Italian visa for year abroad

[Cornishcornettos]

has anyone else’s dc already got their visa for coming academic year? Or indeed anyone who got one last year? Can you tell me how long it took? Slightly panicking due to visa appointment not being until mid August..

Hello, my daughter is also having her MFL this coming year in Italy. Her visa appointment is early August and her travel is booked for third week in September. I believe 3 weeks is normal and she has allowed 6. She had friends who’ve been on their year abroad this year that’s just finished and their visas came through in a couple of weeks or less.

Once you have all the necessary paperwork the system seems to work. Fingers crossed 🤞 for your DD.

Thank you so much for this! Very reassuring. Can I ask which uni your daughter is going to? Mine is going to Bologna and I think term starts on 15th September

It’s a long story - she’s due to be at Sapienza in Rome but it’s been a nightmare as her Uni in England doesn’t have any bilateral agreements with any Italian Unis and Sapienza admissions are massively unhelpful though the individual tutors are very responsive.

To cut a long story short in order to get a visa we’ve had to register DD with a language school in Rome. She now has a certificate to get a study visa and can work 20 hrs a week. She will then register for single modules at Sapienza - they don’t open until early September.

Wow that sounds like a lot of organising for your poor daughter! Assuming she’s studying Italian as part of her course, it sounds massively unhelpful that her uni doesn’t have bilateral agreements with any unis! Well done on sorting out a workaround. Has she thought about accommodation yet?

Yes - she’s studying Italian plus another language but she spent a year in that country as a au pair before starting Uni so is planning to spend the whole year in Italy. Italian is her ab initio language.Re accommodation she’s planning to find a flat share - either via facebook groups or spotahome.
We are fortunate that we have a contact she can stay with for the first ten days.
What’s your DD planning to do?

I havent heard of spotahome so thank you for that, it’s actually my son who is going to Italy. He’s totally disorganised and has no idea what he will do for accommodation but will perhaps go out and stay in an airbnb/hostel for the first few days. Trying to let him work it out himself and not take over, but it’s hard!

Sorry about getting the gender of your DC wrong!

As you say it’s hard to let go and leave them to it. My DD was so engrossed in term and her sport that when she hit multiple set backs then organising her year abroad was put on the back burner. Thankfully since term has ended she’s focused rather more.

My experience is most DC usually get their act together in the end buts it’s painful watching the just in time approach.

I’ve heard many year abroad students use Airbnb or a hostel to begin with.

Did your DS have to have an official B2 Italian language certificate for Bologna?

had a minor panic there when you asked about the B2 … but just asked him and he says that his end of year exam result is sufficient for the uni and it’s communicated direct so no need apparently …phew

@Cornishcornettos so sorry to unnecessarily alarm you. I think your DS’s experience with B2 equivalence being certified by his Uni is normal with reasonable Unis that have bilateral agreements. That is what happened with my DN who’s heading to France

My DD is in this weird (and unsatisfactory) position due to her Uni not having any bilateral arrangements so has to meet the more formal requirements. But I'm sure she’ll be okay now we have this work around. And she has taken the B2 so will have that once they get around to marking it.

It is so odd that your DD’s uni doesn’t have bilateral agreements. I wonder if it means that some students who aren’t as enterprising as yours end up not being able to attend a uni overseas! DS thinks that half his marks count towards his degree. He is doing a joint honours degree so I think some of his modules may be taught in English. I’m very unclear about what courses he can choose out there! Does your DD’s uni take any interest in her results while she’s overseas? Is the idea that she will do the uni modules in Italian (can she choose anything?), as well as attending language school?

@Cornishcornettos sorry for such a slow response - we've been away on holiday then buried in my emails.

Very exciting news here - DD got her visa today after submitting on 8th August so it didn't take long. DD said the Visa service at the Embassy were good going through the documents and the check list but still they emailed for one of the documents.

DD doesn't have to take any particular courses and none of them count for her degree so they take no interest. She is hoping to take a few law courses in Italian. Only requirement of home Uni is to come back with much better spoken and written Italian. I think she will spend some of her time away working on her dissertation to make teh 4th year easier.

Thank you for the update. DS has had his appointment so hopefully will get visa in time for flight in a couple of weeks. Signed up for accommodation for a year without seeing it , I’m hoping it’s ok!

@Cornishcornettos I think they’re pretty efficient so fingers crossed for your DS.

DD is going to sort accommodation when she arrives. She’s got some temporary accommodation with a cousin for a fortnight so that is a great help.

I hope your DS has a fantastic year.

Riyad Hossen