Guidance

Biometric residency card ‘carta di soggiorno elettronica’ for UK nationals living in Italy before 1 January 2021

Published 22 February 2021

The Italian government has introduced a new biometric residency card called a ‘carta di soggiorno elettronica’ for people who have residency rights under the Withdrawal Agreement.

The card is not mandatory for UK nationals living in Italy. However we advise that you obtain it because it will show evidence of your rights.

You can get the card from your local police headquarters’ immigration office (‘questura’). Read the Italian government’s guide (‘vademecum’) on how to obtain the card, available in Italian and English.

Your close and current family members can also get the new biometric residency card. This includes those currently living in Italy and those that move there in the future. This also includes your children in the future either born or adopted.

If you were registered with the town hall before 1 January 2021

Your local questura issues the new residency card. It is a biometric card, so you will need to provide biometric data, including fingerprints.

To obtain the new card, you need to be able to show the questura that you are a legal resident in Italy. You must provide one of these documents:

• an ‘Attestazione di Iscrizione Anagrafica’ (under Legislative Decree no. 30/2007 and Article 18.4 of the Withdrawal Agreement), available from your local town hall
• an EU residency document such as an attestato di soggiorno or an attestazione di soggiorno permanente UE (issued under Legislative Decree No. 30/2007) if you already hold this (this is no longer available from your town hall)
• a certificato di residenza (issued under D.P.R. 30-5-1989 n.223) if you already hold this
• a completed self-declaration (autocertificazione) form confirming you are a resident in Italy. The questura will check the information you have provided with your local town hall, so you can only use a self-declaration if you are already registered with your town hall

If you applied for residency with your town hall before 1 January 2021 but have not received confirmation of your application

Contact your local town hall to check the status of your residency application. If you were lawfully living in Italy before 1 January 2021 and you have residency rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, you have the right to complete your registration with your town hall.

The town hall must confirm its decision within 45 days of your application.

You should ask the town hall to issue the ‘attestazione di iscrizione anagrafica’ to show at the questura.

When you have completed your residency registration, you should book an appointment with your local questura to obtain the new biometric card.

If you were living in Italy before 1 January 2021 and have never registered your residency with your town hall

If you have never registered your residency but you were lawfully living in Italy before 1 January 2021, you need to apply for the new biometric residency card at your local questura.

When you apply you need to bring evidence that you fulfil one of these requirements:

• employed in Italy (evidenced by showing a work contract)
• self-employed in Italy (and registered with the Agenzia delle Entrate)
• financially self-sufficient with some form of healthcare cover
• a student with financial self-sufficiency and some form of healthcare cover before 1 January 2021

Ask your local questura what evidence you should provide before you apply.

Once you have obtained the new biometric card from the questura, you must then register your residency with your local town hall. Contact the town hall for more information.

Booking an appointment with your questura for the new biometric card

Your local questura will provide a dedicated PEC (‘posta elettronica certificata’), a certified or registered email address for you to book an appointment to obtain the new biometric card. Alternatively, check this list of PEC addresses (you may need to use Google Chrome) to find your local questura. You may need your own PEC email account to contact the questura.

Cost of the card and how to pay

The new biometric card costs 30.46 euros. You do not need to pay for and provide a tax stamp (‘marca da bollo’) when obtaining the new card.

You should pay with a payment slip (‘bollettino’) using the account and payment details included in the Italian government’s guide (‘vademecum’) on how to obtain the card (available in Italian and English).

You can get a blank bollettino (payment slip) from your local post office. You do not need to use a pre-completed bollettino from the third-country national postal kit from the Italian post office.

You will then need to provide the receipt of payment at the questura.

The new biometric card and using it in Italy

If you are already registered in Italy, there is no legal requirement to obtain the new card. It is not mandatory, and if you have residency rights under the Withdrawal Agreement, your rights do not depend on holding it. Local providers cannot require you to have it.

However our advice is to obtain it, as it provides the clearest evidence of your rights in a high-security and simple format. For example, it will provide a simple way of evidencing your rights at the border or when accessing services in Italy.

The Withdrawal Agreement ‘attestazione di iscrizione anagrafica’

The Italian government provides the new ‘attestazione di iscrizione anagrafica’, issued according to the Withdrawal Agreement, to people who have rights under the Agreement. It is still available from your local town hall.

Although this document is not mandatory, you may find it simpler to obtain the new biometric residency card if you can show the ‘attestazione di iscrizione anagrafica’ to the questura.

Getting the new card if you are a permanent resident in Italy

If you are a permanent resident, you will receive the new biometric residency card with a 10 year validity (renewable) when you request it from your local questura. You can show your current permanent residency document (‘attestazione di soggiorno permanente UE’) to the questura to obtain the 10 year card.

If you do not have a permanent residency document, you need to show other evidence of your continuous residency in Italy in the last 5 years. The simplest way of doing so is with a ‘certificato storico di residenza’ available from your town hall.

Students who are living in Italy temporarily

If you were living in Italy and enrolled on a course before 1 January 2021 (and you are economically self-sufficient with some form of healthcare cover) you can obtain the new biometric residency card. This also applies to those who are already registered with their local town hall, including in the temporary registry.

Read the Italian government’s guide (‘vademecum’) on how to obtain the card (available in Italian and English).

Family members

Close and current family members joining you in the future who have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement should apply for the card from their local questura when they arrive in Italy. They must then also register their residency at the town hall.

A close family member includes spouses, registered partners, unmarried partners, children under the age of 21, grandchildren and dependent children and parents and grandparents. They need to have been your family member on or before 31 December 2020 (except future children, including adopted children).