This past Monday, 2 June, was the 79th anniversary of when Italy, post-World War II in 1946 after the Fascists were defeated, voted to become a republic instead of a monarchy. Similarly, 6 June was the 81st anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944, when the Allied forces began the liberation of Western Europe from the fascists. Also on the 6th: I had an interview at the Italian consulate in Miami to apply for my Digital Nomad Visa (Visto per Nomadi Digitali). In the meantime, our government has accelerated it’s move towards fascism in an increasing number of ways.
Although the adventure is not over for me (and really doesn’t have an “over”) this is a huge milestone. These last five-or-so months have been the longest two years of my life. A timeline:
Table of Contents
11 Nov 2024 🇮🇹
28 Nov 2024 🧑⚖️
My first meeting with a lawyer at Studio Legale Metta. After a couple weeks of research I learned that the only option, and a tenuous and temporary one, was to apply for a Digital Nomad Visa. I understood the process in general but decided, after some advice from a-friend-of-a-friend who moved to Italy with his family, that I absolutely needed a lawyer. The advice:
You really need to get an attorney to help, as I’m sure you are aware, Italian bureaucracy is legendary. Throw money at the problem now and be relaxed later.
Noted and taken. And a lot of money was needed to be thrown.
During that initial 30-minute meeting, the lawyer didn’t provide much information that I didn’t know but no surprises is good information to receive. Afterwards he emailed a PDF engagement letter with the different services that can be purchased a la carte (e.g. acquiring health insurance, negotiating a lease, etc.) and the service plans that bundle those services with basic add-ons (e.g. X hours of included phone consultation per week, etc.). The three service plans were expensive, more expansive, and luxury (my labels, not theirs). As with choosing a glass of wine from a wine menu, I eventually took the middle-priced package.
I retreated to further research. They nudged me a couple of weeks later but I couldn’t commit until end of Jan.
25 Jan 2025 🧑⚖️
After getting the AOK from my work I registered an account at Studio Legale Metta and paid a retainer. I had to email them again on the 31st in order to kick-start the actual process and didn’t get a response until 4 Feb when they finally sent me (1) the detailed list of documentation I needed to gather and (2) the tasks I needed to complate. Some were simple, such as paystubs and account balances to prove I make enough (at least €28,000 a year), others were more effortful. Some of them:
- Proof of being a high qualified worker – For this I needed my Diploma and transcripts notarized, Apostilled (basically notarized for international use), translated into Italian, and then sent to CIMEA (Centro di Informazione sulla mobilità e le Equivalenze Accademiche) to be converted to the equivalent Italian degree.
- Employer criminal check letter – This is a form letter provided by SLM to be filled out by my company and notarized, certifying that they have not been involved in any crimes within Italy. Big spoiler: I still have not received this. Relying on others is… difficult.
- Accommodation – Except for the anguish of not receiving needed documents from others, this was by far the most difficult task to accomplish and would not have happened without many video calls between my Italian-speaking lawyer, the various real estate agents, and me. I cannot emphasize enough the need for a good lawyer to suffer your weekly panic attacks.
“Effortful” is relative to what you understand, and right now I understand the difficulties and believe I could navigate those seas more easily.
General time it took to accomplish these more effortful tasks:
- Education – 9 Feb 2025 to 3 Apr 2025, a little under two months, 53 days
- Employer criminal check letter – this is still not completed, ???
- Accommodation – 22 Mar 2025 to 22 May 2025, two months, 61 days
5 Feb 2025 🏢
Gave form letters to my company. One is a simple “can employee work remotely and can that remotely-ness be Italy”. The other is the criminal check about the company itself.
9 Feb 2025 🎓
Ordered transcripts. Received transcripts a few days later, opened them by mistake.
17 Feb 2025
Re-ordered transcripts, this time sending directly to UWG so as to avoid putting my grubby mitts on them.
23 Feb 2025
Transcripts received by UWG.
26 Feb 2025
Road trip! I take the day and have a beautiful drive through backroads to Carrollton. I pick up a notarized copy of my transcripts and diploma, sealed in an envelope, and discuss my DNV with the two young students. Their response: “Yeah, we’re wondering how bad this country is going to get.” I should have emphasized that they need to brace themselves.
Lisa wasn’t able to make it to Carrollton so there was no hanging about, but that was fortuitous because I realized I could take care of Apostille the same day in northeast Atlanta. Information is at Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority. Their address is 1875 Century Blvd., Ste. 100, Atlanta, GA 30345. Very quick process.
I rewarded myself with a 10-piece Chicken McNugget and chocolate shake from down the street for the drive home.
3 Mar 2025 🎓
`Order translation of Apostilled diploma and transcripts through US Language Services. I don’t remember how I chose them over others but I doubt it matters. Translation is translation for things like “Intro to US literature” or “Music Theory II”.
11 Mar 2025
Received translations. Next stop: CIMEA.
13 Mar 2025 🇮🇹
Spurred on by my lawyer, I went to Prenot@mi (cute) to schedule my interview at the Italian consulate in Miami. That is the consulate for the southeast. They open up their schedule in 3-month blocks with the current-at-the-time one ending on 6 Jun. There was a single slot left, available at 9:15, on 6 Jun. I didn’t think that I’d be ready that soon (spoiler, I wasn’t but went anyway) but you can cancel and re-schedule.
22 Mar 2025 🏠
The city search went on for a while before I settled on Genoa. I wanted a larger, less expensive city in the north. Milan was out because of cost. Venice was out because of heavy tourism. Florence was out because of a little bit of both. Bologna was an option (and my instructor’s homeland, so I do have sincere affection for living there). I searched for rentals in both and Genoa edged out Bologna for what I could find.
Here are rental sites listed in the Reddit thread Tips for an American moving to Italy : r/AmericansinItaly:
- Immobiliare.it (most popular)
- Casa.it
- idealista
- Spotahome (properties checked by company officials)
- HousingAnywhere (properties checked by company officials)
I went with idealista after performing some queries in Genoa and liking the results and the format of the results. Contact with owners/agents is made via chat and my first message was sent 22 Mar 2025. The great difficulties I had in getting an apartment was because, although there were many many affordable and large apartments, few people responded to my requests. Maybe one out of 10 would respond and I have no idea whether it was the description of my needs or that I was a foreigner or what. Desperation set in quickly.
3 Apr 2025 🎓
CIMEA certificate completed and available for download from their website. The transcript-Apostille-CIMEA process started on 10 Feb, but I accidentally opened my transcripts after I received them the first time and so had to re-order.
22 May 2025 🏠
Two weeks before my interview at the consulate and I have a signed lease.
My apartment search, during the process:
I had someone message me 30 minutes before our meeting with my lawyer (omg, I can’t appreciate enough that Martina accommodated that meeting with no warning) that he juuuust rented the apartment to someone else.
For another listing I worked with an agent, completely fluent in English, who set up the meeting with the owner who after learning of interest increased the price by 25%. It was a small, small apartment. The real estate agent messaged me back with some embarrassment. He later asked me about my rental requirements and eventually sent me a message, without guile, that “this is not what you want, but it’s the closest that we have.” Respect.
The people (real estate agents and the owner) who finally worked with me, were Santi Patroni dei Pazienti with the difficulties of working with a foreigner. It eventually worked out. And I paid A LOT. But I have an apartment.
I hit a milestone. And don’t know how it will proceed but I am somewhat unmoored