Immigration law
Family reunification in Italy: requirements and procedure
Bringing your family to Italy is a right, but the procedure is precise: income and housing requirements, clearance, visa. Here is how it works.
Family reunification (ricongiungimento familiare) allows foreign nationals living lawfully in Italy to be joined by their family members. It is governed by Article 29 of the Consolidated Immigration Act (Legislative Decree No 286/1998) and is one of the most requested, and most delicate, immigration procedures.
Who can apply
A foreign national holding a residence permit valid for at least one year for work, study, family reasons, asylum or other reasons provided by law, or an EU long-term residence permit, can apply.
Which family members
- a spouse aged 18 or over who is not legally separated;
- minor children, including the spouse’s children or children born outside marriage;
- adult dependent children who cannot support themselves for health reasons;
- dependent parents, under specific conditions: if they have no other children in their home country or, if over 65, if the other children cannot support them for serious health reasons.
The requirements: housing and income
Housing. You need accommodation meeting health and habitability standards, certified by the municipality.
Income. Annual income must be at least equal to the annual amount of the Italian social allowance (assegno sociale), increased by half for each family member joining you. For two or more children under 14, the required income is twice the social allowance. The income of cohabiting family members can also count.
Since the social allowance is updated every year, check the exact figure when you apply.
The procedure, step by step
- Application for clearance (nulla osta) to the Immigration One-Stop Office at the Prefecture, filed online.
- Checks by the Questura and the One-Stop Office. By law the clearance should be issued within 90 days.
- Entry visa for family reunification, requested by the family member from the Italian consulate in their country of residence, which also checks documents proving family ties.
- Entry into Italy and, within eight days, an appointment at the One-Stop Office to apply for a residence permit for family reasons.
Documents that cause the most trouble
- marriage and birth certificates translated and legalised (or apostilled, if the country is party to the 1961 Hague Convention);
- incomplete or outdated proof of income;
- housing certificates that have expired or refer to accommodation no longer available.
If the application is refused
The ordinary court has jurisdiction over refusals of clearance or of a family-reunification visa. Deadlines must be watched carefully here too, and it is often worth checking first whether the documents can be supplemented.
What if the family member is already in Italy?
If the family member is already lawfully present in Italy, in some cases a permit for family cohesion (Article 30 of the Consolidated Act) can be requested directly, without a visa.
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Avv. Ada Alia
A member of the Pistoia Bar since 2020, she handles criminal, family, immigration and personal injury matters. She meets clients in Italian, English and Albanian.
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