Visa requirements for Italian citizens

Italy belongs to the European free movement area, so Italian citizens need no visa anywhere in the Schengen area and can use a national ID card.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Italy and 93 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

No country asks holders of the Italian passport for a visa beforehand while its own citizens enter Italy without one.

The reverse holds for 67 countries: holders of the Italian passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Italy (Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus and 62 others).

14 countries ask holders of the Italian passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 12 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Italy.

2 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Italy, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country.

The United States refused 13% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Italy in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 41 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 155 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Italian passport

By continent, the Italian passport is visa-free in 43 countries in Europe, 30 countries in the Americas, 22 countries in Asia, 16 countries in Africa and 11 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Italian citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), the Bahamas (240 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Armenia (180 days), Costa Rica (180 days) and Dominica (180 days).

Visa on arrival

Italian citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Cambodia, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt and 21 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Italian citizens enter Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cuba and 17 others. Australia, Canada, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and 4 others ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Italy’s neighbours

Switzerland, the Holy See, Slovenia, San Marino, France and Austria admit Italian citizens without a visa.

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Swiss passport ranks 6th (161 destinations), the French passport ranks 6th (161 destinations), the Slovenian passport ranks 19th (160 destinations), the Austrian passport ranks 19th (160 destinations) and the passport of San Marino ranks 48th (145 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 93 can enter visa-free and 105 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for Italy.