# Residency Visa



## mysharona1970 (May 14, 2014)

Trying to pinpoint an amount required for financial proof. I have heard 35K to 41K per person. Does this include children? If my husband applies, do I have to apply as well with the same financial requirements? We have 4 (minor) children and I think it is crazy to expect us to earn $24,000 USD a month. I would appreciate any input on the subject.
Thanks!
:confused2:


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## Mozella (Nov 30, 2013)

mysharona1970 said:


> Trying to pinpoint an amount required for financial proof. I have heard 35K to 41K per person. Does this include children? If my husband applies, do I have to apply as well with the same financial requirements? We have 4 (minor) children and I think it is crazy to expect us to earn $24,000 USD a month. I would appreciate any input on the subject.
> Thanks!
> :confused2:


It's impossible to pinpoint the amount you're looking for. Not only is the figure not published anywhere (as far as I can tell), but it varies from consulate-to-consulate, clerk-to-clerk, year-to-year, and perhaps has something to do with the phase of the moon. 

In addition, one applicant may have a huge monthly pension and very little other assets and the next may have no pension at all, a relatively small guaranteed monthly income, but also have a gigantic stock portfolio, seven homes, and a wife dripping with half a million dollars in diamonds. In other words, each applicant is considered separately and each situation is different. You get the point.

In reality, it doesn't matter. You won't know ahead of time if you pass or fail but it seems silly to hold any thing back. I listed everything I owned and I suggest you do the same. I was quite sure my financial situation would not be a deciding factor, but I listed everything anyway.

I have no way of proving this, but since the consulate staff are human, I thought it best to submit a very neatly organized visa request including a short cover letter outlining why I wanted to live permanently in Italy and a short synopses of my immediate plans after I arrived. I downloaded every form and used my computer skills to fill them out without any hand writing other than the signatures. In short, I wanted the staff to see us as a family they would be happy to have as neighbors when they return to Italy.

By the way, my wife submitted her own complete application and got her own visa although we both used a copy of the same combined financial statement. Each of us submitted our own completely separate dossier. We don't have any kids.

My wife and I also dressed neatly when we visited the consulate for our interview. Perhaps none of this matters. Using a crayon and wearing shorts and flip-flops might have been OK, but somehow I doubt it especially after the once-over the VERY stylishly dressed consulate clerk gave the both of us. 

Bottom line: We didn't want to give anyone any excuse not grant us our visas.

We submitted our application on Monday and had our visas in hand by Thursday via FedEx.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

I entirely agree with Mozella. I would consider 30,000 euro per year (or wealth equivalent) to be the minimum opening bid for an individual and obviously more for a household. The consulates, however, have tremendous flexibility and can require more.

And you can't _earn_ anything for an elective residency visa. The income must be passive, without employment. This is not a visa that permits employment. As examples, pensions, dividends, interest, rental income from property, trust fund payouts, annuities, royalties, alimony, court-ordered child support, and other forms of passive income all typically count.


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