"You can land in Rome with clean bank statements, a dream lease near a piazza, and a folder that would impress a judge. Two months later you are paying rent on a contract the Comune won't accept, your visa category won't let you earn, your residence permit appointment is in six months, and your savings are vapor. The trap isn't Italy being cruel."
"Here's how it usually happens. You enter on the wrong visa for your real plan, sign a pretty but unusable lease, and then miss the paperwork rhythm that Italy enforces. Visa category, registered housing, and the "8-day" residence-permit clock are a single system. Break one, and the other two stop cooperating. The result is a stack of sunk costs you can't reuse."
Italy requires the correct long-stay visa before arrival for any stay beyond 90 days; tourist status cannot be converted into residency. New arrivals must apply for a permesso di soggiorno within eight days or revert to visitor status regardless of housing arrangements. Municipal residency registration requires a formal, registered lease or property deed; Airbnb or unregistered "tourist" contracts are ineligible. Visa category, permesso timing, and registered housing form an interdependent system: failure in one link invalidates the others. Misaligned visas, theatrical leases, and missed timelines commonly generate sunk costs and lost income, sometimes totaling around €30,000 for couples who must restart.
Read at Gamintraveler
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