One reason why many people are interested in the Italian passport is not only to connect with this beautiful country but also for visa-free travel within the European Union as well as having the ability to reside anywhere across the EU that you choose. There may be those of you interested in having an Italian passport since it allows easier access into countries than otherwise possible with your birth country passport. For example on passportindex.org’s rankings for 2019 where they evaluate the “power of a passport”, Italy is tied for the #3 position with the ability to travel visa-free to 127 countries. This ranking is slightly more powerful than the ranking of the United States which is also tied for 3rd position having only travel to 117 visa-free nations. If we compare this to other countries that many Italians emigrated to where you now find large communities of people of Italian descent such as Canada whose passport comes tied for 4th place, the UK’s passport is tied for 5th place, Australia’s passport is tied for 6th, Brazil’s passport is tied for 12th along with Argentina’s passport. If you would like to compare the Italian passport with the most updated rankings and to compare your country’s passport with Italy’s passport, you can go to passportindex.org.
We have mentioned on our Benefits of Italian Citizenship page, where you can read about some of the major benefits in more detail of the Italian citizenship; one of those benefits is having the ability to be able to live and work in Italy as well as any of the other 27 European Union member states without the need of a visa or special permission. EU citizens are often prioritized over non-EU citizens for many professional and educational opportunities. Being the bearer of an Italian passport also makes the process much simpler if you are interested in applying for jobs around the European Union or the European economic area which includes Switzerland. We have had a number of clients who work for multinational corporations with an interest to relocate to Europe while maintaining their current work position. We have observed that even within the same company, those with an EU passport will often receive higher priority for job opportunities than others with more seniority if they do not hold EU citizenship. This is due to the fact it makes it much simpler for the company because they do not need to go through the red tape and incur all of the associated legal fees to sponsor a visa for their employee.
Another significant plus of being a citizen of the European Union is that you have more direct access to public doctors and emergency medical care if necessary when living in Europe or traveling around the European Union with your European medical document. In Italy, the Italian health care card and the European Health care document have been merged into one easy to carry card, roughly the size of a credit card, which can easily fit into your wallet. It is never a bad idea to carry this around with you once you’re a resident of Italy, while you are simply out during the day or traveling around Europe. Although unfortunately, the European and Italian healthcare cards are only available to persons residing in the EU, or with special permission while visiting Italy.
While traveling abroad outside of the EU, if you ever find yourself in a situation when you might require consular protection you have the option of going to any other of the European member states’ embassies or consulates if there are no Italian representatives. All member states of the European Union have agreed to work together inside of Europe and to be there for each others citizens while abroad as well.
When traveling within Europe with an Italian passport (or even with an Italian ID card), you will be able to take advantage of Fast Track immigration lines reserved for EU nationals. Additionally, while traveling from outside of the EU into the EU, or between two EU countries, citizens carrying passports will be able to take advantage of biometric scanners, an even faster way to get through immigration/passport control fast track EU and EEC lines.
Another advantage of having an Italian passport is that it secures your place as a citizen of Italy giving you the proof and documentation wherever you are in the world so no matter what the situation is, you’ll know that your citizenship is safe even if new laws and regulations are put into effect by the Italian government.
A little bit more about the Italian passport itself…
Italian passports are embedded with a biometric chip which adds an extra level of security and makes it more difficult to replicate. There are other security features that enable the bearer to be able to move through airport passport control scanners much faster than going through normal immigration control checks and at the same time better protecting a person’s identity. On the first page of the Italian passport you will find the words for the European Union, Italian Republic, and the word ‘passport’ in all of the languages of the EU as well as the individual European passport identifying number at the bottom of the page. When you get to the second and third pages of the passport is where you find the citizen’s personal details. At the top of the section (or on the right side if you are holding the booklet with the spine facing vertically), you will also see 3 sections where the citizen has their residency registered. For example, if you are a resident of Rome, it will have Rome noted, or If you live in Oregon but you are registered with the Italian consulate in San Francisco, your passport will have San Francisco written in your passport. Keep in mind, a person can have only 1 legal residence at a time registered with the Italian government. The bottom page (page 2 or the page on the left if you have the spine of the booklet facing vertically) states your height in centimeters, the color of your eyes (in Italian), your photo on the left side like many other passports as well as a smaller more opaque photo of you on the right side with you signature below along with all the other relevant data such as your citizenship, your first name, last name, sex, date of birth, place of birth, date of issue and expiration date. Another security measure of the Italian passport is that each page of your passport has burned into it your unique passport number.
