Italy’s foreign-policy establishment has placed corporate mobility and citizen travel at the centre of its 18th Conference of Ambassadors, which opened in Rome on 15 December and concluded its Farnesina sessions on 16 December. In his keynote remarks, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani challenged Italy’s 200-plus embassies and consulates to “simplify mobility for citizens and companies through fully digital consular services”, signalling that the era of paper-heavy visa files is nearing its end.
Officials confirmed that all Italian posts will migrate to “Prenot@Mi 2.0”, a cloud-based platform that merges appointment booking, e-payments and real-time document tracking. The system—piloted this year in Los Angeles, Melbourne and New Delhi—cut average visa-processing times by 28 percent and slashed no-show rates thanks to automatic reminders. Full global roll-out is scheduled for Q2 2026, but consulates have been told to start cleansing legacy calendars and training staff immediately. A 24/7 multilingual call-centre in Bari will backstop the platform, reducing email backlogs that have plagued high-volume posts such as London and Shanghai.
Beyond technology, the diplomatic summit reviewed Italy’s record-high immigration quota for 2026-28 (497,550 work-visa places) and the forthcoming EU Entry/Exit System (EES). Ambassadors will run information campaigns so that travellers understand fingerprint and facial-image enrolment at Italian borders from October 2025 and the higher €20 ETIAS fee slated for late-2026.
![Italy’s Ambassadors’ Conference Sets 2026 Roadmap for Fully Digital Visa & Consular Services]()
Companies and travellers preparing for these updates can streamline their paperwork through VisaHQ’s dedicated Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/). The service pre-checks documentation, schedules Prenot@Mi appointments on your behalf and uploads the required digital files—helping mobility teams navigate the shift to e-payments and biometric enrolment without missing a beat.
For employers, the shift to digital processing means adapting internal checklists: electronic apostilles, remote notarisation and upfront online payments will replace stamped originals and cashiers. Mobility teams should verify that third-party vendors can upload signed PDFs and .p7m documents, and budget for biometric equipment in overseas offices that host large volume “visa days”.
The conference now moves to Milan (17-18 December) for sessions on export promotion and expatriate tax regimes. Mobility specialists expect guidance on the popular “impatriate” tax break for returning talent and possible tweaks to the new digital-nomad visa, including a dedicated income-tax exemption aimed at second-tier cities. Taken together, the announcements point to a 2026 consular landscape that is faster, paper-less and more predictable—welcome news for Italian companies that run high volumes of assignment and business-travel cases.
Officials confirmed that all Italian posts will migrate to “Prenot@Mi 2.0”, a cloud-based platform that merges appointment booking, e-payments and real-time document tracking. The system—piloted this year in Los Angeles, Melbourne and New Delhi—cut average visa-processing times by 28 percent and slashed no-show rates thanks to automatic reminders. Full global roll-out is scheduled for Q2 2026, but consulates have been told to start cleansing legacy calendars and training staff immediately. A 24/7 multilingual call-centre in Bari will backstop the platform, reducing email backlogs that have plagued high-volume posts such as London and Shanghai.
Beyond technology, the diplomatic summit reviewed Italy’s record-high immigration quota for 2026-28 (497,550 work-visa places) and the forthcoming EU Entry/Exit System (EES). Ambassadors will run information campaigns so that travellers understand fingerprint and facial-image enrolment at Italian borders from October 2025 and the higher €20 ETIAS fee slated for late-2026.
Companies and travellers preparing for these updates can streamline their paperwork through VisaHQ’s dedicated Italy portal (https://www.visahq.com/italy/). The service pre-checks documentation, schedules Prenot@Mi appointments on your behalf and uploads the required digital files—helping mobility teams navigate the shift to e-payments and biometric enrolment without missing a beat.
For employers, the shift to digital processing means adapting internal checklists: electronic apostilles, remote notarisation and upfront online payments will replace stamped originals and cashiers. Mobility teams should verify that third-party vendors can upload signed PDFs and .p7m documents, and budget for biometric equipment in overseas offices that host large volume “visa days”.
The conference now moves to Milan (17-18 December) for sessions on export promotion and expatriate tax regimes. Mobility specialists expect guidance on the popular “impatriate” tax break for returning talent and possible tweaks to the new digital-nomad visa, including a dedicated income-tax exemption aimed at second-tier cities. Taken together, the announcements point to a 2026 consular landscape that is faster, paper-less and more predictable—welcome news for Italian companies that run high volumes of assignment and business-travel cases.
