Codice fiscale, residenza and the permesso di soggiorno: Rome's big three for Brits

Italian bureaucracy has a reputation, and Rome does its best to live up to it. But once you've got these three sorted, the rest of life here gets a lot easier.

The short version

• The codice fiscale is your 16-character tax code. You need it for a lease, a bank account, a phone and the doctor, and it's free [1].
• The permesso di soggiorno is your permit to stay. Newcomers apply within 8 days of arriving, usually by posting a kit at a Poste Italiane office [2][3].
• The residenza is your registration at the anagrafe of your municipio, required if you're staying more than three months [2].
• Rome's anagrafe records you within two working days of your declaration, and the local police may then check you really live there [4][5].
• Brits who lived in Italy before 2021 have a Withdrawal Agreement carta di soggiorno instead of an ordinary permesso [2].

What each one is

Think of it as three keys that open different doors.

Pound conversions use the Bank of England spot rate of 5 November 2026 (£1 = EUR 1.2002).

There's a chicken-and-egg element here: landlords want a codice fiscale, the anagrafe wants a permesso or its receipt, and the questura wants an address. The order below breaks the loop.

Step 1: the codice fiscale

The codice fiscale is built from your name, date and place of birth, a bit like a National Insurance number that you'll actually be asked for every day. The only valid code is one issued by the Agenzia delle Entrate; online generators don't count [1].

There are three ways to get one [1]:

• Before you leave the UK: people living abroad can ask the Italian consulate in their country.
• With your permesso: if you apply for a permesso di soggiorno, the questura assigns one. If you come in through the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione, for an employment or family nulla osta, it's assigned there.
• At the Agenzia delle Entrate: book an appointment at any local office, or send form AA4/8 by certified email (PEC). Non-EU applicants attach a valid passport with the visa, a permesso or another accepted ID [1].

You get a certificate of attribution straight away, which you can use until the card arrives. If you're registered with the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale, your code is printed on your Tessera Sanitaria (health card); if not, you get a separate codice fiscale card [1].

Our tip: get it before you sign a lease. Many Roman landlords won't register a contract without it.

Step 2: the permesso di soggiorno

If you're a newcomer on a national visa, you must apply for your permesso within 8 days of arriving [2]. For most routes Brits use, including elective residence, employment, self-employment, study, family and religious reasons, you apply through the yellow-striped kit available at Poste Italiane offices in the Sportello Amico network [3]. Other permits go straight to the questura, and people with an employment or family nulla osta start at the Sportello Unico in the prefettura [3].

What you pay

The bollettino covers EUR 30.46 for making the electronic card plus a contribution that depends on the permit's length [3]. A May 2024 guide put the total slip at roughly EUR 70 for a short permit up to around EUR 130 for an EU long-term permit [6], but we couldn't confirm current contribution amounts on an official page, so check them on the PortaleImmigrazione site, as Poste Italiane advises, before paying [3].

How it works

1. Pick up one kit from a post office (one per person) [3].
2. Fill it in, or ask your comune or a patronato (a free advice centre) to help [3].
3. Hand it over unsealed at the post office with your passport, A4 photocopies and the paid bollettino [3].
4. Keep the receipt. It has the codes to track your application and lets you move around Italy legally while you wait; keep it with your passport [3].
5. Go to the questura on the date in your appointment letter for fingerprints. If no date can be given straight away, it comes later by registered post to your Italian address [3].
6. Track it on the Polizia di Stato website until your card is ready [3].

Rome is a big city with a big questura, so expect to wait for both your fingerprint date and the finished card. Don't let the receipt out of your sight.

Renewals

Apply to renew before the permit expires. If you're registered as a resident in Rome, the city reminds you that you must renew your declaration of habitual residence (dimora abituale) at the anagrafe within 60 days of getting your renewed permit [5].

Step 3: residenza at the anagrafe

Anyone staying in Italy for more than three months registers with the anagrafe of their comune [2]. In Rome, non-EU citizens with a regular permesso who live in the city must register themselves and their family [4]. Rome is split into 15 municipi, and you declare at the one covering your address [7].

How to apply in Rome

Fill in the national declaration form (modello unico ministeriale), available on the Roma Capitale site, and send it to your municipio's anagrafe [5]:

• in person;
• by certified (PEC) or ordinary email;
• by registered post.

You can also do it online through the Roma Capitale portal or ANPR, logging in with SPID or an electronic identity card [7].

What to attach

Rome asks non-EU citizens for [5]:

• a valid passport;
• a valid permesso or carta di soggiorno, or, if it has expired, the renewal receipt plus the old permit;
• your codice fiscale;
• a declaration from anyone already living at the address that they know you're moving in;
• birth, marriage or divorce certificates with certified translations, if you want your civil status on your records.

If you're still waiting for your first permesso, you can register with the post office receipt plus your nulla osta and contract for work, or your family reunion visa and nulla osta for family [5].

The anagrafe records you within two working days, and your registration counts from the day you declared [4]. In the following weeks the Polizia Locale may call round to check you really live there; Facile.it says the check normally happens within the first month or two [7], but Roma Capitale doesn't publish a timetable, so stay reachable at the address. Make sure your name is on the buzzer and someone answers the door.

Once you're registered, you can get a carta d'identità, register with a GP and do most other things a resident does. Lying on the declaration is a criminal offence [4].

If you're a Withdrawal Agreement Brit

If you lived in Italy before 1 January 2021, you should hold the biometric carta di soggiorno rather than an ordinary permesso, and you renew it through your questura [2]. After five years' legal residence you can swap it for a 10-year permanent card, which also confirms your right to free SSN healthcare [2]. Carrying the card also means you don't need to register on the Entry/Exit System at the border [2].

Keep the UK side tidy

While you're queuing at the post office, don't forget Blighty. Tell HMRC you've left, keep a UK address for your bank if you can (see keeping a UK mobile number and address), and remember that registering in Rome also gives the Italian taxman your address. Our moving abroad checklist covers the rest. If you need help, the British Embassy on Via XX Settembre can advise on UK documents but can't speed up an Italian permit.

Stuck in the questura queue? Our community group for Brits in Italy swaps tips on which post offices and municipi are quickest.

Sources

1. Agenzia delle Entrate: Il codice fiscale – che cos'è e come si ottiene (updated 20 October 2026)
2. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in Italy (last updated 28 October 2026)
3. Poste Italiane: Rilascio e rinnovo del permesso di soggiorno (fees checked 11 November 2026)
4. Roma Capitale: Iscrizione anagrafica cittadini extra comunitari
5. Roma Capitale: Iscrizione anagrafica – come presentare richiesta
6. ItaliaHello: How much do I have to pay to renew my residence permit? (May 2024)
7. Facile.it: Cambio di residenza a Roma (30 April 2026)

Keep reading

• Moving to Rome as a Brit: visa and residence routes
• Renting in Rome
• Registering with the SSN: Italian public healthcare for Brits
• Leaving the UK: telling HMRC (P85) and your last tax year