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 Palermo
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. Nothing else — lease, bank, SIM, ASP registration — can start without 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 displaying the Sportello Amico sign, complete it, attach a €16 revenue stamp bought 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. It is also a legal obligation on them, to be lodged with the authorities within 48 hours of your arrival — tell them before you land.
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 Palermo's Ufficio Immigrazione in via Gaetano Abela. 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 Palermo
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 a valid title to the address — an unregistered arrangement will not do, however genuine it is.
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 — in the old-town blocks the buzzers are frequently unlabelled and the check simply fails.
In personWho: Polizia Municipale di PalermoWithin 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 does not touch immigration, and assuming otherwise wastes weeks.

Sicily's special statute gives the region real powers over health, agriculture, local government and parts of taxation — which is why the health authority is an ASP and the regional IRPEF surcharge is set locally. It gives the region nothing over entry, residence permits or citizenship, all of which remain state functions exercised by the questura and the prefettura under national rules. Newcomers occasionally look for a Sicilian route that does not exist. There is one Italian immigration system and Palermo is inside it.

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. In a city where informal lets are common, an offer of cheaper rent without a contract is a discount on all of that. Ask for the registration receipt before any money changes hands.

Source: Agenzia delle Entrate

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, issued by the comune or the health authority. Palermo's older housing stock 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 it before signing a lease rather than 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 them 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.
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.
Moving into a block where the intercom is unlabelled and failing the vigile's residence check.
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.