Brits on applying for Italy’s post-Brexit residency permit

UK nationals who’ve been resident in Italy since before Brexit can obtain a card proving their right to remain – but the process isn’t always as smooth as they’d like.

When we recently asked Italy’s foreign residents about their experience of applying for a residency permit, there was one category that was a little different from all the rest: British citizens who’d arrived before Brexit took effect.

Unlike those who relocated to Italy after 2020, pre-Brexit residents are entitled to a Carta di Soggiorno Elettronica (‘electronic residency card’) demonstrating their right to stay in the country under the Withdrawal Agreement.

The card is valid for five years in the first instance for those who’d been resident in the country for less than five years before Brexit, or ten years for those with permanent residency.

In theory, British citizens aren’t required to get the card if they can prove they were already resident pre-Brexit via other documentation; in practice, it’s almost impossible to complete any bureaucratic task in the country without one.

We received a range of responses from readers who’d applied for the carta, from one person who described it as straightforward process to another who said it aged them by a decade.

James in Umbria was one of the luckier ones.

He applied via registered email (known as PEC) as soon as the card became available in 2021, and one month later received an invitation to an appointment at the questura (police headquarters), along with a list of documents to bring.

“The process was straightforward and the card was ready to collect about four weeks later,” he says.

Things also went smoothly for Dave, who moved to Bologna in 2020 and applied for the card in May 2021.

Like James, he was able to apply via PEC (as opposed to in person at the post office, which is required for most permesso di soggiorno applicants) and was invited to a questura appointment not long after without running into any major issues.

Still: “Now I need to work out the process to renew it,” he says.

As is often the case in Italy, whereabouts in the country you’re applying can make all the difference.

In contrast to Dave and James’s experience, Jill in Puglia says she found the Lecce questura (provincial police office) “very slow to answer PEC emails and give appointments.”

One Bologna-bsed reader who applied in 2023 said they had “blocked a lot of it out because it was so stressful” – though in the end they received their permit in about three months, a far shorter processing time than that experienced by many applicants.

“It was getting all the documentation together that was so baffling,” they said.

“I hadn’t got around to getting the carta because of Covid and I put it off and off, and it was as bad as I had expected with the documents, waiting and stress.

“I speak Italian, but there were a lot of words, names of forms and acronyms of places that I couldn’t understand over the phone or even in person. The whole process aged me about ten years.”

Those who applied for the long-term cards as permanent residents came up against more obstacles than others.

Retired family doctor Donald Law says he and his wife’s application for the ten-year card “should have been simple” but was anything but, starting with the fact that the questura wouldn’t answer the phone number provided on its website for booking appointments.

“We therefore went on one of the days allocated for dealing with applications and stood in the inevitable queue,” he says. They were eventually fingerprinted and told their cards would be ready in a couple of weeks.

“Phoning to enquire about the progress was pointless as the phone was never answered, so we waited three weeks and went back, to no avail,” he says.

“In the meantime we visited our newborn grandson in the US, and whilst there got a phone call saying my wife’s card was ready but there was a problem with my application. Of course they could not tell me what the problem was over the phone because of ‘privacy’.

“After a few more weeks I got a letter which consisted of a bill for unpaid ‘tari’ [rubbish collection taxes], which when it was paid allowed the card to be issued.”

In total, he says, the process took six months from beginning to end.

“If you don’t get a response from the phone number supplied attend in person, get there as soon as the office opens (if not before) join the inevitable queue and be prepared to wait,” he advises.

Dennis Curry in Todi, Umbria says he ultimately persuaded his local comune to issue a certificate confirming his status as a permanent resident (known as an ‘Attestato di soggiorno permanente’, normally only given to EU citizens) but not without a fight.

“The comune just did not believe as non-EU citizens, we were entitled,” he says.

“This went on for months. In the end the British Embassy contacted the local questura and they contacted the comune stating legally they had to give us permanent residence.”

“Make sure you know your rights and have the documentation to prove it,” he says.

“Don’t be passive, you have rights.”

Brits on applying for Italy’s post-Brexit residency permit

Tags: