Which crimes could get your Italian residency permit revoked?
Getting an Italian residency permit (or permesso di soggiorno) is an essential step for non-EU nationals looking to spend more than 90 days in Italy.
The permesso essentially connects your visa and passport information to your biometric data and place of residence, giving you legal grounds for staying in Italy long term.
Unfortunately, obtaining a permit can be far from easy, as it involves a complex, multi-step process that can often take months due to chronic delays at Questure (provincial police headquarters) around the country.
But once you've successfully navigated the world of Italian bureaucracy and secured your residency permit, can it ever be taken away from you?
Under Italy's immigration laws, several circumstances can lead to the revocation of a residency permit.
These include false declarations (i.e., the permit was obtained through fraud, false documentation, or misleading information), loss of requirements (for instance, if a student permit holder stops attending their academic course without justification) and extended stays outside Italy (usually, stays that are more than half the duration of the permit's validity).
An Italian residency permit can also be revoked if its holder commits certain types of offences, which are generally referred to as reati ostativi.
Such offences are listed under Article 380 of Italy's Penal Code (Codice Penale) and include:
Terrorism-related offences
Mafia-type association
Human trafficking
Exploitation of prostitution
Production, trafficking, or possession of narcotics
Drug dealing
Sexual violence
Domestic abuse
Stalking
Robbery
Assault
Home burglary and mugging
Aggravated theft
Facilitation of illegal immigration
Labour exploitation
Extortion
Do any of these offences mean automatically losing your permit?
No. If a residency permit holder is found guilty of any of the above crimes, their case will be evaluated by the Questura of the province they live in.
Before issuing any verdict on the revocation of a residency permit, police authorities consider all of the following factors:
The seriousness of the crime committed: A conviction for a serious offence, such as terrorism, sexual violence, or mafia-type association, is more likely to result in the revocation of a residency permit than other crimes.
The offender's character and personal background: Questure are required to take into account factors including a person's cooperation with police authorities and their commitment to attending social rehabilitation programmes, as well as their overall character and life background.
The specific circumstances of the case: Police authorities must also consider the circumstances of the case, including premeditation, the presence of previous convictions, and whether the offence was committed together with other people.
'Social dangerousness': Ultimately, police also consider whether or not the offender poses a danger to public order under a principle known as pericolosità sociale (literally, 'social dangerousness').
What happens if a permit is revoked?
If a Questura chooses to revoke a foreign national's residency permit, they immediately lose the right to stay in Italy and have a maximum of 15 days to leave the country voluntarily.
If the person in question fails to leave the country within that window, police authorities can go ahead with issuing an expulsion order.
Can a residency permit revocation be appealed?
Yes.
A revocation order can be appealed within 60 days of its issuance and the appeal must be filed with the Regional Administrative Court (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale, TAR).
A revocation can be challenged based on reasons including violation of due process by police authorities (e.g., a Questura failed to abide by the required legal procedures) and failure to assess individual circumstances (family ties, social integration, commitment to rehabilitation, etc.).
The appeal can include a request to suspend the revocation order pending the tribunal's ruling. If approved, this allows the permit holder to stay in Italy until the ruling is issued.
Foreign nationals looking to appeal a revocation order must do so through an immigration lawyer.
Italy's Administrative Procedure Code states that "legal representation by a lawyer is mandatory" in 'proceedings before the regional administrative courts'.
People whose yearly income is below €12.838 are eligible for free legal aid.
Though there's no available information on the length of these appeals, it generally takes between 12 and 24 months for administrative tribunals to issue a ruling depending on the court's workload and the complexity of the case.
Are revocation cases frequent?
There is no publicly available data on the number of revocation orders issued every year in Italy.
However, reports of foreign nationals being stripped of their residency permits in connection with criminal offences aren't infrequent in Italian news media.
In late May, police authorities in Bolzano, northern Italy, issued a permit revocation order for three Moroccan nationals aged 18, 20 and 23 after they were involved in a fight with other youths.
In January, a 30-year-old foreign national living in Bologna successfully appealed against a permit revocation order issued after he was found guilty of stalking his former girlfriend.
In May last year, the residency permit of a 38-year-old Algerian was revoked after he expressed support for Hamas in an online chat.
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