How to take a Permesso di Soggiorno per motivi di studio?

In other words: How to take a residence permit to study in Italy?

STEP 1: The post-office day
You should handle all the necessary documents that I will mention below to the post office.

General Tips:
You can do your immigration processes only in the post offices which have the “Sportello Amico” part. To find the location of the post offices with “sportello amico”, you can do a Google search like “poste italiane sportello amico Milano” or “poste italiane sportello amico Roma” etc.

Sportello Amico sign

You should make at least one copy of all the original documents before going to the post office. You will hand in only the copies to the post office but you should also have the original versions with you in order to show them if they ask in the post office.

Actually the application for the permesso di soggiorno should be done in the following 8 days that you enter to the country but I have never seen someone who did their application in the valid days :D For example I’ve done it at the following one month, which is not a good example of course but I am telling you in order to say “do not panic if you pass the 8 days of your stay in Italy.”

Here are the necessary documents:

• Fill the “KIT for permesso di soggiorno” given by the post office (sportello amico) in a big envelope.
• Tip: If you cannot find anyone who knows English in the post office ask like that “Posso avere il modulo/kit per il permesso di soggiorno?” in order to take the kit.
• Tip 2: Save the envelope of the kit for the application because they are putting all the necessary documents in that envelope.

• Photocopy of all pages of your passport. (Including the cover of the passport)
• Acceptance letter that is sent by the Italian university. (Better to take it in Italian)
• Your health insurance that is taken from your country.  (should be in English or in Italian)
• 4-5 passport photos with the same pose. (not necessary for the post office part but bring them also)
• Tip: In some metro stations you can find the photo machines that are taking 8 photos for 5 euros in different sizes. It will be enough for your whole permesso di soggiorno process.
• Marca da bollo: It is a stamp that costs 16 euro which can be taken from any tobacco shop.
• Tip 1: Tobacco shops have these signs outside of them.



Tabacchi (tobacco shop) sign

• Tip 2: DO NOT STAMP IT BY YOURSELF! Take it to the post office with the other documents and give it to the employee there. They know how to handle it :D
• MONEY! 137.50 Euro which should be paid to the post-office.
• Tip: You can also pay with the credit card or with an Italian bancomat card.

If you have done all the steps above correctly, you should be given a receipt that you should keep till the second step of our process: the questura part. (Questura = police station)

The receipt that is given by the post-office

Very important tip: With the receipt you can go to your own country and come back to Italy without any need of visa. Although this receipt has a magical function like that, unfortunately it is not valid as a Schengen visa therefore you CANNOT use the receipt to go to the other EU countries as long as you do not have a visa for these countries.

STEP 2: The questura day
Braviiii!!!! You survived and waited more or less 1,5 months for your second step of the permesso the soggiorno process. The time and the location of your appointment at questura is written on the paper that is given you from the post-office.
Be there at the right time!

This step is like an interview with the police. Ok, it's not an interview but even if you are the daughter of Obama you have to pass this process to take your permesso di soggiorno if you are a non-EU citizen. This process ladies and gentlemen... This is one of the best examples of the non-equality between EU and non-EU people.

Questura at Ostia, Roma, April 2014

Welcome to the OFFICE FOR ALIENS! True story..

Anyway here are the necessary documents that you should bring to the Questura.

- Your passport
- All the receipts that is given by the post-office
- Photos that I mentioned above 
- The original copies of all the documents that you gave at the post-office.
- Your fingers (For the fingerprint)

If everything goes ok (with the tips and tricks I gave you and with a little bit of luck you will pass this come on!) the police will ask your phone number which they will send you a message in 3 weeks or more when your permesso is ready.

Sometimes they do not send an SMS (there occurs an error or they forget to send it, no idea). So use this link and enter the 12 digit number on your receipt in order to check if your permesso is arrived or not.

STEP 3: Finally, taking the permesso di soggiorno

Yes, the big day has arrived! 

Go to the questura at the stated date and time (on SMS or on the website) with your:

- Passport

- Receipts

- The original documents that you gave at the first two steps. (This is optional but to be sure and not stressed it is better to be prepared 100%)

Congratulations, now you have a permesso di soggiorno "studio"! You can use it until the expiration date mentioned on your card. 

Tip: You can do your application to renew it till 2 months after the expiration date of your permesso. The renewal process differs a little bit from the first time application, which I will mention it in another post.

Step 3: How to get visa?

As I mentioned in the posts before, I am a citizen of a non EU country. Therefore getting visa to study in Italy for two years was really big problem for me. If you are a non-EU country citizen like me (Croatia, Iceland, Turkey, China, India, etc.) this post can assist you while trying to complete the bureaucratic procedures.

The documents will vary depending on your country. But this list can give you an idea what you are facing with.

1) 2 photos (35-40mm)

2) Original and Copy of Passport (The copy should include the pages which contain personal information) Your passport's due date should be at least one year later than the end of your master of science program. 
Ex: My master program will end in 2013 and my passport's validity is till 2014.

3) Health insurance covering 30,000€ (a yearly insurance costs 60€ in Turkey)

4) Formal Acceptance Letter

5) If you have a scholarship, the document which proves it.

6) Flight ticket or reservation

7) Copy of the Bachelor of Science degree diploma

8) The proof of your residence

9) The proof of where the person who will support you (the money you need in Italy) works. How much income he/she earns yearly? Copy of ID of his/her.

10) Proof of the money you have in the bank account. (In the bank account I showed 9900€ for two years)

11) In my formal accepted letter, it is written that there is not any problem about finding a place to stay because the university has a large dormitory. But if it is not mentioned in your formal acceptance letter, you should show a document which shows where you will stay.

Attention: You should prepare and give these documents to the Italian Embassy or Consulate at least one month earlier than your departure date.

Edit after four years: Actually it would be better to apply to the visa before more than 1,5 months. You know that a lot happened in the last months about the immigration issues especially from Syria to the EU contries, therefore they are know examining all the files more carefully which means they need more time to confirm the visa.