What it costs to move a family to Italy

The table lists Visti lunga permanenza, the long stay national visa, at EUR 116.00, collected in dollars at USD 135.20 for the quarter running 1 July to 30 September 2026. Consulates reset the dollar rate each quarter. There is no reduced rate for minors on a long stay visa, unlike Schengen short stay visas. The fee is non-refundable whether or not the visa is issued. The Consulate General of Italy in Houston states that each applicant applies independently, so a family of four books four appointments and brings four complete sets of documents (https://conshouston.esteri.it/en/servizi-consolari-e-visti/servizi-per-il-cittadino-straniero/visti/__trashed/, checked 2026-08-26).

Boston asks for documented stable passive income totalling more than EUR 31,000 a year per applicant, from pensions, annuities, income from properties, trusts or investment funds, and states that income deriving from subordinate work will not be taken into consideration. The Consulate General of Italy in Houston publishes the same threshold as EUR 31,000 for one person and EUR 62,000 for a married couple (https://conshouston.esteri.it/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/ELECTIVE-RESIDENCE.docx, checked 2026-08-26). The Consulate General of Italy in New York words it as typically around EUR 31,000 per person for family applications. Each consulate assesses applications in its own jurisdiction and can ask for more.

Houston publishes a minimum yearly income of EUR 31,000 for one person and EUR 62,000 for a married couple, so the spouse adds EUR 31,000.

Boston applies the more than EUR 31,000 a year per applicant test to a dependent spouse, minor children and dependent children over 18 living with their parents. Houston's published checklist gives figures only for one person and for a married couple and does not publish a per child amount. Treat EUR 31,000 per child as the strictest published reading and ask your own consulate before you plan around a lower number.

Four separate charges make this up: EUR 16.00 for the marca da bollo applied to the form, EUR 30.00 postal charge when the application is posted, EUR 30.46 for the electronic permit itself on any permit longer than 90 days, and a contributo of EUR 40.00 on a permit of more than three months and up to one year. The Polizia di Stato states that the contributo is never charged to anyone under 18, so a child's first permit comes to EUR 76.46 and an adult's to EUR 116.46. The contributo rises to EUR 50.00 on a permit of more than one year and up to two years, and to EUR 100.00 on the EU long term residence permit (https://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/225, checked 2026-08-26). Elective residence applications are filed through the post office kit at a Sportello Amico counter, so the postal charge applies (https://vistoperitalia.esteri.it/infovisto?code=5_0_D, checked 2026-08-26).

Eurydice, the European Commission's education information network, records the same rule for primary school: foreign pupils enrol on the same conditions as Italian citizens and are admitted to the class corresponding to their age, with teachers able to decide otherwise (https://eurydice.eacea.ec.europa.eu/eurypedia/italy/organisation-primary-education, checked 2026-08-26). A ministry circular caps foreign pupils at 30 percent of a class, with named exceptions including pupils who already have command of Italian.

Ambrit International School Rome publishes 2026-2027 tuition from EUR 11,800 for Nursery to EUR 23,000 for Grade 8 (fee schedule linked from https://ambrit-rome.com/admissions/, checked 2026-08-26). Marymount International School Rome publishes 2026-2027 tuition from EUR 13,900 for Early Childhood, EUR 21,000 for Grades 1 to 5, EUR 23,900 for Grades 6 to 8 and EUR 28,000 for Grades 9 to 12. Neither figure includes the one off enrolment charge, lunch or bus. For comparison in Milan, the American School of Milan publishes 2026-2027 private rates from EUR 12,500 for Pre K to EUR 24,300 for Grades 11 and 12 (https://www.asmilan.org/admissions/tuition-and-fees/, checked 2026-08-26).

Ambrit charges EUR 4,000 per child once on acceptance, non-refundable, plus a compulsory lunch programme of EUR 1,480 a year. Marymount International School Rome charges a Family Registration Fee of EUR 5,000 once per family plus a non-refundable application fee of EUR 500 for each new student. The American School of Milan charges an application fee of EUR 300, a new student admission fee of EUR 5,000, an annual enrolment fee of EUR 1,350 and a building and maintenance fund of EUR 2,500 for the first four years.

Voluntary SSN registration is charged on the previous year's total income, in Italy or abroad, at 7.50 percent up to EUR 20,658.28 and 4 percent on the part above that up to EUR 51,645.69, and by law the annual contribution cannot be less than EUR 2,000. That minimum also covers dependent family members. The contribution buys the calendar year, cannot be split and cannot be backdated, so registration lapses on 31 December whatever date you pay (Azienda Sociosanitaria Ligure 1, https://www.asl1.liguria.it/servizi-dalla-a-alla-z/161-iscrizione-ssn-extracomunitari-residenti-e-apolidi.html, checked 2026-08-26; the same figures are published by ASUGI in Friuli Venezia Giulia and ASL 3 in Liguria). We did not publish a family private premium because no insurer's own published rate was verified. The Consulate General of Italy in Chicago asks for proof of overseas health insurance covering 100 percent of medical expenses; Boston asks for a Schengen insurance policy covering emergency evacuation and repatriation of remains.

OMI publishes rent as a band in euros per square metre per month, referred to gross floor area, for each named zone of Rome. For Abitazioni civili in normal condition, second semester 2025, the band is EUR 13.8 to EUR 19.8 in both C12 Semicentrale Monteverde Vecchio (Via Poerio) and C46 Semicentrale Salario Trieste (Corso Trieste). Nearby zones bracket it: C40 Prati 13.8 to 19.0, D29 EUR 12.8 to 18.8, C1 Parioli 16.0 to 22.8, C50 Flaminio 16.8 to 23.8. OMI does not publish rent by bedroom count, so we converted using a stated assumed size of 80 square metres of gross floor area for a two-bedroom flat. That size is not our invention: the same Osservatorio reports that the 10,818 Rome homes newly let on ordinary long-term contracts in 2025 averaged 80.1 square metres (Rapporto Immobiliare 2026, published 21 May 2026, https://www.agenziaentrate.gov.it/portale/web/guest/schede/fabbricatiterreni/omi/pubblicazioni/rapporti-immobiliari-residenziali, checked 2026-08-26). The band here is 80 square metres at EUR 13.8 and at EUR 19.8. The database is queried by form, so the source URL is the database entry point rather than the result page. Condominium charges, heating and the registration tax on the lease are on top.

OMI publishes rent as a band in euros per square metre per month, referred to gross floor area, for each named zone of Rome. For Abitazioni civili in normal condition, second semester 2025, the band is EUR 13.8 to EUR 19.8 in both C12 Semicentrale Monteverde Vecchio (Via Poerio) and C46 Semicentrale Salario Trieste (Corso Trieste). Nearby zones bracket it: C40 Prati 13.8 to 19.0, D29 EUR 12.8 to 18.8, C1 Parioli 16.0 to 22.8, C50 Flaminio 16.8 to 23.8. Converted using a stated assumed size of 110 square metres of gross floor area for a three-bedroom flat, at EUR 13.8 and at EUR 19.8. Unlike the 80 square metre figure used for a two-bedroom, the 110 square metre size is our own assumption and is not published by OMI, so treat this line as the weakest of the nine. Condominium charges, heating and the registration tax on the lease are on top.

No rabies antibody titration test is required for an animal coming from the United States, because the United States and its listed territories appear in Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32026R0636, checked 2026-08-26). Tapeworm treatment is required only for dogs entering Finland, Ireland, Malta, Northern Ireland or Norway, not Italy. Certificates issued before 1 October 2026 under the older Annex IV to Implementing Regulation (EU) 577/2013 remain valid. The USDA APHIS country page for Italy did not respond to us on 2026-08-26, so the United States side of the endorsement step is described here in the European Commission's words rather than APHIS's.

The IRS page records that it was last reviewed on 8 August 2026. We verified that the treaty exists and is published, not how it applies to any particular income. This site does not give tax advice.