Italy has reduced the minimum investment required to obtain a residency visa if you are a non-EU national. The changes were announced in the Italian ‘Decreto Rilancio’ of May 2020, which contains measures designed to stimulate the Italian economy since the onset of Covid19.
Previously I’ve written about this Investor Visa, when it first arrived, and this visa has been effective in Italy since December 2017.
This Investor visa program provides non-EU citizens looking for unrestricted free movement in Italy and Europe, a two-year special residency visa.
Normally, non-EU citizens cannot stay beyond more than three months. It’s not the only route to residency, however it’s one of the fastest, not requiring a history of working and living in Italy.
The minimum investment requirement is now reduced to €250,000 where you are ready to invest in an innovative Italian born startup company. (Previously €500,000 was required in this category). Alternatively, the new minimum investment required for the option to invest in an existing Italian listed company has been reduced by half, from €1million to €500,000, from May 2020.
Four routes to investor visa qualification
There are 4 investor visa investment alternatives to qualify for the Italy Investor visa (and hence 2 other investment options appear unchanged after the Decreto Rilancio). The other alternatives include purchasing €2 million of Italian government bonds (considered by many to be the lowest risk option) or donating €1 million to philanthropic projects within the arts, cultural projects, education, migration management and scientific research sectors.
In summary the new investor requirements are as follows, from May 2020;
Choose to invest in Italy in one of 4 ways;
- invest at least €250,000 in the share capital of an innovative start-up ;
- invest at least €500,000 in Italian listed companies ;
- invest at least €2 million in Italian government bonds ;
- donate €1 million to philanthropic projects (culture, education, migration management, scientific research and recovery of artistic assets).
Evidence suggests that more and more people value the ability to move freely and flexibly amongst various countries, for many and varied reasons. The most commonly known reasons simply include staying connected to family and creating options when your country may be plagued with political uncertainty.
These days greater emphasis is going to be placed on health and safety concerns, in light of the current pandemic. People who can move to where they perceive is a safer place will do so for themselves and their families. Consequently we can expect continued demand for new residency and citizenship-by-investment programs.
Let me know if you need more information, or please comment below.
