Case: Matthew is an Australian 19 years old young men who has recently graduated high school in Melbourne, Australia. Matthew wants to take a gap year before starting his studies at the University of Melbourne to become a journalist and, for the purpose, is evaluating to temporarily move abroad to take part into a working-holiday program. Matthew has identified Italy as one of his potential destinations and is willing to move to Rome for his gap year, working for a short period of time and living in the capital of Italy.
Question: what are the options for Matthew to obtain a visa and a residence permit for Italy that would allow him to be temporarily move to Italy for his gap year and take part to a working-holiday program?
Solution: Considering that Matthew is an Australian citizen, recently graduated from high school, over eighteen years of age but younger than 30 years of age, he might find particularly interesting and appealing for his case the Italian working-holiday visa and residence permit.
This particular residence permit is provided for by Italian Immigration Law by means of article 27, paragraph 1, letter R) of Legislative Decree 286/98 and can be applied for by those third-country nationals who are citizens of one of the countries that have entered into a bilateral agreement with Italy governing the exchange of young people between countries in the context of working-holidays programs.
As of now, Italy has signed n. 4 bilateral agreements with countries such as Canada, South Korea, New Zealand and Austrialia.
The procedure to obtain the above-mentioned visa and residence permit, has been simplified compared to the past, since no pre-authorization (nulla osta) shall be obtained from any Italian authority by the applicant. Indeed, Matthew shall start the process by applying for the relevant visa at the Italian Consulate in Melbourne and shall provide, among others, the following material documents:
- copy fo the bilateral agreement in place between Italy and Australia;
- proof of the fact that he has sufficient economic and financial resources to support himself during his stay in Italy;
- roundtrip airplane ticket;
- proof of the availability of an insurance policy covering the risks of his stay in Italy (if the stay is longer than 6 months, otherwise the insurance cover is already provided for the first 6 months of stay by the bilateral agreement in place between Italy and Australia).
If his visa application is successfully filed and completed, he will receive a working-holiday visa that will allow him to stay in Italy up to 12 months.
After entering Italy with the working-holiday visa on the passport, within the 8 days following his entrance Matthew shall file the application for the issuance of the Italian residence permit by appearing at the competent Immigration Office (Prefettura) and Police station (Questura) on the basis of the place where he will be residing while in Italy.
Matthew’s residence permit will have a duration of 12 months and, during such a period of time, he will be entitled to work for a maximum period of 6 months in total, to be necessarily split between two different employers (which/who will be able to hire him only for a period of 3 months each).
A working-holiday visa can be granted to a person only once, therefore after the expiration of his working-holiday visa and residence permit Matthew shall go back to Australia and leave the Italian territory.