The permesso di soggiorno in Rome: kits, the Questura and renewing on time

Your Italian visa gets you in the door; the permesso di soggiorno is what lets you stay in the room.

The short version

• If you're staying more than three months, apply for your permesso within 8 days of arriving in Italy [1].
• Most applications start with a kit from the post office (Sportello Amico). In 2026 the total cost is about €116 for a permit of up to a year, €126 for one to two years and €176 for long-term EU residence [1][2].
• You then give fingerprints and photos at the Questura. Rome's Ufficio Immigrazione is in Tor Sapienza, on the city's eastern edge [5].
• The ricevuta (receipt) is your legal proof of status while you wait. Guard it [1].
• After five years you can apply for the permesso UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo, which needs A2 Italian and a minimum income [4].

How the system works

Australia gives you a visa and that's it. Your visa is your permission to live there, recorded electronically, with no separate card.

Italy splits it in two. The consulate in Australia issues your visa, which gets you in. Then Italy's police issue the permesso di soggiorno, the residence permit that covers your actual stay. The permit is a plastic card with a chip, tied to your passport, and you'll need it (or the ricevuta) for residenza, the ASL, banks and almost every office in Rome.

Since 10 April 2026, the EU's Entry/Exit System records non-EU travellers' entries and exits digitally instead of with passport stamps [6]. Keep your boarding pass anyway. It's handy proof of when the 8-day clock started.

If you hold Italian citizenship, including by descent, none of this applies to you. You register as a resident citizen instead.

Kit or Questura: where your application starts

Poste Italiane handles the first stage for the most common permit reasons, including work, study and family [1]. For other reasons, you go straight to the Questura [1]. If you came in on a work or family nulla osta, the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione at the Prefettura prepares the form with you first, and you then lodge it at a post office [1].

Elective residence, working holiday and digital nomad holders should check the reason table on Poste's page or with the consulate before they leave Australia, because the route depends on the reason code on your visa.

Filling in the kit

The kit is a big envelope with yellow stripes, free from post offices with a Sportello Amico desk. Inside are the forms (modulo 1 for everyone, modulo 2 for some permit types) and a payment slip.

1. Pick up the kit from a Sportello Amico post office. Many central Rome branches have one.
2. Fill it in with a black pen, in capitals. Leave nothing half-done; a wrong reason code sends it back.
3. Buy a €16 marca da bollo (revenue stamp) at a tabaccheria and stick it on the form [1].
4. Pay the bollettino for the card and contribution at the post office. Use one slip per person [1].
5. Photocopy every page of your passport that has data, visas or stamps, plus your supporting documents [1].
6. Hand it in, unsealed. The envelope must stay open, and only you can lodge it [1]. You pay €30 to the operator [1].
7. Walk out with two things: the ricevuta and a letter with your Questura appointment [1].

What it costs in 2026

Amounts come from Poste Italiane and the 2017 decree that still applies in 2026 [1][2]. If someone tells you the contributo is €80 or €200, that's an older figure.

Fingerprints at the Questura

The appointment letter gives a date, time and place for fotosegnalamento: fingerprints and photos. Bring:

• your passport and the ricevuta
• a few identical passport-style photos (the letter says how many)
• originals of everything you copied into the kit
• your lease, codice fiscale and any proof of income or health cover for your permit type

Rome's Ufficio Immigrazione is a large building in Tor Sapienza, a semi-industrial area that's awkward by public transport [5]. Reporting in 2026 describes queues forming before dawn [5]. Most of the overnight crowd is waiting to apply for asylum, which moves slowly. The general line for permits, renewals and collections moves more quickly once the gates open at 7.30 [5]. With an appointment letter you have a time slot, but still allow a whole morning.

Tracking and collecting the card

The ricevuta carries a username and password for PortaleImmigrazione.it, where you can follow your application [1]. The Polizia di Stato's Questura pages also show which permits are ready to collect. When yours appears, you go back to the Questura (or the office on your letter) to pick it up.

Waiting times in Rome vary a lot. Plan for months, not weeks, and don't book flights home on the assumption you'll have the card by a set date.

The ricevuta: your proof while you wait

Until the card arrives, the ricevuta "replaces the residence permit in all respects" for living in Italy [3]. Attach it to your passport for a first permit, or to your expiring card for a renewal [1]. The anagrafe, the ASL and employers all accept it.

Travel is the grey zone. Leaving and re-entering Schengen on a ricevuta comes with conditions, and they've changed over the years. Check with the Questura or your consulate before a trip home to Australia, and carry the expired card, the ricevuta and your passport together.

Renewals: timing and the differences between permits

Start your renewal about 60 days before your permit expires. That's the usual advice, and there's no penalty for applying in that window [3]. Applying more than 60 days after expiry is where you risk penalties or a refusal [3].

Renewal uses the same kit. What you put in it depends on why you're here.

Whatever your permit, keep your Australian passport well ahead of expiry. The permit is linked to your passport number, so a new passport means updating your permit too. The Australian Embassy in Rome, at Via Antonio Bosio 5, handles passport renewals by appointment [6]. The embassy can't help with Italian permit decisions, so don't call them about a delayed card.

Five years in: the long-term EU permit

The permesso UE per soggiornanti di lungo periodo is Italy's version of permanent residence. You can apply after five years of legal, continuous residence [4]. The main conditions:

• Absences: no more than 10 months away in total over the five years [4].
• Italian: A2 level, shown by a test or an Italian school or university qualification [4].
• Income: above the assegno sociale (social allowance) level, which was €7,002.97 for 2025, with more required for each family member you include [4].
• Records: criminal record certificates [4].
• Cost: the €176.46 total in the table above [2].

The permit is valid for 10 years before the card needs renewing [4]. It's also a step towards Italian citizenship by naturalisation, which has its own residence and B1 language rules.

For Australians thinking long term, think about tax as well. Five years of Italian residence almost certainly makes you an Italian tax resident, and the Australia–Italy tax treaty decides who taxes what. Read our guide to Australian tax residency and tell the ATO when your status changes.

Got a Questura appointment coming up? Join Cooee Italy, our Facebook group for Australians in Italy, and ask what to bring and what time to get there. Join the community.

Sources

1. Rilascio e rinnovo del permesso di soggiorno – Poste Italiane
2. Quanto costa il permesso di soggiorno: importi di rinnovo e richiesta (October 2026) – Money.it
3. Residence permit renewal: updated guide 2026 – Waitaly
4. Explained: how to apply for permanent residency in Italy (July 2025) – The Local Italy
5. In coda all'ufficio immigrazione di Roma per ore, giorni, notti (May 2026) – Il Post
6. Italy travel advice – Smartraveller (DFAT)

Keep reading

• Codice fiscale and residenza in Rome: the paperwork chain
• Moving to Rome from Australia: the complete guide
• Italian citizenship by descent: what Australians need to know
• Australian tax residency after moving