The Italy Startup Visa Program, launched by the Minister of Economic Development in June 2014, has introduced an important simplification for the benefit of non-EU citizens who intend to start an innovative startup in our country. The procedure is completely centralized, reporting to an evaluation committee composed of representatives of the national ecosystem of innovative entrepreneurship (including AIFI, APSTI, IBAN, NetVal and PNICube) and computerized: the candidate communicates with the Italian administration online through the address italiastartupvisa@mise.gov.it, until the physical visa is collected from the competent diplomatic-consular office.
Welcoming the European guidelines, on 23 December 2014, on the model of the Italia Startup Visa the Italia Startup Hub Program was launched, with which the applicability of the simplified procedure was also extended to non-EU citizens already in Italy and intend to remain in order to start an innovative startup: the Italia Startup Hub program therefore makes it possible to convert the expiring residence permit held by the non-EU citizen into a "startup self-employment permit" without having to leave the Italian territory and enjoying the the same simplified procedures envisaged for the granting of startup visas.
As of 31 December 2015, 61 applications had been received as part of the Italia Startup Visa programme, of which 18 in 2014 and 43 in 2015. According to statistics, 45 candidates are male, 16 female, and the average age is 34 years. The countries of origin are 18 and touch all continents: among these stand out Russia (20 candidates), Ukraine (10) and USA (7). 54 applications concerned the creation of new businesses. 7 were those in which there was an aggregation towards already established innovative startups, mostly by Italians. In this context, out of 61 applications, 40 were successful (65,6%) while 11 were rejected due to weakness of the business plan or lack of innovation and 6 were considered inadmissible because they clearly lacked the minimum financial or innovation requirements. 4 are currently under evaluation.
As regards the Italia Startup Hub programme, 5 applications have been received so far, of which two from South Korea, two from Iran and one from the USA. All were successful and led to the conversion of the previously held residence permit into a startup self-employment permit.
The Report with data on the progress of the Italia Startup Visa and Hub programs will be updated on the MiSE website every four months.
