Minimum investment in an eligible Italian innovative start-up
Italy Investor Visa
Italy is easy to fall for.
The residency route should make just as much sense.
For American and Canadian families who want the option to live in Italy, the Investor Visa offers a clear route from €250,000.
It is an investment route—not a property-purchase visa—and the right option depends on what you want both the investment and the residency to achieve.
Have a conversation with David →Italy at a glance
The useful facts.
Without the sales brochure.
Investment route into an established Italian company
Initial investor residence permit
Generally no annual minimum to maintain this investor route
Qualifying family members may be included
Potential citizenship eligibility after genuine legal residence
Why Italy?
A genuine Italian base, with room to decide how much of your life you move.
Italy can suit families who want more than easy European travel: it offers the right to establish a life in Italy, with access to its schools, healthcare and extraordinary quality of life.
The investor route is flexible enough for people who are not ready to relocate immediately. If your longer-term aim is citizenship, however, you would need to build a real and continuous life in Italy—not simply collect residence cards from a distance.
Italy supplies the romance. We make sure the practical side receives at least equal attention.
The investment
Four routes. Very different investments.
The lowest entry point is €250,000, but the smallest number is not automatically the best fit.
The current routes are €250,000 into an eligible innovative start-up, €500,000 into an established Italian company, €2 million in Italian government bonds or a €1 million philanthropic contribution.
A start-up investment carries a very different risk from government bonds, while a philanthropic contribution is not intended to be returned. We look at the residency goal, the financial risk and the likely exit—not just the headline figure.
Buying a home in Italy may be personally appealing, but the property purchase itself does not qualify for the Investor Visa.
Talk through the options →For Americans & Canadians
The overseas opportunity still needs to work with your life back home.
For Americans
An Italian company or start-up investment can create US tax and reporting obligations. The visa may be Italian, but the IRS will still want to know what you own.
Before investing, the structure should be reviewed by a US cross-border tax specialist as well as the Italian immigration and investment team.
For Canadians
Italian residency does not automatically end Canadian tax residency. The result depends on where you genuinely live and the ties you retain to Canada.
If you plan to relocate, Canadian departure-tax and reporting questions should be addressed before the move rather than discovered afterwards.
I work alongside immigration, legal, tax and investment specialists so the residency decision and the financial decision make sense together.
Your family
Can they be included?
A spouse or qualifying partner and dependent children can generally join the principal applicant, subject to the family-reunification rules and the circumstances of each person.
Every family is slightly different, particularly where adult children or dependent parents are involved. I can talk through your situation and have the relevant specialists confirm exactly who qualifies and what each person will need.
How it works
A clear process.
One point of contact.
- 1
We define the objective
Is this about living in Italy now, creating a future option or building a route towards citizenship?
- 2
Your eligibility is checked
The applicant, family members, source of funds and preferred investment route are reviewed.
- 3
You choose the investment
The available route, financial risk, expected holding period and exit are considered together.
- 4
The visa is approved
The application is made through Italy's official investor-visa process before the capital is committed.
- 5
You invest and receive residence
After entering Italy, the qualifying investment is completed within the required timeframe and the residence permit is issued.
- 6
I remain with you throughout
From our first conversation through the application, family coordination and renewals.
The property question
Can I buy a home?
Yes. You can buy and enjoy property in Italy, but it sits separately from the qualifying Investor Visa investment.
In other words, the villa may be the fun part. It is not the immigration part.
The minimum stay
Do I have to move?
A fixed annual stay is generally not required simply to maintain the investor permit, provided the qualifying investment remains in place.
Tax residence, permanent residence and citizenship are different questions and may require genuine physical residence in Italy.
The longer-term possibility
What about citizenship?
A non-EU national may potentially apply after 10 years of legal residence, subject to continuity, language, income, criminal-record and other requirements.
Citizenship is not automatic, and an investor permit held largely from abroad should not be presented as a shortcut to an Italian passport.
Personal relationship. Global expertise.
Personal service. International expertise behind it.
You deal with me throughout. I help you make sense of the options, focus on the routes that genuinely suit your plans and coordinate the process from our first conversation through to completion.
Each case is administered through Holborn Assets Ltd, incorporated in Bahamas, an international company providing services relating to residency and citizenship, partnered with experienced immigration, legal, tax and investment specialists.
It means you have the expertise and resources of an international organisation behind you, while the experience remains personal, clear and refreshingly uncomplicated.
One person who understands you and your plans. A team of specialists supporting every stage.
Could Italy work for you?
Tell me what you want for yourself and your family.
We will work out whether Italy deserves a closer look—and, if it does, what happens next.
Message David on WhatsApp ↗david@theglobaloption.com
A useful first conversation between two actual people. Refreshingly straightforward.