICATION CENTRE

Address:

66 Wilson Street

London

EC2A 2JX

Contact details:

email: info.ituk@vfshelpline.com

Helpline number: 0871 376 0023

However, to meet the skyrocketing demand for Italian Visas, the Italian Embassy outsourced its Visa Application Processing to the Italian Visa Centers in London. To be added, a Visa Application Centre is a special third-party service provider authorized to accept visa applications on behalf of a country. It should transmit the information on the applicant and their application to the responsible body for visa processing which is the embassy or consulate of the applicant’s destination country. Our company is ready to help you with filling and sending the necessary documents to the Visa Application Center. Thus, at present, our company corrects and sends the documents to get Italian Visas through VFS Visa Application Center.

1.7 How much does it cost to obtain an Italian Tourist Visa?

The cost for processing a visa is totally different for some categories of UK residents:

– 73 UK pounds is the actual visa processing fee for adults;

– 36,5 UK pounds is the actual visa processing fee for the 6-12 years old kids.

There is no fee to be paid for the next categories of UK residents:

– the kids younger than 6 years of age;

– holders of diplomatic, official, or service passports traveling for official purposes;

– a family member of an EU/EEA national;

– pupils, students, and accompanying teachers during a school trip;

– researchers traveling to Italy to perform scientific research;

The visa fee may also be waived for participants aged 25 years or less in seminars, conferences, sports, cultural or educational events, organized by non-profit organizations. The decision will be made case by case according to the relevance of the event.

1.8 How to pay?

You have the option of paying the visa fees by cash or Credit/ Debit card when applying at the Visa Application Centre. Checks are not accepted.

2. Application process

2.1 Documents to apply for an Italian Tourist Visa

When applying for an Italian Tourist Visa, you must provide the next documents:

FIRST DOCUMENT – VISA APPLICATION FORM

You need to fill in your Short-stay Visa Application Form legibly, and correctly, sign it, and be aware that addresses in Italy must specify the number, street name, city, and postal code.

Please make use of the following table to fill in the form correctly:

The appropriate Form Section	Our explanation of each Form Section
Surname	Fill in your name like it is on your passport (do not write “married name” and your husband name)
Surname at birth	Write the name you had at your birth if different than your current surname
First Name (s)	Write your first name like it is on your passport
Date of birth	Fill in your date of birth like this: day/month/year
Place of birth	Fill in your place of birth like it is on your passport
Country of birth	Fill in your country of birth even there is no it on your passport
Current Nationality	Fill in your nationality like it is on your passport
Nationality at birth, if different	Fill in your nationality at birth if it is different from the nationality on your passport
Other nationalities
Sex	Fill in your male or female gender
Marital Status	For a common-law marriage, indicate “common-law marriage” in the section “Other”. For a PACS (Italian civil union contract) with an Italian citizen, indicate “PACS” in the section “Other“
Parental Authority	Fill in the full name, address, telephone number, email address, and nationality of the person who keeps parental authority or legal guardianship
National Identity Number	Fill in your national identity number if you have this one
Type of travel document	Write the appropriate kind of your travel document
Number of travel document	Write the appropriate numbers of your travel document
Date of issue	Write the date your passport was issued (not the extension date)
Valid until	Write your passport expiration date taking into account the extensions
Issued by	Write the country of issuing your passport and the authority that issued the passport
Personal data of the family member who is a European Union, EEA or Swiss Confederation citizen or is a United	Fill in the full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number, and relationship only if you are the dependent spouse, child, father, or mother of a person who is a citizen of another State of the European Union.
Kingdom citizen beneficiary of the withdrawal agreement, if applicable
Family relationship with an European Union, EEA or Swiss Confederation citizen, or with United Kingdom citizen beneficiary of the withdrawal agreement, if applicable	Fill in the corresponding status
Applicant's home address and e-mail address	Write the e-mail address: 1) your own one, either 2) another person one, or 3) company (accordingly, write the name of the mailbox owner).
Telephone number	Write your cellular number in your residence country and, where appropriate, in the country where you are submitting your visa application
Residence in a country other than the country of current nationality	If you are living in other country you need to write the number of your residence permit and its expiration date
Current occupation	Fill in the current occupation like it is on the passport, for example: “professor” or “retired (former designer)”. If you have no occupation, write “no occupation”
Employer and employer's address and telephone number	Fill in the name of the organization (firm, public service, educational institution) where you work or study and its name, address, and telephone number
For students, name and address of educational establishment
Purpose(s) of the journey	Write the appropriate goal of your travel
Member State of main destination (and other Member States of destination, if applicable	Write Italy as your primary destination. If it is a Italian overseas department or territory, write “Italy” and the name of the department or territory
Member State of first entry	Fill in “Italy”
Number of entries requested	Write your desired number of entries with the dates of arrival and departure
Fingerprints collected previously for the purpose of applying for a Schengen visa	If your fingerprints have already been taken for a visa application, write the date
Entry permit for the final country of destination, where applicable	Write the number and validity dates for your visa at your final destination, if this country is outside the Schengen area
Surname and first name of the inviting person(s) in the Member State(s). Address and e-mail address of inviting person(s). Telephone number	Write the name of the person who invited you, address, e-mail and a phone number
Name and address of inviting company / organization, phone number and e-mail number	Write the contact info of the organization that invited you and the contact info for your contact person in the organization
Cost of travelling and living during the applicant's stay is covered	Indicate the necessary boxes
Place and date	Write the place and date where you are filling in the form, even if this date is different than the day you are going to the visa service
Signature	The visa applicant must sign and not another person. If the visa applicant is a minor (under 18), the application must be signed by a person having parental authority and their relationship should be included in parentheses (father, mother, guardian). If the visa applicant cannot sign, a cross may be used

SECOND DOCUMENT – TWO RECENT PHOTOS

It is recommended to follow all the following Italian Visa Photo Requirements:

– Two identical photos. Not older than six months;

– Photo size: 35x45mm (width*height);

– In color. No black and white;

– Head should take 70-80% of the photo;

– Brightly colored background. Light grey is suggested;

– The applicant should be looking straight at the camera;

– Neutral face expression. No smile and mouth closed;

– Avoid uniforms or colors matching the background.

THIRD DOCUMENT – A FLIGHT ITINERARY (RESERVATION)

Sometimes you can hear other names of this document like Booked Flight Itinerary, Flight Itinerary for Visa Application, Flight Reservation, Air Ticket Booking, Dummy Air Ticket for Visa, Dummy Ticket, Flight Confirmation, and Return Ticket.

A Flight Itinerary for Visa Application is not an actual air ticket that you spend money for without ensuring that your Italian Visa will not be declined. Flight reservation means a document of a detailed plan of your flight or travel journey to Italy. So, it is only a flight timetable on the chosen flight airline including a flight name, your name, a valid flight reservation number or booking ID, arrival and departure date and airport IATA codes, and the price of a real Flight Ticket.

Getting a Flight Reservation for your visa application is not a price-free matter. It is real to get charged with a small amount of money to be confirmed about your flight. There are not so many air companies to do this for free by not charging you anything until you buy the actual Flight Ticket. But, in the long run you can try to find some air companies that offer a charge-free Flight Reservation.

FOURTH DOCUMENT – VALID PASSPORT

Your passport’s maximum validity period: 10 years.

Your passport minimum validity period: 3 months after your trip to Italy. Your passport should have at least two blank pages in order to be able to affix the visa sticker.

FIFTH DOCUMENT – TRAVEL HEALTH INSURANCE

You need to be aware of some travel insurance requirements, such as the following:

– A minimum coverage of at least 30,000 EUR;

– It should cover all member states of the Schengen Area;

Regarding this, it is highly recommended to contact one of the companies like AXA or Europ Assistance.

Picture of AXA insurance company page — AXA insurance company page

SIXTH DOCUMENT – PROOF OF ACCOMMODATION IN ITALY

You need to prepare one of the next recognized docs to provide the Italian Visa Application Center with it:

– Hotel Booking or Reservation;

Picture of hotel booking in Italy — Hotel booking in Italy

– Rent agreement. If you have rented a place, in the country you will be staying.

It may be solely chosen like Hotel Booking Plan as a Proof of Accommodation because you should not pay for the complete hotel stay before getting an Italian Visa. Actually, you could lose your money to pay the hotel fee if your visa is denied.

VisaReservation is a good company that may provide you with a Proof of Accommodation Letter for Visa application with paying a small fee to reserve a room in a hotel. Follow the website VisaReservation, choose the Hotel Booking Plan Only, write the necessary information about you and your residing time in a hotel, pay online, get the confirmation of your payment and the e-mail with info of your hotel reservation in your inbox, print the email details and provide it to the Visa Application Center.

SEVENTH DOCUMENT – LETTER OF TOUR AGENCY

If your trip is planned by a travel agency do not forget to ask someone from there to hand you this doc in.

EIGHTH DOCUMENT – PROOF OF SUBSISTENT FINANCIAL MEANS

This is a supporting document that demonstrates you have enough money to support yourself when your stay in Italy. Proof of subsistent financial means maybe one of these docs:

– bank account statement;

– sponsorship letter from another person who can financially support your trip to Italy;

– a combination of both.

In other words, there are some recognized docs to use as proof of subsistent financial means:

– a personal bank statement with your financial affairs for at least 3 last months;

– credit card;

– cash;

– cheques;

– payslips;

– proof of employment;

– document from your sponsor during your stay;

– proof of prepaid accommodation;

– a document about your private accommodation;

– proof of prepaid transport;

– other docs.

Any applicant when applying for Italy Visa should attest to the Italy Visa Application Center possessing this:

– for Stays up to 5 days

The overall amount is 269.60€ /person and 212.81 /for two and more persons.

– for Stays 6-10 days

The daily amount is 44.93€ /person and 26.33€ /two and more persons.

– for Stays 11-20 days

The overall amount is 51.64€/person and 25.82€/ two and more persons, plus the daily amount is 36.67€/person and 22.21€/ two and more persons.

– for Stays over 20 days

The overall amount is 206.58€/person and 118.79€/ two and more persons, plus the daily amount is 27.89€/person and 17,04/ two and more persons.

NINTH DOCUMENT – EVIDENCE OF EMPLOYMENT STATUS

In case of your employment:

– employment contract;

– leave permission from the employer;

– income tax return.

In case of your self-employment:

– a copy of your business license;

– company’s bank statement of the latest 6 months;

– your Income Tax Return.

In case of your studies:

– proof of enrollment;

– No Objection Letter from University.

In case of your retirement:

– pension statements of the latest 6 months.

TENTH DOCUMENT – TRAVEL ITINERARY

A description of your trip to Europe, your purpose of traveling, which places are you going to visit in Europe, the time frame, and all the personal data.

ELEVENTH DOCUMENTS – FOR MINORS

– either birth certificate/proof of adoption/custody decree if parents are divorced / death certificate of a parent;

– letter of consent from parents, including passport copies of both parents/ legal guardian.

2.2 Steps to apply for an Italian Tourist Visa

Irrespective of your visa type, your movements after collecting all the corresponding docs to getting an Italian visa are the same:

FIRST STEP – find out the option of applying – through the Visa Application Center on your own or contact us to help you with filling out the documents.

Picture of your choice of applying — Your choice of applying

SECOND STEP – figure out the appropriate time to go in person to apply for the Italian Visa.

Picture of your choice of time to come to us — Your choice of time to come to us

THIRD STEP – make an appointment at the Italian Visa Application Center

There are two options to make an appointment:

– online;

– in person.

Picture of an appointment at the Iceland Visa Application Center — Make an appointment at the Italian Visa Application Center

FOURTH STEP – attend the interview with the collected documents.

Picture of your interview — Your interview

FIFTH STEP – pay the visa fee.

Picture of paying money for your visa — Paying money for your visa

SIXTH STEP – wait for a reply from the VFS application center on your visa application.

Picture of a reply from the VFS application center — A reply from the VFS application center

Take note that the visa application form must clearly contain the dates of your visit and which cities you will be staying in. For this reason, it is better to collect your documents and fill in your visa application form once you have all of the information you need for the visa application.

3. Tourist Visa Extension

It is not a frequent case when you can extend your Italian visa. Your reasons to extend your tourist visa should be powerful. To get to know more of them read these ones:

– late entry;

– humanitarian reasons;

– force majeure;

– personal reasons.

In overall,

We do really hope this article has helped you apply for an Italian visa from the United Kingdom.

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