Draft — open questions below
The visa rules are read in full from the implementing decree itself. The income figure is this page’s own arithmetic on a formula the decree states, not a number quoted verbatim anywhere, and a few things — chiefly how strictly each requirement is applied in practice — aren’t settled by a reading of the rules alone. Treat this as a starting point to confirm with a consulate or an immigration lawyer, not as advice.
A visa for non-EU citizens who can work remotely using technology — self-employed ('nomade digitale') or for an employer that need not be based in Italy ('lavoratore da remoto') — outside the annual quotas that cap most other work visas. Requires roughly €24,790 a year in lawful income (three times a healthcare-exemption threshold the decree cross-references rather than states directly), health insurance, suitable housing, at least six months' prior experience in the work to be done, and a role meeting the same 'highly qualified' bar the EU Blue Card uses. The permit lasts at most a year at a time, renewable annually, and family members can join on a matching permit. The enabling law dates to 2022, but the visa was not actually usable until an implementing decree finally issued in April 2024.
This isn’t a tax break either. Like elective residency, this is an entry-visa eligibility test, not a discount on anyone’s tax bill — ordinary Italian taxation applies once someone qualifies. It also took far longer to become real than the date on the enabling law suggests: the category was written into law in 2022, but nobody could actually apply until the implementing decree finally issued in April 2024 — worth knowing before trusting a source that cites only the 2022 date.
What this page does not cover
- The €24,790 figure is this page's own arithmetic on the decree's '3× a healthcare-exemption threshold' formula; neither number is written verbatim in the digital-nomad rules themselves, and the base €8,263.31 threshold was not independently verified against its own underlying legislation.
- Says nothing about the interpello, consular practice, processing times, or refusal patterns — this page covers the published rules, not how they're applied in practice.
- Does not independently re-verify the art. 27-quater 'elevata qualificazione' test beyond what the regime impatriati rule file already established.
- Does not cover renewal beyond the first year, the path (if any) to a longer-term residence status, or Italy's ordinary tax treatment of a digital nomad's income — this page covers visa eligibility only, the same scope line as elective residency.
The legislation
- D.Lgs. 25 luglio 1998, n. 286 (Testo Unico Immigrazione), art. 27, comma 1, lett. q-bis) — VERIFIED — read directly from Normattiva's currently-in-force text. Confirms the category name verbatim: "nomadi digitali e lavoratori da remoto, non appartenenti all'Unione europea" (digital nomads and remote workers, non-EU). Inserted by D.L. 4/2022 art. 6-quinquies (as converted by L. 25/2022) — the enabling provision; the operative requirements sit entirely in the implementing decree below.
- Decreto del Ministro dell'Interno, 29 febbraio 2024 (GU n. 79 del 4 aprile 2024) — VERIFIED — read in full, all 7 articles, from the official Gazzetta Ufficiale text. The operative rulebook: definitions (art. 2), entry/permit requirements (art. 3), permit issuance and family reunification (art. 4), and the tax/social-security compliance-checking machinery (art. 5-6). In force from 5 April 2024 — the day after publication — roughly two years after the enabling law, which is why the visa is widely reported as having been unusable until this decree finally issued.
Open questions — what a checker needs to settle
- RESOLVED 2026-09-14 — the income figure is derived, not stated as a flat euro amount in either primary source. D.M. 29/2/2024 art. 3(1)(a) requires income 'non inferiore al triplo del livello minimo previsto per l'esenzione dalla partecipazione alla spesa sanitaria' (not less than three times the minimum threshold for exemption from the healthcare co-payment) — read verbatim from the decree itself. That base threshold (the E02/E04 'esenzione ticket' income limit) is independently, consistently reported by several current (2026) healthcare-administration sources as €8,263.31/year, rooted in L. 537/1993 art. 8(16) and D.M. Economia e Finanze 11 dicembre 2009 — NEITHER of which this page read directly; the €8,263.31 figure is corroborated by secondary sources, not itself primary-verified. Tripled: €24,789.93/year. This is the same shape of derivation as the elective residency page's ×3 figure, and carries the same caveat: it's this page's own arithmetic on a formula the decree states, not a number written verbatim anywhere in the digital-nomad rules themselves.
- UNRESOLVED — whether the underlying €8,263.31 threshold has in fact been ISTAT-revalued to its current figure, or (like elective residency's Tabella A) has simply not moved despite a nominal indexing mechanism, was not independently checked against the underlying 1993/2009 sources. Multiple 2026-dated healthcare sources state €8,263.31 as the CURRENT figure, which is some corroboration, but this page did not read the revaluation mechanism itself.
- RESOLVED 2026-09-14 — two distinct categories exist, not one: 'nomade digitale' is a self-employed remote worker (art. 2(3)); 'lavoratore da remoto' is an employee or collaborator working remotely under art. 2, comma 1, D.Lgs. 81/2015's definition (art. 2(4)). Both need the same income/insurance/housing/experience test (art. 3(1)), but only the digital nomad category additionally needs a partita IVA (VAT registration, art. 6(2)) and skips the provisional nulla osta (art. 3(2)); the remote-worker category instead needs a binding job offer or contract (art. 3(1)(e)) and skips the ordinary work-authorisation nulla osta (art. 3(3)).
- RESOLVED 2026-09-14 — the qualification bar is shared with the EU Blue Card route, not a separate test invented for this decree. Art. 3(1)(e) requires the work to need one of the qualifications under art. 27-quater, comma 1 TUIR (the same 'elevata qualificazione' standard regime impatriati's own qualification criteria draw on) — this is not a low bar, and this page has not independently re-verified what art. 27-quater, comma 1 itself requires beyond what the regime impatriati rule file already established.
- UNRESOLVED — the six-months'-prior-experience requirement (art. 3(1)(d)) states no further detail on how it must be evidenced (a contract, invoices, a reference letter) — read as stated, not further researched.
- Needs a commercialista/immigration-lawyer pass for the same reason every hand-curated regime on this site does: this page states the decree's own words accurately but has not cross-checked them against Ministero dell'Interno circolari, consular practice guides, or reported refusal patterns that would show how strictly each requirement is actually applied.