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Italian Republic · work sponsored

Remote-worker visa — highly qualified employment or collaboration

By · Last reviewed:

Guidance updated 15 November 2026. Full-review date shown above.

Temporary residence for qualifying highly skilled employees or collaborators working remotely, with additional contract, salary and employer conditions.

Highly qualified remote contract or collaboration, required remuneration, employer evidence and common residence conditionsConditional PR application pathwayResidence permit no longer than one year, renewable annually if the qualifying conditions continue.
Processing time
The competent mission assesses the visa; appointment availability or a private estimate is not a decision guarantee. File directly with the Questura within eight working days after entry.
Government fees
Ordinary national visa EUR 116, paid at the mission’s current local-currency rate. For a payable adult permit over three months and up to one year, contribution EUR 40; electronic card EUR 30.46 and stamp EUR 16 are separate. Postal EUR 30 applies where that channel is used; exemptions depend on the actual case.
Typical duration
Residence permit no longer than one year, renewable annually if the qualifying conditions continue.
Required support
Highly qualified remote contract or collaboration, required remuneration, employer evidence and common residence conditions
Leads to permanent residency
Conditional — separate application
Reviewed Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗

In short

Temporary residence for qualifying highly skilled employees or collaborators working remotely, with additional contract, salary and employer conditions. Guidance updated 15 November 2026. Costs, application stages and eligibility conditions are set out with their sources below.

Cite this: https://visaatlas.org/visas/italy/remote-worker-italy#answer

What is the Remote-worker visa — highly qualified employment or collaboration in Italian Republic?

Highly qualified remote contract or collaboration, required remuneration, employer evidence and common residence conditions. Follow the actual citizenship or residence basis and competent authority procedure. Indicative government fees are Ordinary national visa EUR 116, paid at the mission’s current local-currency rate. For a payable adult permit over three months and up to one year, contribution EUR 40; electronic card EUR 30.46 and stamp EUR 16 are separate. Postal EUR 30 applies where that channel is used; exemptions depend on the actual case; indicative processing time is The competent mission assesses the visa; appointment availability or a private estimate is not a decision guarantee. File directly with the Questura within eight working days after entry; typical duration is Residence permit no longer than one year, renewable annually if the qualifying conditions continue. A separate EU long-term-residence application may become possible after five years of qualifying legal residence, with the required resources, applicable housing and Italian-language conditions, acceptable absences and no disqualifying status. A one-year visa or renewal does not itself grant permanent residence.

Primary guidance checked with Italian Consulate General, Toronto on 15 November 2026.

Overview

This is the employed or qualifying collaboration-based branch of Italy’s digital-work framework. It has the common highly qualified, six-month experience, income, housing and insurance conditions plus employment and employer evidence. A foreign employer is not the only possible case under the decree. The ordinary work clearance is waived, while the actual employer, role, visa and residence-permit conditions remain necessary.

Additional sources

Eligibility

Typical criteria

  • ✓Carry out genuinely highly qualified work using technology that enables remote activity. The decree distinguishes self-employed digital nomads from employed or qualifying collaboration-based remote workers; it does not impose a blanket prohibition on an enterprise resident in Italy.Italian Official Gazette ↗
  • ✓Meet the applicable qualification basis: a qualifying tertiary qualification covering at least three years or the applicable post-secondary/level 6 qualification under Article 27-quater(1), recognition for a regulated profession, or at least five years of relevant experience comparable to higher education. The three-years-in-seven alternative is limited to the specified ICT managers and specialists, ISCO-08 groups 133 and 25.Italian legislation — Normattiva ↗
  • ✓Separately prove at least six months of prior experience in the activity to be carried out. Have lawful annual income of at least three times the applicable healthcare-exemption minimum, suitable accommodation and medical and hospital insurance valid in Italy for the stay.Italian Official Gazette ↗
  • ✓Provide the employment or collaboration contract or binding offer for qualifying highly skilled activity. The annual salary must meet the applicable representative collective-agreement level and in any event the required ISTAT average gross annual salary reference.Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗
  • ✓Provide the required signed employer declaration about absence of the specified immigration and labour-related convictions in the preceding five years, with the signer’s identity document. The actual employer and arrangement are examined; there is no generic public sponsor-licence entitlement.Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗

Common blockers

  • !The common minimum lawful-income formula does not replace the separate employee salary test. Ordinary low-skilled or non-remote employment does not qualify merely because the employer permits some home working.Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗
  • !Required conditions must continue. The decree provides for refusal or withdrawal for specified employer convictions, loss of requirements, or breaches of applicable tax and contribution provisions.Italian Official Gazette ↗
  • !The decree waives the ordinary work nulla osta, not the contract, qualified role, visa or residence permit. Do not apply ordinary quota or sponsor-register assumptions without identifying the actual procedure.Italian Official Gazette ↗

Typical evidence

  • ·Provide identity, jurisdiction and lawful-residence documents, the applicable visa form and photograph, qualification or experience evidence, accommodation and insurance. Follow the competent mission’s document and authentication requirements; Toronto and New York have different local submission instructions.Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗
  • ·Document at least six months of actual activity, using appropriate contracts, tax records, payslips, invoices or other accepted professional evidence. The business activity and income must be substantiated; a generic plan to work online is insufficient.Italian Consulate General, New York ↗
  • ·For the experience qualification, provide evidence of the employer or business, role, duties and dates. For degrees and regulated professions, follow the applicable comparability, declaration-of-value or competent professional-authority procedure.Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗
  • ·Supply the contract or binding offer, remuneration evidence, signed employer declaration and signer identity document. Keep the visa documents endorsed by the consulate for the Questura application.Italian Consulate General, Toronto ↗

Application pathway

  1. Verify the role and qualification

    Match the actual employed or collaboration arrangement to the highly skilled remote-work definition. Establish the qualification or comparable experience and separate six months of prior activity.

  2. Obtain the contract and employer documents

    Document the salary against both applicable wage references and the common income condition. Obtain the signed declaration and identity attachment. An offer alone does not establish approval.

  3. Apply through the competent mission

    Use the actual national-visa documents, fee and local submission procedure. The digital-work decree removes the ordinary work-clearance requirement for this branch; it does not permit entry without the required visa.

  4. Request the permit at the Questura

    Apply directly within eight working days after entry with the consularly endorsed documents. The permit lasts up to one year and does not grant unrestricted EU-wide employment.

  5. Maintain the conditions and renew

    Maintain the qualifying arrangement, remuneration, housing, insurance and fiscal and contribution compliance. Current Article 5(4) requires requesting renewal at least 90 days before expiry. Family and long-term residence require separate conditions.

After approval: prepare for your next step

For Remote-worker visa — highly qualified employment or collaboration, use the actual decision and the issuing authority’s instructions to establish what has been granted. A successful application, permission to enter, permission to work and a residence document are not interchangeable.

  1. 1. Check the decision. Confirm the name, passport, status granted, start date and any next action. Resolve an error with the authority before relying on the document for travel or employment.
  2. 2. Establish the travel step. Read any entry window, activation, collection or in-country registration instruction. For an extension or change of status, do not assume leaving the country is required or safe while a further step remains pending.
  3. 3. Confirm what you may do. Agree the lawful start date and onboarding with the employer or sponsor. Check whether the permission names an employer, role or activity before changing the arrangement.
  4. 4. Organise the household. Check each accompanying person’s permission separately, then arrange healthcare, accommodation, access to money and the relevant local registrations. A tax number or bank account does not by itself prove a right to work.
  5. 5. Keep the ongoing conditions visible. Record the actual expiry, renewal process, permitted absences and any duty to report changes. An initial grant does not automatically establish permanent residence or citizenship.
Official Remote-worker visa — highly qualified employment or collaboration instructionsBuild my moving plan for this routeMoving to Italy

Plan the practical side of your stay

Once you have checked the official route, you can prepare for day-to-day life in Italy. These optional services are separate from the application and do not establish visa eligibility.

Official application links

Where to actually go next

Government links only

These are the official pages to use for this route. Open them before preparing documents: the forms, fees, appointment systems, and sponsor steps can change without warning.

  1. Official guidanceApplicant
    Read remote-worker contract requirements ↗

    Read the common requirements and the additional employed or collaboration-based conditions.

    Italian Consulate General, Toronto · verified

  2. Official guidanceApplicant
    Check the clearance exemption ↗

    Distinguish the actual exemption from ordinary quota-based employment.

    Italian Official Gazette · verified

  3. Official guidanceApplicant
    Check residence issue and renewal ↗

    Follow the direct Questura filing deadline and continuing conditions.

    Italian Official Gazette · verified

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Frequently asked questions

Must my employer be outside Italy?+

The decree refers to an enterprise also not resident in Italy, so the old blanket Italian-company prohibition is inaccurate. The actual job must still be highly qualified, genuinely remote and supported by the required contract, salary and employer evidence.

Does the common income floor replace the salary test?+

No. The employee or collaborator must satisfy the applicable contract and salary requirements as well as the common lawful-income, qualification, experience, accommodation and insurance conditions.

Is a normal work clearance required?+

The decree waives the ordinary work nulla osta for this remote-worker branch. The employer evidence, consular visa assessment and timely residence-permit application remain necessary.

Can my spouse and children automatically join?+

The digital-work decree covers separate reunification for a qualifying spouse and minor children under Article 29(1)(a)–(b), with housing, income and other current conditions. The ordinary spouse application is subject to the two-year continuous lawful-residence prerequisite in Article 28(1-bis); minor-child applications are not included in that particular wait. Do not assume immediate family entry, or extend this decree’s category to parents or adult children.

Need tailored advice?

We do not provide legal advice. For an application that depends on your exact circumstances, consult a regulator-listed immigration advisor.

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How we verified this

We check every figure on this page against the primary government source, record the date it was last checked, and re-check it on a regular schedule. Rules change, so always confirm time-sensitive details with the official source before you rely on them. Visa Atlas is an information-only publication and does not give legal advice.

Primary source: Italian Consulate General, Toronto

Last checked: 15 November 2026

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