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The step-by-step plan for Italy

From "we want this" to being settled, in 35 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

35 steps5 phases77 official sources8 only for your situationchecked on 9 September 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 199 one-off, no subscription.

What it looks like

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for Italy: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

  1. Orientation

    5 steps

    Open · You are here

  2. Closing the Netherlands

    14 steps

    In your plan

  3. The move

    3 steps

    In your plan

  4. Registration in Italy

    6 steps

    In your plan

  5. Arrival

    7 steps

    In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

Italy asks not a permit but an order: codice fiscale, home, residenza, tessera sanitaria — in that order, because each step is the ticket to the next. And before everything comes a choice that weighs this heavily nowhere else: which Italy — the North of the jobs or the South of the space.

By the end of phase 1 you understand the Italian registration chain, you've made an honest choice of region, and the family stands behind the decision.

Step 1.1

Understand the system: the municipality is the gate

Lead time:
reading step
Costs:
none

For EU citizens there's no permesso di soggiorno any more — since 2007 the municipality is the gate: for a stay longer than three months you're obliged to do the iscrizione anagrafica, the registration with the anagrafe of your place of residence. The chain around it is strict in order: first the codice fiscale (the tax number everything asks for), then a home with a registered contract, then the residenza declaration, and only then the health card. Each step is the ticket to the next — the plan keeps the order for you.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.2

Choose your Italy: the North or the South

Lead time:
an evening of research, and the conversation about it
Costs:
none

Nowhere on this site does the gap within one country run this deep. The North has the jobs and the infrastructure — and rents up to € 23 per square metre in Milan. The South has space, sun and rents of € 8 to 11 — but also fewer facilities, longer healthcare waiting times and weaker public transport; a quarter of the Italian housing stock stands empty, mostly there. Whoever is looking for a job looks practically to the North; whoever works remotely or comes retired can live spaciously in the South for half. Make this choice before the rest of the journey: it determines your rent, your healthcare and your insurance requirements.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:
1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:
none

The paperwork costs almost nothing here — the codice fiscale is free, the registration too, and the ID card € 22. The money is in the home (deposit up to a legal three months, service charges on top of the rent), the drive of well over a thousand kilometres, and the car re-registration if it comes along. Work it out with your own choices.

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:
no fixed one; take your time
Costs:
none

Italy feels like a holiday — and three things deserve an honest conversation. The language: outside the international companies in Milan and Rome, Italian is the working language, and every counter works in Italian too. The wage level: Italian salaries are noticeably below Dutch ones, while the big cities ask Dutch rents — work the household budget out honestly. And the pace: the bureaucracy here is no myth; whoever follows the order of this plan gets through it, but patience is a tool. Also discuss who carries the income in the first months.

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:
five minutes, below
Costs:
none

Choose below the date on which you want to be standing in Italy. The plan works out whether that's feasible with what still has to happen — and says so honestly if it gets tight. A target date is yours: you can always move it, and moving it is a perfectly fine outcome.

Phase 1 read

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for Italy. The full plan has another 30 steps ready for you: Closing the Netherlands, The move, Registration in Italy and Arrival.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for Italy

€ 199

one-off · no subscription · instant access

Continue with the full plan · € 199

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to Auke.

✎ Auke reads along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. Auke reads it himself and answers within two working days.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Closing the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

The familiar list, with pension rules few destinations can match: the 1990 treaty assigns AOW and occupational pension exclusively to Italy, the country-of-residence factor is the lowest in Europe — and whoever moves to a small village in the South can pay 7% on everything for ten years.

  1. 2.1Arrange your healthcare: the basic insurance stops on moving daystart 2-3 months before departure; the CAK application takes ± 4 weeks
  2. 2.2AOW and pension: everything to the state of residence — and perhaps to 7%an afternoon of finding out, and one conversation with a tax adviser
  3. 2.3The tax wrap-up: the M form and the protective assessmentthe return comes after the emigration year; preparing can be done now
  4. 2.4Stop the benefits and child benefitan hour, online
  5. 2.5Deregister at the municipalitypossible from 5 days before departure, up to and including the day of departure
  6. 2.6DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlandsan afternoon
  7. 2.7Documents: multilingual extracts, no apostille needed1-2 weeks for requesting extracts
  8. 2.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
  9. 2.9Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
  10. 2.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keeponly if this applies to you
  11. 2.11Children who stay in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
  12. 2.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
  13. 2.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
  14. 2.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years
Open all steps · € 199
Phase 3 · The move0 of 3 steps open

Within the EU, moving is administratively nothing: no customs, no declaration. The drive itself is the item — a thousand to seventeen hundred kilometres with two mountain routes — and the car deserves a decision of its own, because the clocks of the Netherlands and Italy have to start in the right order.

  1. 3.1Plan the drive: the Gotthard or the Brennerquotes 2-4 weeks ahead; driving yourself is always possible
  2. 3.2The car: start the clocks in the right orderonly if this applies to you
  3. 3.3The pet: EU passport, and the dog into the registeronly if this applies to you
Phase 4 · Registration in Italy0 of 6 steps open

The chain is strict in order: codice fiscale → home with registered contract → residenza declaration → tessera sanitaria. The declaration itself is surprisingly quick — two working days, with retroactive legal effect — but then follows the residence check, and whoever breaks the order starts again.

  1. 4.1The codice fiscale: arrange it from the Netherlands alreadyvia the embassy several weeks; in Italy a counter visit
  2. 4.2Find your home — and register the contractcount on weeks; the registration must be within 30 days
  3. 4.3The residenza: two working days, and then the vigile comesregistration 2 working days; residence check up to 45 days
  4. 4.4The tessera sanitaria: register with the ASLregistration a counter visit; the card comes by post
  5. 4.5CIE and SPID: the digital key, in the right orderCIE by appointment at the municipality; SPID directly after
  6. 4.6Bank account: the conto di base is your right1-2 weeks
Phase 5 · Arrival0 of 7 steps open

You exist — now the systems turn. The car has the hardest clock (three months, and the Dutch refund watches along), the child allowance the slyest (it only comes once you first apply for an income assessment), and the rest is knowing the system: the ticket, the collective agreement, the waste tax that comes in your name.

  1. 5.1Re-registering the car: three months, via one counteronly if this applies to you
  2. 5.2Work: the collective agreement is your minimum wage, INPS runs by itselfreading step at the first contract
  3. 5.3Healthcare in practice: the ticket and the classesreading step
  4. 5.4Family: the child allowance only comes once you arrange the ISEEonly if this applies to you
  5. 5.5Tax: three brackets, and the surcharges of your place of residencereading step; the return comes largely pre-filled
  6. 5.6Learn Italian: the CPIA is your neighbourhood schoolenrol at the CPIA of your province
  7. 5.7The small print: TARI, RAI, ZTL and your driving licencereading step, and two ten-minute notifications

8 of these 30 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 30 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for Italy: 35 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

Start your step-by-step plan · € 199Read more about Italy first