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 Catania
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 in the first days
Free and same-day at an Agenzia delle Entrate office with a passport, or assigned at the Sportello Unico for sponsored arrivals. The lease, the bank, the SIM and ASP registration all depend on it.
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 the lease is not ready
A dichiarazione di ospitalità from whoever is putting you up satisfies the accommodation requirement for filing, and is separately a legal obligation on them to lodge within 48 hours of your arrival.
In personWho: Your hostWithin 48 hours of arrival
4
Attend the Questura appointment for biometrics
The postal receipt carries a date at the Questura di Catania's Ufficio Immigrazione. Bring originals of everything in the kit; a missing original means a new appointment months later rather than a same-day fix.
In personWho: You
5
Register residence with the Comune di Catania
The declaration takes effect the day you make it and the comune has 45 days to verify. It requires a registered lease, a deed or another valid title to the address.
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. Put your surname on the intercom the day you move in.
In personWho: Polizia Municipale di CataniaWithin 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

Sicilian autonomy is real, and it stops at the water's edge of immigration.

Sicily's special statute gives the region genuine powers over health, agriculture and local government — which is why the health authority is an ASP and the regional tax surcharge is set in Palermo. It gives the region nothing over entry, residence permits or citizenship, which remain state functions exercised by the questura and the prefettura under the same national rules that apply in Milan. There is no Sicilian immigration route, and looking for one wastes weeks.

Source: Ministry of the Interior; Regione Siciliana

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. Ask for the registration receipt before any money changes hands.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

Catania's Questura carries a heavy caseload for the size of the city.

The Ufficio Immigrazione here serves the eastern half of Sicily, including the agricultural plain south of the city with its large seasonal workforce and the arrivals handled at the island's ports. Appointment lead times are correspondingly long, and the postal receipt does the legal work in the meantime — it is what you show a bank, an employer or a landlord. Keep it, photograph it, and do not treat the wait as a sign that something has gone wrong.

Source: community-reported

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

Bringing a spouse or children requires a certificate that the accommodation meets the local per-occupant floor-area standard. Catania's older centre is heavily subdivided and a flat that comfortably houses a couple frequently fails for a family of four. It is assessed against local standards, so check before signing a lease rather than when the application is filed.

Source: Ministry of the Interior

Common mistakes to avoid

Accepting a cheaper unregistered lease and losing the ability to register residence.
Looking for a Sicily-specific immigration route — the region has no competence over permits.
Turning up at the Questura appointment with photocopies rather than originals.
Assuming a long Questura wait means the application has failed.
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.