Italy investor visa, start-up route: the stake must be bought within three months of arriving

On the start-up route the stake is bought after you enter Italy, within three months, and the two-year permit can be revoked if it is not, or if the stake is sold within two years. Before the visa, a government committee checks that the money exists and can be moved to Italy; a start-up that wants paying before that clearance has the order backwards.

Money handed to a start-up before you are cleared is money with no visa attached to it. Italy's immigration act sets the steps in a fixed order:

1. You apply online to the investor visa committee, with proof of the funds, a certificate of their lawful origin, and a written undertaking describing the investment.
2. If the committee approves, it sends its clearance to the consulate, which issues a visa marked "investors".
3. Within three months of entering Italy, the full amount goes into the start-up.
4. You hold a two-year permit, renewable for three years at a time while the money stays invested.

Which company qualifies

The figure above buys a stake only in a company entered in the special section of the companies register for innovative start-ups. The other routes cost more: twice the figure for an ordinary Italian company or a venture capital fund, eight times for Italian government bonds kept two years, and four times for a philanthropic donation to a public-interest project.

The funds you must show

As the article is worded, anyone investing in a company, start-up included, must show funds of four times the figure above that can be moved to Italy, plus enough to live on. Ask which amount the committee will check.

What Italy charges, and what an adviser charges

To the Italian state: the long-stay visa fee at the consulate, then, in Italy, the contribution for a two-year permit, the electronic card and a revenue stamp, together shown above.

To the firms: the adviser's fee, and any charge for arranging the stake, each apart from the price of the shares.

Before you commit to a start-up or an adviser, ask:

1. Is the company in the innovative start-up section of the register today, and until when can it stay there?
2. Will you receive new shares from a capital increase, or buy them from an existing holder?
3. On what date does the money leave your account: before the clearance, before the visa, or after you arrive?
4. Does the proof of funds cover the amount the article names, or only the stake?
5. If the clearance is refused, or the rules change before you invest, what happens to the fees you have already paid?

Holding an adviser's engagement letter or quote for this visa? Answer yes at the top of the box above, and it is read line by line against the published rules. Without one, answer no and enter the stake you plan to take. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to a qualified immigration lawyer.

General information, not legal advice.