Italian Visa Overview

Step 1: Italian Visa Application Overview

Guest students from other institutions studying on the Florence program in Fall and Academic Year 2026-2027 will need to apply for their Italian visa independently.

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

The Lewis Global Studies Center (LGSC) will facilitate a group visa application process for tudents who are on campus (U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and international students with valid U.S. visas). We 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 may either schedule a return visit to Northampton to pick up their documents or we can ship it back to your home address.

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 days 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.