Italian Visa Overview

Step 1: Italian Visa Application Overview

On January 11, 2025 Italian law has changed, mandating each visa applicant to arrive in person for biometric fingerprints to be taken at their visa appointment. This means that there is going to be some added cost for students studying on the Florence program in Fall and Academic Year 2025-2026.

Students must submit a copy of their passport valid six months beyond the end of their studies in Florence with their Smith program application.

Students (U.S. citizens, permanent residents and international students with valid U.S. visas) will submit all the required visa application materials to the consulate. Students will be notified by the consulate when their visa applications have been approved and must schedule a return visit to pick up their documents.

Things to Consider

The Italian visa process is complicated and requires submission of passports to the Italian consulate in Boston for a period of two to four weeks. The specific date of your visa appointment and length of time required depends upon the Italian consulate's availability. It may be set via an online system as soon as you complete the required materials in Step 5 on this page and no sooner than 180 prior to travel. Students who wish to study in Italy should not make international travel plans during the summer break until they've received their passports back. Due to visa regulations, students applying only for the fall semester will be unable to extend their stay in Italy to the full year. This requires you to return to the US (or other permanent residence jurisdiction) to re-apply.