Looking for a route based on a job offer rather than an investment? Italy's routes here are all capital- or income-based. Browse other countries
Italy. What the capital buys, and what it risks.
EU residency through direct investment, or a slower-paced route for people living on passive income.
When rules change mid-way, the date your application is filed is what often decides which rules apply to you. Where are you right now?
Italy's residency-by-investment program gives applicants four distinct entry points — company equity, government bonds, an innovative startup, or a philanthropic donation — each with its own capital commitment and holding rules, but a shared path toward renewal and eventually long-term EU residency. Alongside the investor routes sits an older, unrelated option built for people who can support themselves on passive income without working locally. Every route requires the qualifying capital or income to stay in place and be re-evidenced at each renewal; nothing here can be withdrawn or substituted mid-permit without risking the residency itself.
What you keep, what you don't
6 tiers, three very different relationships with your money. Everything below is what Immimaps has verified against Italy's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum.
Your money is exposed to the asset it sits in, or spent outright. Where the source names a holding period, it's in the ledger below.
Not an investment route at all — for people who can document steady income or savings and don't want to deploy capital.
Living on the income you already have
Not everyone here is investing. This route asks for proof of steady income instead of a capital placement.
€24,789.93 shown as proof of means — nothing is transferred.
Not an investor route — built for people who can support themselves on passive income and don't intend to work in Italy.
The ledger
| Route | Capital | Your money is | Hold period | Comes back? | Service fees on file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investor Visa Company Investment | €500,000one-time | Capital at risk | 2 years | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Investor Visa Government Bonds | €2,000,000one-time | Capital at risk | 2 years | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Investor Visa Innovative Startup | €250,000one-time | Capital at risk | 2 years | At market | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Investor Visa Philanthropic | €1,000,000one-time | Non-recoverable | — | No — spent | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
| Italy Digital Nomad Visa (Visto per Lavoratori Nomadi Digitali) | €24,789.93/ year, shown — not held | Threshold, not at risk | — | Never leaves you | EUR 2,500typical · middle half EUR 1,990–3,997 · 5 firmsfull package · tax not stated · undated Check a proposal |
| Visto per Residenza Elettiva | €31,000/ year, shown — not held | Threshold, not at risk | — | Never leaves you | Benchmark coming soon Check a proposal |
What each route costs, stage by stage
Added up from the official figures on file for each route — split into money spent for good, money locked and returned later, and money shown but never transferred. Not a modelled estimate.
Investor Visa Company Investment▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €242 – €258, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€500,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Investor Visa Government Bonds▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €242 – €258, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€2,000,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Investor Visa Innovative Startup▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €242 – €258, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Locked€250,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Investor Visa Philanthropic▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €242 – €258, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Spent for good€1,000,000 — a non-recoverable payment, spent for good.
Italy Digital Nomad Visa (Visto per Lavoratori Nomadi Digitali)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €232.46, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves you€24,789.93 shown as proof of means every year — nothing is transferred.
Visto per Residenza Elettiva▾
At application
Decision — reported: 1 month.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: €232.46, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves you€31,000 shown as proof of means every year — nothing is transferred.
The order Investor Visa Company Investment follows
No confirmed rule change has been flagged for Italy since it was last checked against the official investorvisa.mise.gov.it portal on 2026-08-29. Immimaps keeps watching official immigration sources and will list dated changes here as soon as one is confirmed.
Check the investorvisa.mise.gov.it portal directly →Upload it and Immimaps checks it against what Italy's official programme actually requires — the threshold, the hold period, the fees the brochure leaves out — and reads the contract clause by clause. Free, no account.
Check my documentCountry Analysis lays out policy stability, financial exposure and process risk across all of Italy's routes side by side.
Open Country AnalysisEvery official figure on this page is checked against Italy's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
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