The Italian immigration law requires you to take a health insurance during your stay in Italy.
If you buy a private insurance in your country, in order to be valid in Italy for obtaining the stay permit, it needs to have the following requirements:
- it has to be entitled with the holder’s name (in western characters);
- it has to be written in Italian (or in English, French, Spanish);
- it is valid in the Schengen Area/Italy;
- it states the exact coverage period (it must be not less than six months and maximum one year; notice that the duration of the residence permit will be connected to the duration of the insurance);
- it must be clearly indicate the type of coverage for the medical expenses and it must have € 30.000 ceiling (expressed/converted in Euros)
The entire document has to be stamped by the Italian Embassy/Consulate in your country.
As an alternative, once in Italy, you can buy a private insurance through an Italian insurance company that will cover urgent medical assistance (surgery and accidents) at the Emergency of any Italian Hospitals (Pronto Soccorso).
Otherwise, upon the arrival, it is possible to buy the Italian National Health Service insurance (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale - S.S.N.). Currently, the cost for students is around € 150,00/year.
Payment is valid for a calendar year, that is up to December 31st when the payment has been made.
To obtain the National Health Service insurance, first you will have to pay € 150,00 at any post office filling in a postal bulletin using the following details: Regione Lombardia - Servizio Sanitario Nazionale - c/c n° 379222.
Then, after submitting your residence permit application, you have to go to the dell’ATS Office located at Viale Indipendenza 3, in Pavia (A.T.S. is the local administrative and operative facilities of the National Health Service) and apply for the subscription, submitting the following documents in copies:
- your passport
- the residence permit postal receipt
- the paying-in slip receipt of € 150,00
- the enrolment certificate at the IUSS Pavia.
National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale) provides full health assistance - including the possibility to choose a family doctor. In the Italian health system, the family doctor gives general or 1st level health assistance, i.e., health care outside the hospital, hence including medical treatment in case of ordinary diseases or no-emergency health problems, and prescribes medicines and tests.
For additional information, please visit ATS Pavia website.
Before leaving your country, if you purchase there an health insurance (that must be valid in Italy and cover the risk of illness, accident, maternity, civil liability in case of accident), you will have to take it to the Italian Embassy/Consulate together with the other requested documents to obtain Italian study entry visa and make sure that a stamp is put on it to confirm and certify its validity.
Without the Embassy/Consulate’s stamp, once arrived to Italy, you should be obliged to purchase another insurance, because foreign insurances not validated by the Italian Embassy cannot be accepted to obtain a residence permit.
IMPORTANT: the Italian entry visa for tourism does not allow enrolment in Italian universities and the obtaining of a stay permit for study purposes.