Your First 90 Days in Italy: Permesso di Soggiorno, Codice Fiscale, Health Card, Bank

The order matters

You land with a work visa in your passport. The visa lets you enter; it is not your permit to stay. The permit is the permesso di soggiorno, and the clock on it starts the day you arrive. Everything else in your first three months, the tax code, the health card, the bank account, the residence, hangs on getting that first step right. Here is the sequence as it actually runs.

Days 1 to 8: the contratto di soggiorno and the permit kit

• The Sportello Unico appointment: within 8 working days of entry, you and your employer go to the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione at the prefettura to sign the contratto di soggiorno, the residence contract that matches the nulla osta. Bring your passport with the visa and the address where you live. The employer usually books this; if nobody has, ask on day one.
• The kit: at the same appointment you receive, or are told to collect at a post office, the permit application kit: a form with a yellow stripe, sent through Poste Italiane. You fill it in, attach copies of passport, visa and contract, pay the fees (a tax stamp of 16 euros, the postal fee of about 30 euros, and the permit fee, which depends on the permit length; together usually 100 to 130 euros as of 2026, check the current figures at poliziadistato.it), and post it from a Sportello Amico counter at poste.it.
• The receipt: the post office gives you a receipt (ricevuta) with a user name and password. Keep it with your passport. From this moment you are legally in Italy while the permit is processed, and the receipt is what you show everyone.
• Missing the 8 days: is not fatal if the employer delayed, but document why. Do not let it slide past the first weeks.

Weeks 1 to 4: codice fiscale, then the questura

The codice fiscale is the Italian tax code, 16 characters, and nothing works without it: the contract, the pay, the health card, a phone contract, a bank account. Often the Sportello Unico issues it at the contract appointment. If not, go to any office of the tax agency with your passport and the receipt; it is free and issued on the spot. Details at agenziaentrate.gov.it. Your employer cannot register your hire with INPS without it, so this is urgent for your first pay.

The receipt from the post office gives a date for your appointment at the questura (the provincial police headquarters), immigration office. There you give fingerprints and photographs, and the officer checks the originals. Bring passport, receipt, four passport photos, the contract, and proof of address. Appointments can be two to twelve weeks out depending on the city; Milan, Rome and Naples are slow, smaller provinces faster. You cannot speed this up, and nobody can sell you an earlier slot.

After the appointment, the card itself takes further weeks to months. You can track the status with the receipt number on the state police portal. When it is ready, the questura or a text message tells you to collect it.

What the receipt lets you do while you wait

• Work: yes, for the employer in the contract, from the day the contract is signed. The receipt plus the contract is your proof.
• Register with the health service: yes, with the receipt, at the ASL (below).
• Open a bank account: most banks accept the receipt plus passport and codice fiscale; some ask for the card. Post office accounts (Poste) are the most forgiving.
• Register residence at the comune: yes, with the receipt, in most comuni.
• Travel outside Italy: no, not to other Schengen countries. You may travel home and return only with the receipt, the expired visa and a direct flight, and it is risky. Wait for the card.
• Change employer: not before the card; after it, yes, in any sector.

Weeks 2 to 8: health card, a doctor, and a bank account

Go to the local health authority (ASL) office with your receipt, codice fiscale, passport and proof of address. You are registered with the national health service (SSN) and given a family doctor (medico di base) from a list; the health card (tessera sanitaria) is posted to your address. Registration is compulsory for workers and free; your contributions pay for it. From that day, visits to your doctor are free and hospital care is covered. Keep the card: it is also your European health card and often your codice fiscale card in one.

Italian employers must pay wages by traceable means, so you need an account or a prepaid card with an IBAN. Options that work for new arrivals:

• Poste Italiane: a basic account or a prepaid card with IBAN, opened with passport, codice fiscale and the receipt. The most common first account for foreign workers.
• Banks: the larger banks open a basic account (conto di base) by law for legal residents; some branches still ask for the permit card. Ask for the conto di base by name.
• Online accounts: some accept the receipt; many want the card. Check before you rely on one for your first pay.
• Sending money home: compare post office transfers, bank transfers and licensed money transfer agents; avoid informal hawala-style channels, which leave no record and can be treated as money laundering.

Weeks 4 to 12: residence at the comune and the integration agreement

• Residenza: register your address at the comune's registry office (anagrafe) with the receipt, passport, codice fiscale and your rental contract or a declaration from the person housing you. The police verify the address with a visit. Residence is needed for the long-term permit years to count, for the family reunification housing certificate, and for the ID card (carta d'identità).
• Carta d'identità: once resident, the comune issues an electronic ID card. Carry it; showing your passport everywhere is not necessary.
• Accordo di integrazione: signed at the Sportello Unico or questura when you applied for the permit. Within three months you should attend the free civic education session (sessione di formazione civica) the prefettura invites you to, usually a half day in your language. Missing it loses points. Enrol at the CPIA for Italian in the same period; the course adds points and is free.
• INPS and your pay slip: your employer registers you with INPS, the social security institute, and your pay slip (busta paga) shows the contributions. Check that the first pay slip exists and that the hours match. A worker with no pay slip is working undeclared, whatever was promised, and that costs you the permit renewal.

Reality check

• Nobody gives you the kit for a fee: the kit is free at any post office. People selling "permit help" near the questura are selling a form you can collect yourself.
• The 8 days are the employer's job as much as yours: if the employer stalls on the Sportello Unico appointment, that is a red flag about the employer, not a delay to shrug off.
• Your passport stays with you: an employer or landlord who keeps your passport is breaking the law. Carry it, or lock it, but hold it.
• Write down every number: codice fiscale, receipt number, questura date, INPS number. On a phone in a second language, the numbers are what save you.
• The card may arrive near its own expiry: if the first permit is for one year and the card takes eight months, the renewal kit is due four months later. Start the renewal 60 days before expiry, every time.

Where this leaves you

These pages go with this one:

• Italy work permit processing time
• Italy work visa 2026: types, cost, processing time
• Working in Italy as a non-EU foreigner: permits, jobs and pay
• Warehouse and logistics jobs in Italy for foreign workers
• Working in Italy from Bangladesh: visa, permit, costs

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