Investor Visa for Italy: Thresholds, Timeline and Who Actually Needs It
Article 26-bis of the Testo Unico sull'Immigrazione (TUI, the consolidated immigration code) lets a qualifying foreign investor enter and stay in Italy outside the ordinary annual quotas. The 2017 Budget Law inserted the article; an interministerial decree of 21 July 2017 sets out how the route actually works, article by article, and most of what matters to an applicant sits in that decree rather than in the statute itself. Four routes qualify: government securities of EUR 2,000,000, equity in an Italian company or venture-capital fund of EUR 500,000, equity in a registered innovative startup of EUR 250,000, or a philanthropic donation of EUR 1,000,000. This page covers only that route. For the separate, lower-threshold visa built for founders raising a startup rather than deploying capital, see Company in Italy: italy startup visa.
Marta De Luca, Regulatory and Licensing Lead, Milan. Marta works on authorisations: who has to be licensed in Italy, by which authority, and what the file has to contain. Four years inside the compliance function of an Italian payment institution taught her what a supervisor actually reads. She now takes crypto-asset and payment applicants through CONSOB and Banca d'Italia procedures. More
Reviewed by Giulia Mancini, Head of Corporate Formation. Updated 11 September 2026.
What is the Italy Investor Visa, and what does "outside the quotas" mean?
Italian immigration policy runs most work-based entry through annual quotas, so a route that sits outside them needs its own explanation before the numbers arrive.
The legal basis in one paragraph
The 2017 Budget Law (Legge di Bilancio 2017) inserted Art. 26-bis into the immigration code: entry and stay outside the annual quotas of Art. 3(4) TUI, for a qualifying investor or donor. The decree's own recital puts it this way: "consente agli stranieri che intendono effettuare investimenti in Italia l'ingresso e il soggiorno al di fuori delle quote annuali disciplinate dal medesimo Testo Unico" (allows foreigners investing in Italy to enter and stay outside the same code's annual quotas).
What "outside the annual quotas" actually changes
Most Italian work-based entry for non-EU nationals is capped by the Decreto Flussi (the annual flows decree) under Art. 3(4) TUI. The investor visa sits entirely outside that cap. A qualifying investor applies whenever ready, in their own name or as the legal representative of a company they represent, with no annual ceiling to compete against and no fixed window that opens or closes.
The four defining features MIMIT gives the programme
MIMIT describes its own scheme, officially named "Investor Visa for Italy" and run by MIMIT Division IV, through four features: online, accelerated, bilingual and centralised. The nulla osta (the Committee's clearance) issues within 30 days; the site and forms run in Italian and English; and a single Secretariat handles every applicant from intake to decision. See MIMIT: Investor Visa for Italy.
What this guide does not cover
Two founder-visa siblings sit next to this one, already named above. The Italia Startup Visa asks for a lower threshold through its own Technical Committee, on its own merits at its own page. The self-employment (lavoro autonomo) visa has its own page too. Elective residence, a separate passive-income route, stays out of scope here: no verified minimum-income figure exists for it. The flat tax for new residents and company incorporation are each covered elsewhere; this page marks only where they connect.
What are the four investment routes, and exactly how much do they require?
Each of the four routes opens the same visa, but the conditions attached to each differ enough that mixing them up is the most common mistake in informal write-ups of this programme.
Government securities: EUR 2,000,000 in specific, long-dated bonds
The bonds route requires at least EUR 2,000,000 in titoli di Stato (Italian government securities), and not just any bond qualifies. The implementing decree names the eligible instruments precisely: Certificati di Credito del Tesoro (CCT/CCTeu), Certificati del Tesoro Zero Coupon (CTZ), Buoni del Tesoro Poliennali (BTP), inflation-indexed BTP and BTP Italia, each with a residual maturity of not less than two years (Art. 2(1)(a) of the decree). That two-year figure is about how much time is left on the bond itself: a different two years from the investment's own holding period, covered further down this page. See Normattiva: Testo Unico Immigrazione, Art. 26-bis.
Equity in an Italian company or venture-capital fund: EUR 500,000
The second route is EUR 500,000 in equity instruments of a company or a venture-capital fund constituted and operating in Italy. "Constituted and operating in Italy" is defined by cross-reference to Art. 73 TUIR: a capital company resident in Italy for tax purposes. For a founder who has already incorporated an Italian company, or plans to, this route overlaps most directly with the rest of the site.
Equity in a registered innovative startup: EUR 250,000
The third route is EUR 250,000 into a startup innovativa (innovative startup), but only one already entered in the special register under Art. 25(2) of D.L. 179/2012. Do not confuse this with the Italia Startup Visa's own threshold: that separate route needs EUR 50,000 of dedicated funds through a different mechanism, covered in the comparison section further down this page.
A philanthropic donation: EUR 1,000,000
The fourth route needs no repayment or exit at all. A donazione a carattere filantropico (philanthropic donation) of at least EUR 1,000,000 must support a project of public interest in culture, education, migration management, scientific research, or the recovery of cultural or landscape assets. Unlike the other three routes, the donation carries no two-year holding period, since a one-off gift has nothing left to hold once it is made.
| Route | Amount / condition | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Government securities | EUR 2,000,000, residual maturity 2+ years | Art. 26-bis(1) TUI; Art. 2(1)(a) of the decree |
| Equity in an Italian company or VC fund | EUR 500,000 | Art. 26-bis(1) TUI |
| Equity in a registered innovative startup | EUR 250,000 | Art. 26-bis(1) TUI |
| Philanthropic donation | EUR 1,000,000, no holding period | Art. 26-bis(1) TUI |
| Holding period (bonds / company equity / startup equity) | at least 2 years | Art. 5(1)(d) of the decree |
| Ownership/beneficial-ownership proof, bonds route | EUR 2,000,000 | Art. 26-bis(1) TUI |
| Ownership/beneficial-ownership proof, equity and donation routes | EUR 1,000,000 | Art. 26-bis(1) TUI |
All four routes sit under the same Art. 26-bis(1) TUI and require the same Art. 5(1)(d) declaration, except the donation, which carries no holding-period undertaking. Route 1, government securities: EUR 2,000,000 in CCT/CCTeu, CTZ, BTP, inflation-indexed BTP or BTP Italia, residual maturity of 2 or more years, investment held 2 years. Route 2, company or venture-capital-fund equity: EUR 500,000 in an Italian-resident capital company under Art. 73 TUIR, investment held 2 years. Route 3, innovative-startup equity: EUR 250,000 into a startup entered in the special register under Art. 25(2) of D.L. 179/2012, investment held 2 years. Route 4, philanthropic donation: EUR 1,000,000 for a project in culture, education, migration management, scientific research or heritage recovery only, with no holding period.
What do you actually sign, and what documents does the application need?
The two-line summary of Art. 26-bis TUI hides an operative layer that sits entirely in the implementing decree, and the applicant's own signature carries most of the weight in it.
The sworn declaration, verbatim
Article 5(1)(d) of the decree requires a dichiarazione (declaration) in which the applicant undertakes to use the funds within three months of entering Italy to carry out the investment or donation, and to maintain the investment for at least two years, together with a description of its characteristics and beneficiaries. In the decree's own words: "dichiarazione in cui il richiedente si impegna a utilizzare i fondi entro tre mesi dall'ingresso in Italia per la realizzazione dell'investimento o della donazione e a mantenere l'investimento per almeno due anni" (a declaration in which the applicant undertakes to use the funds within three months of entering Italy to carry out the investment or donation, and to maintain the investment for at least two years). See the interministerial decree of 21 July 2017, Art. 5(1)(d).
The full document set
Four items go into the application, each checked before the Committee opens its substantive review:
- a valid travel document, expiring at least three months beyond the visa requested;
- proof of ownership and beneficial ownership (titolare e beneficiario effettivo) of the funds, and that they are available and transferable to Italy;
- certification of the lawful origin of the funds: the applicant's own declaration of their source, plus a certification of no final criminal convictions and no pending charges from every country where the applicant lived more than twelve consecutive months in the last ten years since turning eighteen;
- the Art. 5(1)(d) declaration itself.
Who approves the application forms
The forms for all four items are approved by the Committee and published on the dedicated web platform, so an applicant working from an outdated template risks a rejection on form alone, before the substance is even read.
Who decides your application: the Comitato and its Secretariat
Nobody signs off on an investor-visa file alone. Six different administrations sit around the same table before a decision is made.
The Committee's composition
The Comitato (the inter-institutional Committee that decides these applications) is chaired by MIMIT's Director-General for Industrial Policy, with one representative each from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI), the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), the Guardia di Finanza's currency-police unit, the Agenzia delle Entrate and the ICE trade agency. A donation application adds a seat for the Ministry of Culture or the Ministry of Education, depending on the project's field. That breadth is deliberate: the decree treats an investor-visa grant as touching immigration control, currency monitoring and tax coordination at once, not as a single administrative sign-off.
Why a nulla osta needs no dissenting vote
Ordinary Committee resolutions pass by majority. A resolution granting the nulla osta does not: it is approved only in the absence of dissenting votes, a higher bar than a simple majority and a sign of how closely a positive outcome is checked before it is issued.
The Secretariat: the applicant's single point of contact
The Segreteria del Comitato (the Committee's Secretariat) is where an applicant's day-to-day questions actually land: intake, completeness checks, transmitting the nulla osta to the consulate or the questura (the provincial police headquarters that issues the residence permit), reporting a missed or disposed-of investment, running the online platform, and periodic monitoring once the permit is issued.
How long does the process actually take, step by step?
Three deadlines in this section come straight from the decree. Nothing else about the timeline is fixed by law, and this page says so plainly rather than filling the gap with a guess.
Assembling the file
The documents from the previous section go through the dedicated web platform. The Secretariat checks formal completeness first; only once the file is complete does the Committee's substantive Art. 26-bis review begin.
The Committee's own clock: 30 days
The decree fixes one number here, and it covers one stage only: "Il procedimento è concluso entro 30 giorni dalla ricezione della domanda" (the procedure is concluded within 30 days of receipt of the application), Art. 6(4) of the decree. That 30-day window is the Committee's own clock for the nulla osta, not a total time to a visa or a permit. See the decree, Art. 6(4).
The consulate visa, then entering Italy
Once the nulla osta issues, the applicant applies for the visto investitori (investor visa) at the competent consulate. No statutory deadline governs how long the consulate step itself takes, and none is stated here, because none exists in the decree.
Within 8 days of landing: the residence-permit request
"Entro otto giorni dall'ingresso in Italia il destinatario di visto investitori richiede alla questura competente per territorio il rilascio di un permesso di soggiorno per investitori di durata biennale" (within eight days of entering Italy, the holder of an investor visa requests the two-year investor residence permit from the questura, the provincial police headquarters, with territorial jurisdiction), Art. 6(6) of the decree. Eight days is a short window, and it starts running from entry, not from any later appointment date.
Within 3 months of landing: proving the investment was made in full
The holder then has three months from entry to send the Secretariat documentary proof that the investment or donation was completed for the entire required amount (Art. 6(7) of the decree). Falling short of the full amount, or submitting inadequate evidence, gives the questura grounds to reject the permit application or revoke a permit already granted.
Eight steps in sequence: application filed on the platform; a 30-day nulla osta (Art. 6(4) of the decree); the consulate "visto investitori" visa (Art. 6(5) of the decree); entry into Italy; an 8-day permit request at the questura (Art. 6(6) of the decree); a 3-month investment-proof deadline (Art. 6(7) of the decree); a 2-year permit in force (Art. 26-bis(5) TUI); and 3-year renewals, subject to a fresh nulla osta (Art. 6(9) of the decree). Steps 3 and 4, the consulate visa and entry into Italy, carry no statutory deadline of their own, shown by dashed connectors leading into each; every other connector in the sequence joins two dated, sourced steps.
Why this page does not give a single "total weeks" figure
Only the 30-day, 8-day and 3-month figures above are statutory. The consulate and questura steps that sit between them carry no confirmed official turnaround time in any primary source accessible for this page, so no total appears here. Pages that publish "90-120 days" or "3-6 months" are quoting an estimate, not a legal deadline, and this page does not repeat that estimate.
How long is the permit valid, and how do you renew it?
The whole procedure above builds toward one document, and its lifespan has its own rules.
Two years at first issue, and what can revoke it early
The residence permit "per investitori" runs for two years from first issue. It can be revoked early on two grounds: the investment is not made within the three-month deadline, or it is disposed of before the two years run out. The Secretariat's ongoing monitoring can trigger revocation at any point during that period, not only at the three-month or two-year checkpoints.
Renewal for further three-year periods
The permit is "rinnovabile per periodi ulteriori di tre anni" (renewable for further three-year periods), subject each time to a fresh nulla osta from the Committee confirming the investment is still maintained (Art. 6(9) of the decree). No further renewal criteria beyond that confirmation appear in the material accessible for this page.
The rights that come with the permit
A holder exercises the same rights as a self-employment permit holder under Art. 26 TUI. For five years from first issue, the holder is also exempt from the integration agreement and from continuity-of-stay obligations, a real practical benefit for someone who travels for reasons unrelated to the investment. The reciprocity-check exemption that comes with the permit is covered in the next section.
| Step / indicator | Deadline or duration | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Nulla osta processing time | 30 days from receipt | Art. 6(4) of the decree |
| Deadline to request the residence permit after entry | 8 days | Art. 6(6) of the decree |
| Deadline to prove the investment was completed, in full | 3 months from entry | Art. 6(7) of the decree |
| Criminal-record certification window | residence over 12 consecutive months in the last 10 years, since age 18 | Art. 5(1)(c)(2) of the decree |
| Residence-permit duration, first issue | 2 years | Art. 26-bis(5) TUI |
| Renewal period | 3 years, repeatable | Art. 26-bis(6) TUI; Art. 6(9) of the decree |
| Exemption from the integration agreement and continuity-of-stay rules | 5 years from first issue | Art. 26-bis(5-bis) TUI |
Does the reciprocity rule apply to you?
One more condition sits underneath the permit, and it depends on who is actually applying.
The general rule
Article 16 of the disposizioni sulla legge in generale (the Civil Code's preliminary provisions) sets the baseline for the condizione di reciprocità (reciprocity condition): "Lo straniero è ammesso a godere dei diritti civili attribuiti al cittadino a condizione di reciprocità … vale anche per le persone giuridiche straniere" (a foreigner is admitted to enjoy the civil rights granted to a citizen on condition of reciprocity, and the rule also applies to foreign legal persons). See Normattiva: Codice civile, Art. 16 disp. prel..
The advance check for a foreign company applicant
Where the application is filed by the legal representative of a foreign legal person, the authority must ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for an advance check of the reciprocity condition, and the nulla osta itself must record that the check was carried out.
Once you hold the permit, the check no longer applies
The exemption named in the previous section covers this exactly: an investor-permit holder is exempt from the reciprocity check going forward. It is one of the concrete practical benefits of the route, beyond the quota-free entry itself.
Is the investor visa open to everyone right now?
A programme this specific also carries an eligibility restriction that changes who can apply at all, and a current guide cannot leave it out.
The current suspension
The official programme portal states the suspension in plain terms: "Suspension of the program for Russian and Belarusian citizens as per the order of the Committee dated 07/14/2023," extended, per a Foreign Ministry note of 20 March 2024, to non-EU citizens holding a double passport where one nationality is Russian or Belarusian. See the official Investor Visa for Italy portal.
What this means in practice, and what is not known
No other nationality restriction appears on the portal as of the access date behind this page. Treat the list as open rather than closed: nothing in the sources checked here rules out a wider restriction being added later, and the portal is exactly the kind of official record that can change without much notice. We flag this fact for our own quarterly recheck.
Do you need this visa just to own or run an Italian company?
Everything above assumes the reader wants to live in Italy. Plenty of readers only want to own a company there, and the two questions have different answers.
What the Civil Code actually requires of a director
Article 2383(4) of the Civil Code lists what gets filed with the Register for each director: "indicando per ciascuno di essi il cognome e il nome, il luogo e la data di nascita, il domicilio e la cittadinanza" (stating for each of them their surname and first name, place and date of birth, domicile and nationality). No residence test appears anywhere in that filing requirement, and it is one of the clearest statements in Italian law that direction of a company and physical residence are two separate questions. See Normattiva: Codice civile, Art. 2383.
The practical consequence for a non-resident founder
A non-resident can incorporate an Italian company, own 100% of it, and direct it remotely, all without any visa or residence permit at all. For the mechanics, see how to register a company in Italy step by step.
When you do need a route like this one
A visa becomes necessary once the plan changes from owning a company to living in Italy: staying beyond the short Schengen period, becoming an Italian tax resident, or simply wanting the quota-free speed this specific route offers over the alternatives covered next.
How does the investor visa compare with Italy's other founder routes?
Two other routes get compared against this one more than any other, and the differences are concrete rather than cosmetic.
Versus the Italia Startup Visa
The Italia Startup Visa needs financial resources dedicated to the startup of at least EUR 50,000, plus a personal income test above EUR 8,400, cleared by its own Technical Committee rather than the investor-visa Comitato. That is a materially lower and differently structured threshold than the investor visa's own EUR 250,000-into-a-registered-startup route, and the two committees do not overlap. That gap matters most to a reader who assumed a single "startup visa" figure applied across both routes. See Italian Consulate, Chicago: Italia Startup Visa for the full requirements of that separate route.
Versus the self-employment (lavoro autonomo) visa
The self-employment route under Art. 26 TUI also covers incorporating a company or taking corporate office, but it additionally requires adequate resources, sector-specific conditions and a recent no-impediment attestation. Unlike the investor visa, it is capped every year under Normattiva: Testo Unico Immigrazione, Art. 26 by the Decreto Flussi quota, set by 30 November of the preceding year: see how the decreto flussi quota affects a self-employment visa for the rest of that route.
The quota-free routes as a group
The investor visa, the Italia Startup Visa and the EU Blue Card are all structured to sit outside the Art. 3(4) quotas, though the Blue Card is a route for employed, highly-qualified work rather than for a founder-director, and is named here only for completeness.
What about tax once you take up residence?
One question follows naturally once residence enters the picture, and the merits of the answer sit on a different page.
Registering residence can make you an Italian taxpayer
Registering residenza (official residence) in Italy can trigger Italian tax residence under Art. 2 TUIR, the gateway to worldwide taxation and, separately, to the flat-tax option for new residents.
The Agenzia delle Entrate coordinates the two procedures
The implementing decree itself records the link: "L'Agenzia delle entrate assicura il coordinamento tra le procedure oggetto di questo provvedimento e quelle connesse con l'esercizio dell'opzione di cui all'art. 24-bis del TUIR" (the Agenzia delle Entrate ensures coordination between the procedures covered by this decree and those connected with exercising the option under Art. 24-bis TUIR). For who qualifies for the Italian flat tax on foreign income, including the rates and thresholds, see that page directly; they are not restated here.
Frequently asked questions about the Italy investor visa
What are the four investment options for the Italy investor visa?
Government securities of at least EUR 2,000,000 with two years or more left to maturity, equity in an Italian company or venture-capital fund of at least EUR 500,000, equity in a registered innovative startup of at least EUR 250,000, or a philanthropic donation of at least EUR 1,000,000, all set out in Art. 26-bis(1) of the immigration code.
How long must I keep the investment?
At least two years for the government-securities, company-equity and startup-equity routes, under a declaration you sign as part of the application (Art. 5(1)(d) of the 21 July 2017 decree). The philanthropic donation carries no holding-period requirement.
What exactly do I sign when I apply?
A declaration undertaking to use the funds within three months of entering Italy to complete the investment or donation, and to maintain the investment for at least two years, with a description of its characteristics and beneficiaries (Art. 5(1)(d) of the decree).
How long does the application take?
The Committee's own procedure concludes within 30 days of receiving the application (Art. 6(4) of the decree). That covers the nulla osta stage only, not the consulate visa step or the questura permit step that follow it.
What do I have to do once I enter Italy?
Request the residence permit from the local questura within 8 days of entry, and send the Committee's Secretariat documentary proof the investment was completed in full within 3 months of entry (Art. 6(6)-(7) of the decree).
What happens if I don't invest in time, or I sell the investment early?
The questura can reject the permit application or revoke a permit already issued, and the permit can also be revoked at any time if the Committee's monitoring shows the investment has been disposed of (Art. 6(7)-(8) of the decree).
How long is the residence permit valid, and can it be renewed?
Two years at first issue, renewable for further three-year periods once the Committee confirms, by a fresh nulla osta, that the investment is still in place (Art. 26-bis(6) TUI; Art. 6(9) of the decree).
Does the reciprocity rule apply to me?
If you apply through a foreign company, the authority checks reciprocity with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in advance (Art. 26-bis(3-bis) TUI); once you hold the investor permit, you are exempt from that check (Art. 26-bis(5-bis) TUI).
Is the investor visa open to everyone right now?
No. It is currently suspended for Russian and Belarusian citizens, including dual nationals, under a Committee order of 14 July 2023, reaffirmed by a Foreign Ministry note of 20 March 2024.
Do I need this visa just to own or run an Italian company?
No. Italian company law sets no residence requirement for a director or shareholder (Art. 2383(4) c.c.); a non-resident can incorporate and own 100% of an S.r.l. or S.p.A. and manage it remotely without any visa at all.
How is this different from the Italia Startup Visa?
The Italia Startup Visa needs only EUR 50,000 of dedicated funds and a personal income test above EUR 8,400, cleared by a separate Technical Committee; the investor visa's own startup route requires EUR 250,000 invested into a registered innovative startup.
How is this different from a self-employment (lavoro autonomo) visa?
The self-employment route is capped by annual quotas set each year by 30 November under the Decreto Flussi (Art. 3(4) TUI); the investor visa sits entirely outside those quotas.
Does taking this visa make me an Italian taxpayer?
Registering residence in Italy can make you Italian tax-resident under Art. 2 TUIR. The Agenzia delle Entrate separately coordinates this visa procedure with the flat-tax option for new residents under Art. 24-bis TUIR (Art. 7(1)(e) of the decree).