How do I legally move to Italy to live and work?

Question

Hi. I am a single mother of one girl. I have sole legal and physical custody and her father has not had visitation rights since she was a baby. They were terminated due to severe abuse. I am wanting to immigrate to Italy and obtain citizenship. How do I get started and what forms do I need to fill out? How does the process work? I currently have US citizenship. I want to obtain citizenship in Italy for both my daughter and myself. I want to be moved there by first part of next year. Thanks.

Answer 1

You would have to obtain a visa. Usually to get a visa you need to have a job in the country lined up to sponsor you. So I would get cracking on finding a job in Italy. Do you speak Italian?

Getting a visa will require going to the embassy in Washington DC. They typically only see 5-6 people each day so you will need to be there very early.

You could try going illegally, book a round trip ticket and don't pack like you are moving there. Try and get a job teaching English and it it doesn't work out move back.

If you do not have a large amount in savings (at least $10,000) and a fluency in Italian this will probably not work very well at all.

You will need around 2 grand for airfare and at least a few grand till you find a job. Plus if you don't speak Italian and have a job lined up perhaps through a University teaching study program (if you are getting your graduate degree etc) it will be very hard to find a decent job.

Answer 2

I agree with Lashenova. Don't fly to Italy if you don't know the language and don't know people can help you there. It's very hard to find a decent job for a woman not speaking italian and without school degrees. Most of them work as house cleaners, or they work with old people, but usually it's not a legal job, because owners don't want to pay taxes on it.  About the laws, i don't know them, but you can give a look here http://www.portaleimmigrazione.it/ ... You have to click on "Istruzioni Multilingue" and choose english first.

Hope it was helpful. Good luck!

Answer 3

Hi, I'm an American but have been living in Italy for the last 8 years. The others are right,  you will need to know Italian first.  In order to get a permesso di soggiorno (permit of stay) an Italian employeer has to hire you while you are still in the US, but he has to prove no Italian or other foreigner could do the job.   You could work teaching English, but it's not that simple.  Italy is full of Americans/British/South Africans, etc. that want to stay in Italy 6  months- 1 year.  A lot of language schools hire these people and not people that actually want to live in Italy for good in order to pay less taxes.  You could start working for a multi-national company in the US and pray they send you to Italy.