Moving to Italy from the UK: what actually changed, and what did not
Quick answer: Since 1 January 2021 a British citizen is a third-country national in Italy. Ninety days in any 180 without a visa, a visa applied for from the UK for anything longer, and no automatic right to work. Three things are better than most people expect: driving licences exchange without a test, the State Pension is not frozen, and pensioners get Italian healthcare funded by the UK.
This page covers the parts that are specific to arriving from Britain. The generic relocation steps are the same for everyone; the driving licence, the S1, the pension and the Withdrawal Agreement are not.
The ninety-day rule is the change that bites
Before 2021 a British owner could spend the summer in an Italian house and think nothing of it. Now the limit is ninety days in any rolling 180, counted across the entire Schengen area rather than Italy alone, and owning property does not extend it by a single day.
Two things about the arithmetic catch people out. It is a rolling window, not a per-visit or per-year allowance, so days spent in France or Spain count against the Italian total. And overstaying is recorded: entry and exit stamps are the evidence, and the consequence is refusal of entry later rather than a fine at the border.
For anyone who wants more than that, the mechanics of counting and the options are set out in the 90/180 rule for property owners. For anyone who wants to live in Italy, the answer is a visa, applied for in the UK before travelling. There is no route that starts with arriving and sorting it out later.
Which visa a British applicant can realistically get
Three routes carry most UK relocations, and they are mutually exclusive in an important way.
Elective residence is for people living on passive income: pensions, annuities, investments, rental income from property outside Italy. It requires about EUR 31,160 a year for a single applicant, roughly EUR 38,000 for a couple, and consulates want a visible margin above the minimum. It prohibits work of every kind, including remote work for a UK employer. That prohibition is the most common reason a plan falls apart after arrival. The route in full is in our elective residence guide, and the wider retirement picture in retiring to Italy.
The digital nomad and remote worker route is the opposite case, built for people who keep working. It requires around EUR 24,790 a year in remote income and, critically, a qualification test. One point specific to British applicants: the Italian Consulate General in London publishes this route as being for self-employed applicants only, while some other posts accept employees of a foreign company. A salaried remote worker resident in the UK therefore faces a narrower door than the decree alone suggests. See the digital nomad visa.
Work visas exist but run through the decreto flussi quota system, which is capped annually and exhausted quickly. For most individual movers this is not a realistic route without an Italian employer driving it.
Driving licences: better news than the rumours
This is the topic where outdated advice circulates most, usually to the effect that British licence holders must retake the Italian test. That was true during the gap after Brexit. It is not true now.
A bilateral agreement between Italy and the UK has been in force since 30 March 2023 and allows a UK licence to be exchanged for an Italian one without any theory or practical test.
Two conditions decide whether it applies to you.
| Your situation | Can you exchange without a test? |
|---|---|
| Resident in Italy less than six years when you apply | Yes |
| Resident in Italy six years or more | No, the exchange route closes |
| Resident in Italy by 31 December 2020 | Yes, and the six-year limit does not apply |
And one date matters for everybody: the agreement is currently valid until 30 March 2028. Whether it is renewed is a political question nobody can answer today, so anyone planning a move in the next two years should treat the exchange as a task to complete early rather than a formality to leave until the licence is close to expiry.
The practical sequence is to establish residence, obtain the codice fiscale, then apply through the local Motorizzazione Civile with the UK licence, which is surrendered in the process.
Healthcare: the S1 divides British movers in two
Italian residency does not include healthcare, and what it costs a British person depends entirely on whether they have reached UK State Pension age.
If you have: claim an S1 form from the UK before leaving. It entitles you to register with the Italian national health service, the SSN, with the cost met by the UK government. In practice this means the same access an Italian resident has, without the annual contribution. It is the single most valuable thing a British pensioner can do before moving, and it has to be arranged from the UK side.
If you have not: you register with the SSN voluntarily and pay for it, between EUR 2,000 and about EUR 2,789 a year depending on income, or you buy private cover. Note that the contribution runs to 31 December whatever month you pay it, so joining in November means paying again in January.
Either way, the visa itself requires private health insurance from the day you arrive, before any SSN registration is possible. Budget for an overlap rather than a clean handover.
The pension question, answered plainly
The UK State Pension is not frozen in Italy. It continues to rise each year on the same basis as it would at home.
This is worth stating clearly because the frozen-pension problem is real in other countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and British movers reasonably assume it applies everywhere. It does not apply in the EU. Uprating is protected by the Withdrawal Agreement for anyone resident before 31 December 2020 and by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement for those who moved afterwards.
Where the pension is taxed is a separate question. Under the UK-Italy double taxation treaty, government and local authority pensions are generally taxable only in the UK, while private and occupational pensions typically become taxable in Italy once you are tax resident there. The State Pension sits with the latter group in most readings. Get your own position confirmed rather than assuming, because it determines whether the Italian tax rates below apply to your main income or not.
What Italian tax looks like
Tax residence follows from spending more than 183 days in Italy in a calendar year, and an Italian tax resident is taxed on worldwide income. The 2026 budget law cut the middle band:
| Taxable income | Rate in 2026 |
|---|---|
| Up to EUR 28,000 | 23% |
| EUR 28,001 to EUR 50,000 | 33% |
| Above EUR 50,000 | 43% |
Regional and municipal surcharges add roughly 1% to 3% on top, depending on the comune.
British pensioners have the same access as anyone else to the 7% flat regime for foreign pensioners who settle in a qualifying comune in the south or the islands, which taxes all foreign-source income at 7% for ten years. The population ceiling rose from 20,000 to 30,000 residents in April 2026, widening the choice of towns considerably. The conditions and a worked comparison are in retiring to Italy.
Shipping your belongings, which is now a customs matter
Before 2021 a British family moving to Italy loaded a van. Now the UK is a third country and the same van is an import, which means a customs declaration and, without relief, duty and VAT on the value of everything inside it.
The relief exists and it is generous, but it is conditional. Under the EU customs regulation that governs transfers of residence, personal property brought in by someone moving their normal residence from outside the EU is admitted free of import duty and VAT, provided four conditions are met:
| Condition | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Residence outside the EU | You must have lived outside the EU for at least twelve consecutive months before the move |
| Ownership and use | The goods must have been owned and used for at least six months before shipment |
| Timing of arrival | They must arrive within twelve months of establishing the new residence |
| What you do afterwards | They cannot be sold, lent, pledged or rented for twelve months after clearance without telling customs first |
Two consequences follow for planning. Buying furniture in the weeks before departure defeats the relief, because the six-month ownership test is applied to individual items rather than to the shipment as a whole. And splitting a move across two shipments works only if the second one still lands inside the twelve-month window from when residence was established.
A removals firm that handles Italy regularly will prepare the declaration and the inventory, and the inventory is the document that matters: it has to be itemised and valued, and vague entries are what trigger inspections. This is one of the few parts of a relocation where paying for specialists is straightforwardly cheaper than doing it yourself.
Pets changed at the same time. UK-issued pet passports are no longer valid for travel into the EU, and the replacement is an Animal Health Certificate, issued by a vet close to departure and valid for a single journey. It has a short window between issue and travel, so it belongs in the final fortnight of planning rather than the first.
If you were already living in Italy before 2021
The Withdrawal Agreement protects British citizens who were legally resident in Italy by 31 December 2020. Broadly, it preserves the residence and healthcare rights held as an EU citizen, and it exempts the holder from the six-year limit on driving licence exchange.
The protection is not automatic in the sense of requiring nothing. It depends on that residence having been registered at the time and on holding the documentation that evidences it. Anyone in this position who has been vague about their paperwork should resolve it rather than assume, because the difference between protected status and third-country national status is substantial and grows more so with time.
What British movers get wrong
Treating the house as the plan. Buying an Italian property is straightforward for a UK national and changes nothing about the right to stay. Ownership and residence are separate questions, and the inheritance tax position on a UK-owned Italian house is a third question again, governed by a 1966 treaty most owners have never heard of.
Leaving the S1 until after arrival. It is claimed from the UK. Arriving first makes it harder.
Underestimating the language requirement in ordinary administration. The questura, the comune and the Motorizzazione operate in Italian. This is manageable and it is not optional.
Assuming the driving licence agreement is permanent. It has an expiry date of 30 March 2028 written into it.
Counting Schengen days per country. The ninety days are shared across the whole area, and a week in France is a week off the Italian allowance.
Where to read next
For the practical costs of living in a specific place, what a month in Italy costs and where to live in Italy. For the purchase itself, what buying in Italy costs to complete. And if the plan is a holiday home rather than a move, the UK tax treatment of that is set out in UK tax on an Italian holiday home.
Sources
Bilateral Italy-UK agreement on mutual recognition of driving licences, in force 30 March 2023, valid to 30 March 2028, with the six-year residence condition and the exemption for those resident by 31 December 2020; UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement and Trade and Cooperation Agreement on State Pension uprating and S1 healthcare entitlement; SSN voluntary contribution schedule; IRPEF bands under Legge 30 dicembre 2025 n. 199. All checked 6 September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, but not freely. UK nationals became third-country nationals on 1 January 2021, so a stay beyond 90 days in any 180 requires a visa applied for from the UK before travelling. The routes that fit most people are elective residence for those living on passive income, and the digital nomad route for those still working.
Yes, without retaking any test, under the bilateral agreement in force since 30 March 2023. Two limits matter: it is currently valid only until 30 March 2028 unless renewed, and you must have been resident in Italy for less than six years when you apply. Anyone resident by 31 December 2020 is exempt from the six-year limit.
Only if you hold an S1. At UK State Pension age you can claim one before leaving, and it gives you access to the Italian health service funded by the UK. Everyone else registers voluntarily and pays between EUR 2,000 and about EUR 2,789 a year, or buys private cover.
No. Italy is an uprating country, so the pension continues to rise each year. That protection comes from the Withdrawal Agreement for anyone resident before 31 December 2020 and from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement for those who moved later.
The Withdrawal Agreement. Anyone legally resident in Italy by 31 December 2020 keeps broadly the rights they had as EU citizens, including residence and healthcare access, and is exempt from the six-year limit on driving licence exchange. Registering that status is what preserves it.
Ninety days in any rolling 180, counted across the whole Schengen area rather than Italy alone. Owning an Italian house does not extend it. This is the single change that most affects British second-home owners.
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