Before you start

A long-stay type-D visa, for non-EU nationals
For work routes, a nulla osta issued to the employer by the Sportello Unico at the Prefettura di Napoli
An address — a registered lease, a deed, or a hospitality declaration from your host
A codice fiscale
For EU citizens: proof of employment, study or sufficient means plus health cover

Step-by-step

1
Get the codice fiscale on arrival
Free and same-day at an Agenzia delle Entrate office with a passport, or assigned at the Sportello Unico for sponsored arrivals. It is the prerequisite for the lease, the bank, the SIM and the health service.
In personWho: YouDay 1–2
2
File the yellow kit within eight working days of entry
Collect the kit giallo at a Poste Italiane counter with the Sportello Amico sign, complete it, attach a €16 revenue stamp from a tobacconist, and hand it back with the postal and permit fees. Keep the receipt — it is your legal standing until the card exists.
In personWho: YouWithin 8 working days of entry
3
Use a hospitality declaration if you have no lease yet
A dichiarazione di ospitalità from whoever is putting you up satisfies the accommodation requirement for filing. It also has to be lodged with the authorities by the host within 48 hours of you arriving, which is a separate legal obligation on them.
In personWho: Your hostWithin 48 hours of arrival
4
Attend the Questura appointment for biometrics
The receipt carries a date at the Questura di Napoli's immigration office. Bring originals of everything in the kit. Appointment lead times here run longer than in the northern cities.
In personWho: You
5
Register residence — and make sure the lease supports it
The declaration takes effect the day you make it and the comune has 45 days to verify. It requires a registered contract or a deed. If your landlord will not register the lease, you cannot complete this step, and everything downstream is blocked.
In personWho: YouWithin days of moving in
6
Be reachable for the vigile's check
A municipal police officer calls at the address to confirm you live there, checking the buzzer and often asking a neighbour or the portiere. Put your surname on the intercom the day you move in and tell the portiere to expect the visit.
In personWho: Polizia Municipale di NapoliWithin 45 days of declaring

Documents you’ll need

Passport with the type-D visa
Nulla osta and, for employment, the signed contratto di soggiorno
Registered lease, deed or hospitality declaration
Codice fiscale
Four identical passport photographs
€16 revenue stamp and the postal and permit fee receipts

Things most newcomers don’t know

An unregistered lease costs you your legal standing, not just your deposit protection.

Italian landlords must register a tenancy with the Agenzia delle Entrate within 30 days. Without registration you cannot register residence with the comune, and residence is the gate to the tessera sanitaria, the twelve-month driving-licence conversion clock, the bank's resident classification and — for a non-EU national — the accommodation evidence at a permesso renewal. In a city with a large informal rental market, an offer of cheaper rent for an unregistered arrangement is a discount on all of that. Ask for the registration receipt before paying anything.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

Cash-in-hand employment cannot support a permesso renewal, however reliable the money is.

A permit renewal requires evidence of lawful income — a registered employment contract, payslips, contributions paid. Work paid in nero produces none of that, and the money being real and regular is legally irrelevant. Naples has a substantial informal labour market and non-EU workers are disproportionately drawn into it, which is precisely the group for whom the absence of documentation is most expensive at renewal time.

Source: Ministry of the Interior

The idoneità alloggiativa certificate blocks more family reunifications than the income test does.

Bringing a spouse or children requires a certificate from the comune or the ASL that the accommodation meets the local per-occupant floor-area standard. In Naples' dense historic housing stock, a flat that comfortably houses a couple frequently fails for a family of four. It is assessed against local standards, so the same flat can pass in one comune and fail in another — and it needs checking before you sign a lease, not when the application is filed.

Source: Ministry of the Interior

Your host has a 48-hour legal obligation when you stay with them, and most people do not know it.

Anyone providing accommodation to a foreign national — including a friend letting you sleep on the sofa — must lodge a dichiarazione di ospitalità with the authorities within 48 hours. It is the host's obligation and carries a penalty, and it is the same document you will use to evidence accommodation when filing your permesso kit. Telling your host before you arrive avoids a conversation that otherwise happens after the deadline.

Source: Ministry of the Interior

Common mistakes to avoid

Accepting a cheaper unregistered lease and losing the ability to register residence.
Working in nero and having no evidence of income at the permesso renewal.
Signing a lease before checking whether the flat can pass the idoneità alloggiativa standard for your family.
Not telling your host about the 48-hour hospitality declaration obligation.
Letting the eight-working-day filing window pass while apartment-hunting.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.