Pick a motive (and optionally a Questura type) - we show the journey stages with community-reported duration ranges: visa-D appointment and decision, entry, the KIT within ~8 days, the Questura appointment wait, fingerprinting and card issuance, plus a cumulative estimate. All figures are community observations and depend on the Questura; this is a guide, not legal advice. Always verify current timing on official sources.
Motive (motivo)
Route via a Questura nulla osta, then visa D, entry and the KIT.
Questura / city (approximate)
Averaged community range.
Cumulative estimate (by the community)
~4.4-13.8 months
This sums the sequential stages; codice fiscale and residenza run in parallel and are not added separately.
A community guide - verify current. Timing varies widely by Questura and consulate.
Journey stages
Nulla osta from the Questura (before the visa)
Self-employment (lavoro autonomo) and family reunification require a nulla osta first. By the community - roughly 3-4 months.
Heavily dependent on the Questura and prefecture.
Learn more in the knowledge baseAppointment + filing at the consulate / VMS
Book the visa-D appointment and submit the document pack. By the community, slots and timing vary a lot by country and center.
Check the wait for a slot on esteri.it and with your visa center.
Learn more in the knowledge baseVisa-D processing + issuance
The consulate decision on the visa D. By the community, timing varies; some motives add a nulla-osta wait.
Entry to Italy on visa D
Entry to Italy on the D visa. From this day you have 8 working days to file the KIT (art. 5(2) TU). Italian law requires an entry stamp only for permesso holders, and D visa holders are not recorded in the EES either - you may or may not get a stamp, so keep the boarding pass as proof of the entry date.
File the KIT postale (envelope)
hard ~8-day deadlineGet the envelope at Poste Italiane (Sportello Amico window), fill in Modulo 1/2, pay the fees and submit. By the community - roughly within 8 days of entry.
A hard community deadline - do not delay. Verify current rules on questure.poliziadistato.it.
Learn more in the knowledge baseRicevuta + fingerprint appointment
The postal clerk issues the ricevuta (proof of legal stay) and a slip with the Questura address, date and time for fingerprinting.
Wait for the Questura appointment (fingerprints)
Attend the Ufficio Immigrazione for fingerprints and photo. By the community the wait is longer in big cities - in some cases around 2-3 months.
Highly Questura-dependent. By the community, booking via the questura/prenotafacile route is sometimes faster than the postal one.
Learn more in the knowledge basePlastic permesso issued
After fingerprints the Questura produces the residence card. By the community - a further 1-2 months; collected in person via SMS / status check.
Codice fiscale + residenza (in parallel)
in parallelCodice fiscale is often obtained before the move by email via the consulate (a few days). Residenza at the comune is usually done after the permesso is issued, by the community.
Runs in parallel with the main path - not added separately to the cumulative estimate.
Learn more in the knowledge baseThe bars show a stage's relative duration by the community, not exact dates. Questuras and consulates differ a lot - verify current.
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All durations are community observations, time-sensitive and dependent on your Questura/consulate. This is a guide, not an official SLA nor legal advice - always check the current figures of your office.
Official sources: esteri.it, interno.gov.it, portaleimmigrazione.it, poste.it, questure.poliziadistato.it, agenziaentrate.gov.it, inps.it
The road to your first permesso di soggiorno is not one wait but a chain of stages, each with its own clock: the visa-center appointment and the consulate decision on visa D, entry to Italy, filing the KIT at the post office (per the community - about 8 days after entry, the hardest deadline in the whole chain), the ricevuta with your tracking login, fingerprints at the Questura and, finally, card printing and pickup. The tool above adds up the per-stage ranges for your motive; how to assemble and mail the envelope is covered in KIT and the permesso: filing within 8 days.
Questure have no official SLA, and workload and local practice differ severalfold: per the community some cities book fingerprints a couple of weeks after the KIT, others after several months - which is why every figure in the tool is a community-experience range, not a norm. Per-city data lives in the Italian Questure catalog, and you can compare their speed in the quarterly Questura speed index.
Since 4 June 2026 there is a new rule: legislative decree 83/2026 amended art. 5 of the Testo unico, raising both the renewal KIT filing window and the term the Questura has to decide on a permesso from 60 to 90 days. In practice the community reports waits beyond these limits, but the statutory term matters: exceeding it is the core argument when you write to the Questura. Verify the text on normattiva.it; renewal timing and pitfalls are covered in permesso renewal: timing and absences.
While the case is pending, the status lives in two official places - portaleimmigrazione.it with the login from your ricevuta, and the police site by the assicurata number; what each wording means is covered in how to check your permesso status. If the status hangs for more than 2-3 months after fingerprints, lawful pressure tools come in - a PEC sollecito and an accesso agli atti request under law 241/1990; letter templates are in PEC and accesso agli atti. Travel during the wait has its own guide - traveling on the ricevuta.
There is no single figure: the journey is the visa-D decision, entry, filing the KIT (about 8 days after entry), the Questura fingerprint wait and card printing. Per the community, the fingerprint wait alone runs around 2-3 months in big cities, and the whole KIT-to-plastic stretch often takes several months. These are guides, not guarantees - check portaleimmigrazione.it.
Per community experience, up to 2-3 months after fingerprints is a normal wait: the card is printed centrally and the online statuses update with a lag. If silence drags on longer, check the status on portaleimmigrazione.it and the police site, then write to the Questura. The ready-for-pickup SMS does not reach everyone - the website status is what counts. Not legal advice.
The timing is set by your specific Questura: workload, staffing and local practice differ severalfold, which is why every figure in the tool is a community-reported range, not an official norm. One city books fingerprints within weeks, another within months. Compare your Questura against the rest in our quarterly Questura speed index.
From 2026 the reference is 90 days: legislative decree 83/2026 (in force since 4 June 2026) amended art. 5 of the Testo unico, raising both the renewal filing window and the Questura decision term from 60 to 90 days. In practice the community reports longer waits, but exceeding the statutory term is exactly the core argument of a sollecito. Verify the text on normattiva.it - not legal advice.
There is no magic button, but there are lawful pressure tools: a sollecito letter to the Questura PEC and an accesso agli atti request under law 241/1990 - your right to inspect your own file and learn the reason for the delay. Per the community some Questure reply the next day, others stay silent - no guarantees, but a stuck file may never surface without your nudge. Letter templates are in our PEC and accesso agli atti guide.
I also received a message about the readiness of the permesso in 2 weeks, but the issuance date was set for almost 5 months later.
Rephrased from open chats of Russian-speaking expats in Italy, with names and identifying details removed. This is lived experience, not legal advice: check rules and figures on the official sites.
Short answers from community experience are on the FAQ page.
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