I’m tired of waiting for a Type D visa for self-employment (lavoro autonomo) — the Italian consulate is completely silent. I read that you can take language courses, go to Spain, obtain a residence permit there for study purposes, and then apply for a Type D visa for self-employment from Spain. People say that in this scenario the chances are higher and processing times are shorter. Besides the monetary and time costs, are there any other non-obvious pitfalls to this scheme?
The Italian consulate in Madrid does accept documents from people who have a legal Spanish residence permit — that’s true. But the catch is that the nulla osta is a “click day” because of quotas, and the place where you physically submit your visa documents doesn’t affect your position in the queue. A student residence permit in Spain opens the door to the Madrid consulate, but it doesn’t improve your chances of getting the nulla osta.
One more point about the city — the nulla osta is issued by a specific prefecture. If the authorization lists Milan but you bring a housing reservation for Rome, the consulate will ask questions. I double-checked this when I was sorting out the documents — the housing address must match the province on the nulla osta, otherwise the documents can be sent back for revision.
3 Likes
Oh, I didn’t even think about the nulla osta (нулла осту) — I was sure that from Spain the queue would be shorter. And if the prefecture listed on the permit is in one city but you book accommodation in another, is that a total deal-breaker or can it be resolved somehow?
3 Likes
Spain actually introduced a digital nomad visa specifically for applications submitted from within Spain — that’s why people keep confusing the two. Italy never officially announced anything like that; there you still apply via a D visa with the corresponding purpose.
3 Likes
The Italians have passed a “lavoro autonomo” law for digital nomads, but consulates aren’t issuing visas under it — it plainly says the program doesn’t work. That’s why people go via Spain; there’s no direct Italian route.
3 Likes
About the city question — from what I saw when applying for the permesso di soggiorno (residence permit), the document package has to be consistent. A nulla osta for Milan but a rental agreement in Rome — that mismatch will raise questions. After you enter and receive the permesso, moving within the country is a different story. And as for waiting for Italy to launch a Digital Nomad program — they’re not in a hurry; Spain has been running one for a long time, while here it’s still unclear.
3 Likes
Two letters to the PEC with links to the legislation — that’s the right move; when things were stuck longer than normal for us, that’s exactly how we pushed it through. But it’s also worth going to the questura (police headquarters) in person — a face-to-face conversation works differently than correspondence. If there’s been no reply since August, I’d definitely have gone there in person by now.
3 Likes
One thing to definitely keep in mind in advance — from the moment you enter on a Type D visa you have eight working days to apply for the permesso di soggiorno (residence permit) at the questura (police headquarters) of the province you enter; it’s explicitly written in the law. And for registering with the comune (municipality) the required package is fairly large: a copy of your passport, a copy of your visa with the entry stamp, a copy of the nulla osta (clearance), permission from the apartment owner, your codice fiscale (tax code), a completed application and a copy of the ricevuta (receipt). Better to collect all of this before entering, rather than running around later in a time crunch.
3 Likes
nulla osta — quotas and click day don’t matter; the place in the queue doesn’t depend on the country where you apply. The scheme adds real costs — at least a couple thousand for courses and accommodation in Spain, plus three months waiting for the residence permit. The only time gain is with the Italian visa processing — at most two weeks, it’s not worth it.
3 Likes
The scheme works, but it only makes sense if you actually need a Spanish residence permit — it isn’t worth it just to shorten the queue.
3 Likes