There is a great deal of research involved in planning a trip to Europe. Especially if you wish to visit multiple countries during your time in the area. Changing rules regarding passports and visas can complicate things further. Do you need a passport to visit Italy? Do you need a visa to visit Italy? These questions can be a little confusing. Here are some answers to common questions regarding passports and visas in Italy and also the European Union.
Do Citizens of the US and Canada Need Passports and Visas?
If you are a citizen of the US or Canada and you are planning to visit Italy and the Schengen Area for fewer than 90 days, then you are not required to have a visa.
But you will need to have a passport that will be valid for 90 days after you plan on leaving Italy or the Schengen Area.
For instance, if your trip ends on March 1st, your passport must be valid until June 1st. After spending 90 days in Italy and the Schengen Area, you are not permitted to return until 90 days have passed. This is one of the ways the European Union controls migration.
Do Citizens of Australia and New Zealand Need Passports and Visas?
The requirements for citizens of Australia and New Zealand are similar to those for Americans and Canadians, but there are a few key differences.
Australian citizens also do not need a visa to visit Italy. And they do need a valid passport. The difference is that the Australian visitor’s passport needs to be in date for six months after their return date, unlike the three months required for American and Canadian citizens.
Citizens of New Zealand are required to hold a passport that is valid for three months after their return; however, the European Union has some special visa waivers that residents of New Zealand may want to research while planning their trip.
What is the Schengen Area?
The Schengen Area is a geographical area in the European Union made up of 26 European states that have eliminated border control systems like visas in order to allow people to pass through the nation’s shared borders more effortlessly.
This large area functions under a single jurisdiction with a single, common visa policy. This means a person can drive from a country like Italy to another like Austria with only a valid passport. It is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement signed in Luxembourg that started this system.
Where Do I apply for the Italian Visa?
Every country is different, and Italy has a different presence in each country. Because of this, applying for an Italian visa will not be the same experience for everyone. You will need to research and apply at any of the following Italian diplomatic places in your country of residence.
If available, you may apply at your country’s Italian embassy, consulate, or a visa application processing center in which Italy has an outsourced visa submission or another Schengen area country in which the Italians have outsourced their visa submission process. One of these options will allow you to apply for your Italian visa.
How Do I Get the Italian Short-Stay Visa?
First, you must apply for an Italian short-stay visa. You can do this at an Italian embassy or consulate. In order for the short-stay visa to apply to you, there are a few conditions that must be met. One condition is that you won’t visit other Schengen nations during your trip; if you meet this condition, you can get a short-stay Italian visa.
If you do plan on visiting other Schengen nations, you can still qualify for the Italian short stay, so long as you spend a greater amount of time in Italy than any other country you visit or spend the same amount of time in every country you visit but enter Italy first.
It is also important to remember that you can only put in an application for the Italian short-stay visa if you reside in or are a temporary resident of the country you are applying from.
What is The Time Frame to Get an Italian Visa?
Generally, the time to process an Italian visa can take upwards of 15 days. However, not all situations are the same, and processing times can run longer up to 30 days.
In exceptional cases, where the Italian embassy must check in with other Schengen nations, the processing can take all the way up to 60 days.
To make sure your application is processed in time, it is recommended to submit your application as early as possible, up to 90 days before you plan on visiting Italy.
How Much Does an Italian Visa Cost?
Here is the break down for the price of an Italian visa:
- 60 Euros for adults
- 30 Euros for children younger than 12
- It is free for children younger than 6
However, there are price exceptions available to some people under certain nationalities or circumstances that can offer free or reduced visa costs.
Can I Prolong My Schengen Visa While in Italy?
Short answer, yes. But it is limited to exceptional cases such as a true inability to leave, special cases like humanitarian reasons, or unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling their departure date.
It is impossible to predict what may happen, so it is important that someone traveling to Italy research the reasons that would allow them to extend their stay if need be.
Tips
When crossing the border into Italy, a border patrol officer might ask you questions such as:
- What’s your reason for visiting Italy?
- How much time do you attend to spend in Italy?
- Where will you stay while in Italy?
These are common questions, and so long as you are not partaking in questionable behavior, you should not be worried about being asked them.
Conclusion
Although it may seem a bit confusing, the system is set up to make traveling throughout European easier. Meaning you can visit beautiful landmarks from the Eiffel Tower and the Swiss Alps all the way to the Coliseum, Leaning Tower of Pizza, and Venice, all with one passport and no visa. Making a trip to memorable trip to Italy even easier.
Do you have an Italian passport? If so, you are welcome to share your experience in the comment below.
Daniella has been passionate about travel, the sea, and nature for many years. As a child, she frequently traveled throughout the Mediterranean and continued with her journeys throughout her adult life.
Her experiences have created the desire within her to share her love for traveling with other passionate and adventurers who want to discover beautiful horizons and new cultures.
Hello Daniella, you have put some clarity on the question that I have always had for a while now. I am thinking of traveling down to Italy very soon, and as you have said, different countries have their own different ways of how they deal with visitors. Gladly, you have given the full details here. I will show this to my mum, whom we are traveling together — nicely done!
Hi John,
I am glad you found this article useful:)
Thank you for the comment and wish you a nice day!
Wow! This is really awesome to know that I might not need a visa to access Italy. This is great, and I will definitely try this out. I really like traveling, and Italy has been one of the nations I always live to explore, especially Venice, Florence, and Rome. I will make sure to make judicious use of the three places well while I am on the visit. Thanks for this information and thumbs up on this!
Hi Shelley,
Awesome! I am glad you found this article useful! Thank you for passing by and I wish you a lovely day!
I can very well understand why the European Union will do the 90 days limit there on renewing or coming back due to migration. It’s a good move but not all the travellers know about it. It is good though that you give this illustration and what people need to get travelling to those European countries. I need to share this with my friends who love traveling. For me, I won’t be going to Europe till next year but it’s really helpful for me.
Hey Henderson,
Yes, it is understandable why they give 90 days as a time limit to visit Italy. It’s a good idea to share this article with your friends:) Thank you!
If you need help, I am always happy to assist.
Thank you for the comment and I wish you all the best!
A really useful and easy to understand guide to the visa situation and various requirements for people coming into Italy from outside of Europe. Important to note the different requirements for US and Canadian citizens as opposed to Australians and New Zealanders. Well researched and informative artcle, thank you for sharing.
Hi there,
You are very welcome! I am glad you found the article useful!
Thank you for passing by and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
Hi, Wender.
Thanks for the useful information on Visa requirements for Italy.
While going through the article it was momentous like planning the travel in real.
Your suggestion to apply Italian Visa 90 days in advance is valid as we must not be disappointed at the last minute. It was nice to know more about Schengen Areas, which I was not aware of. Thanks for the entire post.
Warm Regards,
Gaurav Gaur
Hi Gaur,
You are welcome!
I am glad you found the article useful!
I wish you a great day!
I am from South Africa, so would I need a Schengen Visa to visit. My friend went recently and she has made me jealous with all her stories of how wonderful it is there, so now I want to plan a trip. She got a Schengen Visa, but she also did some work there, so if I were to just go on holiday, I wonder if I would need one? I only need to go for two weeks.
Hi Michele,
Yes, you will need a Schengen Visa as well as a passport to visit Italy. You need to contact the Embassy of Italy in South Africa.
Here are their phone and email: Phone: 087 231 0313
Email: infoitaly-za@capago.eu
And here are their addresses:
Johannesburg: Inanda Greens Business Park, Block A, 98 Albertyn Avenue, Sandton, 2196
Pretoria: Hadefields Business Park, 1267 Pretorius Street, Hatfield, 0028
Durban: Pencarrow Office Park, 8 Pencarrow Crescent, Armstrong Avenue, La Lucia, 4319
Cape Town: Ground Floor, Old Warehouse Building, Black River Park South, 2 Fir Street, Observatory Cape Town, 7925
I hope it helped. Please let me know if you need more help. I’ll be more than happy to assist!
Thank you for the comment and I wish you a lovely day!
Wow, to me, it seems really easy to get. Since I was small, I have often wanted to visit Europe, and its been part of my retirement to travel to Italy. Looking at the process involved here, not as difficult as I have thought it could be, and I’m really happy to know about it. Although I’ll love to learn more about its food and weather conditions, I hope you can help with it?
Hi Chloe,
Yes, I will be soon publishing Italy’s food and weather. So stay tuned:)
Thank you for the comment and I wish you a lovely day!
Wow you have made Italy look so appealing, I have never been to Italy but after seeing your post here I have to admit that I am so tempted, in fact I would love to go and the good news is, I haven’t booked up for next year yet, so guess where it looks like I’ll be going, it is so affordable too, I have bookmarked this website and I will be coming back to see more of your recommendations, thank you for sharing.
Hi Russ,
I am glad this article has inspired you to travel to Italy!
If you need help, let me know. I’ll be more than happy to assist!
Thank you for the comment and I wish you a great day!
This truly makes me realise how lucky I am to be a part to the EU, so I do not really need to think to much about visas for Europe. I do however think that I might need to apply for one if I do want to stay for longer. Do you have any information about how the visa system works for people in the EU visiting Italy? Because I do know that for some countries in Europe you do need visas even though you are in another European country?
Hi Alexandra,
I think that only the UK needs a passport to enter another country in Europe, but not a visa. Every EU citizen can enter any Eu country without a visa. I lived a long time in Europe, and I could travel from one country to another without a visa.
I hope it helped!
Thank you for the comment and I wish you a nice day!
Oh oh, now I understand this. One doesn’t really need a normal passport but one can get that which lasts for 90 days and then cannot return until after 90 days. Actually that’s cool because I was thinking of going to Italy pretty soon and I’m glad you have explained how this passport works. I’ll show this to my mum too so shell understand how it works.
Hi John,
It’s a good idea to share this article with your mom; I am sure it will help her understand how Visa works in Europe:)
Let me know if you need help. I’ll be more than happy to assist!
Thank you for the comment, and I wish you a great day.
Hi, I love your web very much. I’m from Israel and traveling twice a year in Italy.
I love any king of hiking and water extreme traveling. I visited all the the beautifully sites. like most Chenque Tera.
The pictures are amazing I wold make some of them more brightness.
Wishing you a lot of success. I’ll come to visit again.
Ilana
Hi Ilana,
Oh, I love Israel, it’s a beautiful country!
I am glad you enjoyed navigated through my website:) I hope you’ll find what you look for. Let me know if you need help. I’ll be more than happy to assist!
Thank you for the comment, and I wish you a lovely day.
I have always wondered what it would be like to visit Italy. I can see that the costs are affordable. But being from India, what would you say, is the best plan of action for me if I am to spend my holiday which is about a month in Italy? This holiday is about 2 weeks from now by the way.
Thank you for taking your time. Sid
Hi Sid,
If your holiday is in two weeks, then I would highly suggest you hurry to book your flight first. If for whatever reason, your visa is rejected, you can always cancel your trip. This way, you don’t lose your money, and you don’t have to worry about your booking.
That’s what I would do:)
I hope it helped.
Please let me know if you need help. I’ll be more than happy to assist.
Thank you for the comment, and I wish you a nice day.
I am so grateful to live inside the Schengen. I am not saying that I 100% agree with EU policy, but being member of the EU has some advantages as well.
I don’t even remember when I needed a passport to cross a border (maybe 4 years ago when I went to Ukraine)
I actually did not realize that people from Australia do need a visa to visit Italy..
Interesting reading.
Also, one point to bear in mind – sometimes there are temporary checkpoints, especially entering Austria or Germany.
It happened to me in 2018 driving from Austria to Germany that on the highway we had to slow down to 10km/h and heavier vehicles had to go through the “rest area” so the police could have a better look.
Wishing to all of you who plan to visit the EU wonderful time 🙂
Hi Michal,
Yes, polices check Eu citizens at the border, but they don’t require any visa. They just ask some questions, some even ask for the ID.
I used to travel a lot from Belgium to France then to Amsterdam and I never had to show a visa.
Thank you for passing by and for the comment. I wish you a lovely day.