ItalyOpen · approval before you invest · no minimum stay · from €250,000
Italy turns the usual order around. First you apply. Then a committee approves you. Only after that — within three months of arriving — do you put in the money. There is no property route and no minimum stay. The entry price for a real start-up investment is €250,000. Italy is quieter than Portugal and Greece because it does not sell flats. That is exactly why serious Indian business owners should read about it.
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Punjab Government licence
No. 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC‑3/2024
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Registered private limited company
Pro Lifeset Overseas Private Limited · CIN U52291PB2024PTC060508 · since 2024
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109 reviews on our Google Business Profile
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A real office in Patiala
Shop No. 2, Nabha Road · walk in, Mon–Sat
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Fixed, all-in fees
GST included; embassy and VFS fees at cost
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Is this you?
If one of these is you, the fastest way forward is a call: +91 91155 80911.
The ways in
€250,000
Hold: At least two years
Shares in a company listed on Italy’s register of innovative start-ups. The company must have filed at least one tax return. Convertible notes or bonds do not count — you must become a direct shareholder.
Fits: Founders and angel investors with a real thesis, not passive money
€500,000
Hold: At least two years
Shares in a working S.r.l. or S.p.A. (Italian company types). The company must be real and based in Italy. Indian manufacturers and traders often use this route to buy into an Italian partner firm.
Fits: Business owners with existing Italian trade links
€1,000,000
Hold: Gift — not recoverable
A gift to a project in the public interest: culture, education, research, migration management, or heritage. Families choose this when the result matters more to them than the money.
€2,000,000
Hold: At least two years; bonds must have two years’ remaining maturity
This route keeps your capital safest. The only risk is the Italian state itself. You get interest, and the principal comes back when the bonds mature. It is the highest amount in Europe outside Switzerland.
Fits: Ultra-high-net-worth families who want liquidity over yield
The facts, checked 2026-09-05
Where families lose money and years
The €500,000 route attracts middlemen offering ready-made Italian companies. A real business needs the same checks you would do before buying a company in India — accounts, debts, who owns it — through your own Italian lawyer.
Convertible notes, loans and bonds in a start-up do not qualify. The rules need you to hold shares straight away. A badly structured deal fails at the proof stage, after the money has gone.
You can keep the permit without living in Italy. But you cannot reach permanent residence or citizenship that way. Some families only find this out in year five.
A foreign shareholding that is not reported to the RBI through your bank becomes a bigger compliance problem in India every year. It is much easier to do it right at the start than to fix it later.
The India side nobody explains
The €250,000 and €500,000 routes need you to hold a real share of an Italian company. In India, that normally comes under the Overseas Direct Investment (ODI) rules, not the plain LRS portfolio limits. ODI means Form A2, Form FC and a yearly performance report. Your chartered accountant and your bank must be involved from the first conversation. It can be done. It is not a two-day job.
Italy gives the Nulla Osta (the approval) before you invest. So an Indian family can get approved, then take the months needed to send the money properly. If things change before the money moves, you walk away having lost nothing. No other European programme works in this order.
Italy lets new tax residents pay one fixed yearly amount on all income from outside Italy, instead of normal tax, for up to fifteen years. It is meant for people who move there. If you keep the seven-days-a-year style of a Portuguese golden visa, it does not matter — your income stays taxed in India. Decide which life you are buying before you compare tax systems.
What the company or the bonds pay you is taxed in Italy, with credit in India under the India–Italy tax agreement. The shares are a foreign asset for Schedule FA. When you sell one day, that is a capital gain in both countries, with treaty relief.
How it goes, with us
Do you already have a company to invest in? Do you want one found? Or do you prefer bonds or a donation? We tell you plainly if Italy is not the right country for your goal.
Filed online through the Investor Visa for Italy portal. You show that you have the money, that it was earned lawfully, and what you plan to invest in. The committee replies in about 30 days.
With the Nulla Osta, the two-year investor visa is issued through VFS. Family members apply for family cohesion visas (visas to join you).
Apply for the permit within eight days of arriving. Complete the investment within three months. File the proof.
Renewal every three years depends on the investment still being in place. Year five opens permanent residence for those who have really lived in Italy.
What it costs
Qualifying investment
By route; the donation is not recoverable
€250,000 – €2,000,000
Visa fee
Long-stay national visa, paid through VFS
≈ €116
Residence permit
Kit, stamp duty and card
≈ €100–€200 per person
Italian lawyer and notary for the investment
Share purchase agreements, register filings
Quoted in Italy
ODI compliance in India
Form FC, valuation, annual return
CA fees
Our own fee is fixed and quoted after the first call, with 18% GST included. Government and third-party costs are paid at cost.
No. Italy has never accepted property. The four routes are an innovative start-up (€250,000), an Italian company (€500,000), a charitable donation (€1,000,000) and government bonds (€2,000,000).
After. First the Nulla Osta is granted, then the visa. You complete the investment within three months of entering Italy. It is the only major European programme where nothing is at risk before approval.
At least two years, and for as long as you want to keep renewing the permit. If you sell early, you lose the right to renew.
Yes. Your spouse, minor children, dependent adult children and dependent parents can come on family cohesion visas alongside yours.
Only after ten years of real residence and the normal citizenship process. The investor visa is a residence route. It does not make citizenship come sooner.
We check whether the programme fits you. We prepare the Nulla Osta file and the Indian proof of where the money came from. We handle the consular visa through VFS. We plan the ODI or LRS transfer with your CA. And we work with the Italian lawyer who papers the investment. We do not find companies for you, and we do not give investment advice.
Other Italy visas: see the Italy page.
Checked 2026-09-05 against: Investor Visa for Italy — Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy · RBI — Overseas Investment Rules and Directions (2022). Rules change; we re-check before any filing.
