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A study visa for Italy is a type D national visa, and in Astana it is issued against a 17-item checklist that the embassy publishes itself (checklist of the Italian Embassy in Astana, 2026 edition, Verified: 2026-09-22). Three things in it break an application most often: a B2 certificate is required even for an English-taught program, the school certificate must come with two CIMEA statements, and means of subsistence cannot be shown in cash or as a one-off deposit. The national deadline for bachelor’s and master’s applications in 2026/2027 is 30 November 2026, but a university may close admission earlier (MUR circular for 2026/2027, Verified: 2026-09-22).
The short answer: what to show at the embassy
The embassy looks at four things: a pre-enrolment on Universitaly validated by the university, a recognized education document, language at B2 or higher, and money for a year. Everything else on the checklist is the form, passport, photo, insurance, booking and housing. The first four items take months to prepare, the rest a week.
| What | Requirement of the embassy in Astana | Checklist line |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-enrolment | Confirmation from the university or AFAM institution from the Universitaly portal, 2 copies | item 9 |
| Education document | Original plus a certificate with an apostille and a certified translation into Italian, plus Attestazione di comparabilità and Attestazione di verifica dell’autenticità from CIMEA, or Dichiarazione di Valore | item 10 |
| Language | Certificate at B2 or higher on the Council of Europe scale, in the language of instruction | item 11 |
| Funds | Proof of means of subsistence, original and 2 copies, plus separately the funds for the return journey | items 12 and 13 |
| Housing | Proof of suitable accommodation in Italy, original and 2 copies | item 14 |
| Insurance | Original and 2 copies, with no limits on emergency hospitalization rates | item 6 |
| Passport | Valid for at least 3 months after leaving Schengen, issued no more than 10 years ago, at least 2 blank pages | item 2 |
| Photo | One, ICAO format 3,5 x 4,0 cm, in color, white background, no older than 6 months | item 3 |
| Booking | Copy of the booking with the name and the cities of departure and arrival. Buying the ticket before the visa is not required | item 8 |
| Power of attorney | If someone other than the applicant submits: a power of attorney and a copy of the representative’s ID, translated into Italian or English | item 16 |
Source for the whole table: checklist of the embassy in Astana, Verified: 2026-09-22. Documents for the Italian authorities are prepared in two originals, and the visa section may call the applicant to an interview and request more.
Deadlines: the national date and the Universitaly cap
The national deadline for a visa application for Laurea, Laurea Magistrale and single-cycle programs in the 2026/2027 academic year is 30 November 2026, and for 2027/2028 it is set at 31 October 2027 (MUR circular, Verified: 2026-09-22). This is an upper limit, not a guideline: the university publishes its own date, and the circular expressly allows it to be earlier.
For Master, doctoral, Erasmus and foundation courses there is no national date, but the application cannot be later than the start of classes on the program (same source).
In 2026/2027 a cap appeared that did not exist before. A university may validate pre-enrolment applications only within the number of places reserved for foreigners, increased by 20 percent. Once the cap is reached, Universitaly suspends validation, and a place is freed only when one of the already validated applicants is refused a visa (same source). In practice this means you can meet 30 November and still be left without validation if the university is popular. That is why the Universitaly application is filed first, not last. How the portal itself works: 12 years of schooling and applying via Universitaly.
The processing time for a national visa is by law up to 90 days from the date of application, Article 5, paragraph 8, of DPR 394/1999 (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa issuance times, Verified: 2026-09-22). This is a legal maximum, not a typical wait, and it is lawfully exceeded when the embassy needs checks through foreign authorities. Counting back from the start of classes has to include this margin.
Money: how much to show and why cash does not work
From 2026/2027 the means of subsistence are quantified at 10 179,85 EUR per year (MUR circular, part II, Verified: 2026-09-22). The amount is tied to the academic year and is revised, so for 2027/2028 it has to be checked again.
The conditions matter more than the figure itself. The funds must be lawful and traceable, preferably personal or family funds, up to the fourth degree of kinship, and the embassy is obliged to weigh them against the family’s income and assets. Merely being a scholarship candidate is not enough as proof (same source).
The Astana checklist names six ways to prove funds: a letter from the parents’ employer or a pension certificate stating the monthly salary; statements of personal or parental accounts for the last 6 months, and with parental accounts the proof of kinship must carry an apostille and a translation; other sources of income; the annual tax return; family composition with payslips and the guarantor’s declaration on housing; scholarships (checklist, item 12, Verified: 2026-09-22).
And a direct prohibition worth reading twice: cash does not qualify for this requirement, and what is assessed is not the balance on the statement date nor one-off deposits made for the application, but the family’s overall economic situation (same source). The workaround of “putting the amount into the account a week before the appointment” is exactly what the embassy describes as something it does not accept.
Separately from this amount, funds for the return journey are proved, and here a return ticket is enough (checklist, item 13, Verified: 2026-09-22). What part of this grants can cover: grants and scholarships in Italy.
Education document: apostille, translation and the two CIMEA statements
The school certificate or diploma is submitted in the original together with a replacement certificate legalized with an apostille and a certified translation into Italian. That is not enough. The final document must be accompanied by an Attestazione di comparabilità and an Attestazione di verifica dell’autenticità, issued by the Italian ENIC-NARIC centre, that is CIMEA, or by a Dichiarazione di Valore for comparability alone (checklist, item 10, Verified: 2026-09-22).
CIMEA statements are paid and are not produced in a day, so they are ordered right after the certificate is received, in parallel with the apostille. How to arrange the apostille and a sworn translation in Kazakhstan: apostille and sworn translation. Why Italy requires exactly 12 years of schooling and what to do after grade 11: 12 years of schooling for Italy.
Language: B2 is mandatory, including on an English-taught program
The checklist requires a language certificate at B2 or higher on the Council of Europe scale. For Italian, the university itself runs the assessment, certifies the result and uploads it into the pre-enrolment application; otherwise only certificates from Italian cultural institutes and CLIQ network schools are accepted (checklist, item 11, Verified: 2026-09-22).
The most common mistake here is this: the student goes for an English-taught program and decides the language item does not apply to them. The checklist says the opposite: by analogy, a student enrolled on a program in a foreign language must present a certificate of that language from an internationally recognized institution (same source). The MUR circular specifies the level: B2 or higher across all four skills (MUR circular, § 6, Verified: 2026-09-22). So an English-taught program calls for B2 in English, not for no certificate at all.
Insurance: what the embassy will accept
The requirement rests on Article 39, paragraph 3, of Consolidated Act 286/1998 and the Directive of the Italian Ministry of the Interior of 1 March 2000. Policies from Italian institutions and companies qualify, as do foreign policies if accompanied by a consular confirmation of the validity of the coverage in Italy, its term and the forms of assistance. The coverage must contain no limits or exclusions on emergency hospitalization rates for the entire period (checklist, item 6, Verified: 2026-09-22). The insurance is then presented once more when applying for the residence permit.
After arrival there is an alternative to a private policy: voluntary registration in the national health system SSN for a fixed contribution of 700 EUR per year, paid via F24 (Italian Ministry of Health, Verified: 2026-09-22). How to choose a policy for the visa: insurance for a student visa.
The fee and submission via VFS
A national visa for study purposes costs 50 EUR; for comparison, other national visas cost 116 EUR (Italian Embassy in Astana, visa cost, Verified: 2026-09-22). Payment is in tenge only, and the tenge amount is calculated at the quarterly consular exchange rate, which changes at the end of each quarter (same source). That is why this text has no figure in tenge: it would be out of date in three months.
Submission goes through the VFS visa centre, where the company’s separate service fee is added to the consular fee (same source). The embassy refers applicants to the VFS website for its amount, and it is not put on this page for the same reason as the exchange rate.
The first eight working days in Italy
The visa gives the right to enter, not to live. Within eight working days of the arrival date, the application for a residence permit for study purposes is filed with the competent Questura through a post office or a university desk, as a document kit; the legal basis is Article 5, paragraph 2, of D.Lgs 286/1998 and DPR 394/1999 (MUR circular, part III, Polizia di Stato, Verified: 2026-09-22). The postal receipt by itself confirms the legality of stay until the decision is made.
The published cost components: a 16,00 EUR stamp, 30,46 EUR for producing the electronic document, a 30,00 EUR postal fee, plus a contribution that depends on the permit term: 40,00 EUR for a term over 3 months and up to a year, 50,00 EUR for a term from one to two years (Portale Immigrazione, cost table, Verified: 2026-09-22). The official table does not print a single total specifically for the study permit, so there is none here either.
What EEC does and what it does not promise
EEC assembles the file in dependency order: Universitaly and CIMEA first, because they take long, then money and language, then the form and the booking. We check the set against the embassy checklist, not against memory, and tie the visa calendar to the university’s date, which is usually earlier than the national one. The decision is made by the consulate, and EEC promises neither the visa nor the date of its issue. Other destinations for comparison: Poland, Czechia or Italy, and the whole route on the Italy page.