For foreign nationals who wish to travel to non-Schengen countries it is necessary to go to the diplomatic representative for that country, in Italy, and ask them if, based on the agreement with their own country of origin, they need to have a visa. Even in this case, during the journey, the foreign national must bring the residence permit (and any eventual receipt for renewal/conversion) as this is indispensible for re-entry to Italy.

Foreign national citizens waiting for residence permit to be issued

For foreign nationals who have entered Italy for the first time and are in possession of a visa for subordinate employment, autonomous employment or family reunification and who have submitted the application for a residence permit on time, it is possible to leave Italian territory for their country of origin, to then return to Italy. 

At the border, the following documents are to be presented:

• passport
• postal receipt with a magnetic strip, issue by Poste Italiane – that demonstrates the application for a first residence permit, or the slip (with the photograph and the purpose of the residence permit) which is issued in the case of paper residency cards.

For departure and then re-entry to Italy, the foreign national citizen can use different borders, without making any stopovers in the Schengen area.

Persons who hold long term entrance visa (work, family reunification...) issued by an EU member state, can freely move through all countries in the Schengen area for periods of 3 months (every 6 months) even if waiting for a residence permit (Important: this applies only for the duration of a valid visa).