UNOFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL STUDENT GUIDE

Disclaimer – We are only students who are writing this based on our own
experiences of applying to sapienza. This is not meant to replace ANY
official information given by sapienza, or your Italian consulate, and is
simply meant as a guide to help you through the various complex
procedures when applying to sapienza. Please note, the information
provided below is not complete, and may not be up to date, so we highly
recommend that you read this with an open mind, and follow up on the
topics below using other sources

Pre-enrollment

This is the process by which you accept a place offered to you in the IMS.

At the time of writing, once the ranking list with allocated universities has been published,
you have up to 4 days during which you must accept your position offered by the university
Failure to do this would result in your position being offered to someone lower down in the
rankings.

The first step to claiming your position would be to make a pre-enrollment request via your
closest Italian consulate. The Italian consulate will then freeze your position in the ranking
list.

The application window for pre-enrollment is usually from March to the end of June. Keep an
eye on the Sapienza website for exact dates.

At the end of the pre-enrollment process, you should have handed in the following
documents to your embassy,

1) 2 copies of the pre-enrollment application form.

2) The Dichiarazione di valore (Declaration of Value)
3) 2 passport sized photographs, one of which must be authenticated by your Italian
consulate
4) A copy of your passport.
5) The ranking list with your name/examination number on it.

Furthermore if you’re a university graduate, you must also supply,

1) Transcript of exams issued by your university, with the name and detailed syllabi of
each exam undertaken to achieve your degree. This must be legalized by the Italian
embassy of the country where your university belongs to.

Furthermore, if your country has a certain exam of academic eligibility (such as the
selectividad in Spain), you must present a certificate pertaining to this exam.

Usually for enrollment purposes, 12 years of schooling is requested.

You can ask the Italian Consulate for the exact documents required for the pre-enrollment.
You do not necessarily need to hand in all these documents at once, in order to freeze your
position in the ranking list (although you will need all these documents eventually, in order
to complete pre-enrollment). It may be the case that the there is some delay in the ranking
list being published or the declaration of value being made. Ideally the Italian consulate will
freeze your position and initiate the process once you give as much of the above documents
as you can, and explain your situation.

In theory, the only 2 conditions that need to be met to initiate pre-enrollment is that

a) You should at least be in the last year of high school and in the process of doing your
final exam.
b) You should have at least paid to sit for the IMAT.

However in practice, it may be possible that your consulate will refuse to pre-enroll you
without the ranking list and/ or Declaration of Value. If this is the case, you might have to
wait till you finish the IMAT and till the ranking list is published.

If by some chance your declaration of value is getting delayed, past the pre-enrollment
deadline, and your embassy still refuses to pre-enroll you, you could write to the university
explaining your situation, and in turn they will write back to the embassy requesting to start
the procedure without the DV. After this, you need to submit all other documents relating to
pre-enrollment, with the promise of providing the DV as soon as you get it.

It is best to take multiple photocopies of all the above documents just in case your consulate
asks for it.

*Aside from pre-enrollment you will also receive an email by the university, to which
you must reply stating that you accept your position.

Dichiarazione di Valore (DV)

The DV is a document stating that your High school achievements are equivalent to Italian
high school. You will need it to complete enrollment. Also, depending on your country you
may need it to obtain student visa.

This must be obtained from the embassy where your exam board belongs to. (For example,
if you are a Swiss national but went to a British school with examinations provided by
Edexcel /OCR/Cambridge etc, you must obtain your DV via the Italian embassy in Britain-not
Switzerland).

As someone who studied for exams belonging to a British exam board, I can only speak
about the process to obtain a DV from Britain. However the procedure for obtaining a DV
from a different country shouldn’t be markedly different.

1) What you need – The Italian consulate in London requires that you have 6 passes in
subjects out of which 3 must be related to the field you are intending to study. This
could be interpreted as 3 GCSE/ISCSE/GCE-O levels and 3 AS/A2 level subjects. Make
multiple photocopies of your certificates pertaining to these exams before you start
the process.
2) Certification – Take the originals and photocopies of your certificates to a practicing
notary or solicitor in the UK, to obtain certified copies of the certificates. They should
add their name, address, contact details and date to the certificate. Make sure you
read all the information on the FCO website to find out exactly what they want
(https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised). If you are living abroad/did your exams
abroad, it may be difficult to get in touch with a lawyer practicing in the UK. In this
case the legalization office mailed me stating that you could also get certify them by
getting originals signed by the British council of your country OR by an official of the
British Embassy/Consular representative of your country. When I inquired into these
options I was informed by the Birtish embassy that they had no power to undertake
notarial acts, and the British council could only certify copies, and not the original
certificates. However you may be interested in looking into these options).

Note – I also heard that if you have many certificates that need certifying, it may be
possible for your lawyer to certify them as a bound set, with all the certificates ideally
in chronological order. This way you will only need one apostille as opposed to many,
and therefore be able to save money. As I personally didn’t hear about this before
completing legalization, I can’t say whether this method will be acceptable for the
London consulate, so please email and ask for yourself.

3) Legalization – Send the solicitor signed copies of your certificates to the Foreign and
Commonwealth office in Milton Keynes for authentication of the Solicitor’s signature.
Read the above link for details regarding payment and other information. Note that
they have stated that it can take up to 48 days to legalize the document. Please do
not use this as a guideline when planning the other parts of your application and
account for any delays and courier/postage delays.

4) Translation – Translate the legalized copies of your certificates, once you receive
them. Some embassies have a list of approved translators, others don’t. Check with
your embassy.

 If you did your exams abroad, you may need to get your certificates back in order
to get them translated and then get them counter signed by the embassy where
you did the exams, before sending them to the Italian consulate in London to get
your DV. There is a possibility that you can still get your DV without doing this
step. Check http://www.studiare-in-italia.it/studentistranieri/1.html to be sure.
5) Obtaining the Declaration of Value – You will need,
 Application form for the DV (download it from the website)
 The certified photocopies, legalized with the apostille.
 An Original letter issued by the secondary school you attended. It must state that
you were a student at the relevant institution.
 Proof of payment of consular fees or supporting documentation if the DV is
requested free of charge. For payment details send an email to
scuole.londra@esteri.it
 For international delivery – payment of registered post, as well as an envelope
with the address to where the DV and the documents should be sent to.

Please take a look at the relevant websites:

http://www.it-consul.org.uk/en/on-line-with-the-user/education/declaration-of-
value and the official website of London consulate
 http://www.conslondra.esteri.it/Consolato_Londra/Menu/I_Servizi/Per_i_cittadini/St
udi/Dichiarazioni_di_valore/ )
Also, email them before sending any documents, to be up to date with any new
requirements. Also please note that the consulate In London can be extremely
busy at certain times, so please give yourself ample time to do this.

Enrollment

Mandatory documents you need will include,

1) Student registration code. You will receive this once you register on infostud
https://stud.infostud.uniroma1.it/Sest/registrazioneStudenti/initRegistrazione.
do
2) The declaration of value issued by the relevant Italian consulate and legalized
certificates of your high school diploma.
3) Copy of your identity card or passport.
4) ISEE Form

If you are a Non-Eu resident living abroad you also need,

 Copy of your Student Visa.

 Copy of your residence permit (Once you get it)

If you wish to skip a year or 2, you must also have,

 Certified photocopy and a simple copy of your degree/title/diploma, translated

into Italian, legalized and accompanied by a DV.
 Certified photocopy and a simple copy of your academic transcript issued by your
university organization, stating all examinations taken. It must be translated to
Italian and legalized by the relevant Italian consulate.
 A photocopy in the original language of the detailed study plan and number of
study hours for each subject. The original must be signed by the University and
then translated to Italian.

Note – This year, students who did not undertake their university studies in English, were not
allowed to skip an year although they had studied most of the subjects previously in another
language. Bear in mind there is a chance this might happen again.

An ISEE form is used to show the University your family income and assets. This is important
because your fees are dependent on it. You can download an ISEE form the Sapienza
Website. Bear in mind you have to fill the ISEE form by converting your family income and
assets into euros. You will need to obtain a stamp from your Italian Consulate for the form to
be valid. Alternatively, if your country has an embassy in Rome, you could also get It done
from them, after you arrive in Rome. Once this certification step is complete you can take
your ISEE form to the HELLO office, and someone there will calculate your fees, and update
your infostud.

Note - This year, students who had a family income + assets over 90,000 euros were above
the limit to get any fee reductions. In this case you pay the full amount, and your listed as
‘non-dichiaro’ on infostud.
Once you submit these documents to the foreign students office, you will be given an
enrollment letter ( Or you could download it yourself, from infostud). You could take this
letter to the bank and pay by cash or alternatively pay online ( Ask the HELLO office for the
link).

Codice Fiscale

This is an alphanumerical tax code and is needed for the residence permit, to open a bank
account, get an Italian sim card (only some operators) etc.

To obtain this you could either,

1) Apply for one at your embassy/consulate where you applied for Visa. In case you
embassy doesn’t provide you with one or it is taking too late you could try the next
method.
2) If you get your travel visa well in advance to your travel date, you could send a
scanned copy of your passport and visa to infoecw@uniroma1.it . They will then email
you a copy of the application form and give further instructions. This option is better
than the next one if you do not know any Italian. The application form is in Italian and
this will give you some time to get some help from someone who knows the
language.
3) Go directly to the ‘agenzia dell entrata’ once you arrive in Rome. It is located on Via
Ippolito Nievo, 36. It is located about 500m from the Trastevere train station and can
be reached by tram line 8, bus line 3 or 780 which stop at piazza Ippolito Nievo. Or
you could take a metro on Line B towards Laurentina and get off at Piramide stop.
Then you cross the road to get to the bus stop to get bus 3B, and get off at Ippolito
Nievo.

Housing

As explained below, Non-Eu students need to apply for a residence permit within 8 days of
landing in Italy. For the application, you will need to a permanent address. You also need a
permanent address to apply for a codice fiscale.

If you’re not from Rome, and if you cannot speak Italian or if you don’t know anyone who
does, you may find it quite difficult to find suitable accommodation as soon as you arrive
(especially if you have to apply for the residency permit within 8 days of landing).

Reserving an apartment online, without checking them before hand, is not very safe, as
there is a high chance that you may be cheated out of your money.

Hence there are 2 services that you may be able to use in such a situation

 Sturent – This is a company that helps Sapienza students find apartments/rooms.

They let you search through their database based on your needs. Then you will be
able to meet with the landlords to discuss about anything. It is highly
 recommended. You will be able to find Sturent desks near the HELLO office from
October till November.

 Residenza conti/ Residenza Giulia – They have rooms with a price range from 500-
800/900 euros a month and offer private studios or rooms with shared bathroom
and kitchen (with only one other flat mate). They also have an English speaking
reception. They also offer a monthly contract which you could extend or terminate
at very short notice, so that you could move out to a better apartment once you
get your bearings of the city and once all paperwork is over.

However, they are quite far from the university (20-40 mins by tram), and they
are not very well connected. Inside the building is very secure, however, the
surrounding neighborhood is rundown and not very safe.

Vaccines

As soon as you enroll, they will give you documents about necessary vaccinations. You need
to show that you are protected against Tuberculosis and Hepatitis B. For the Tuberculosis
Mantoux exam, you can take this at the Infectious diseases department at Policlinico. The
test for Hepatitis B can be taken at any clinic. You will then need to post these results to an
address which will be specified.

Health insurance

You could either sign up for private health insurance or the Italian national health insurance.

The Italian national health insurance costs 150 euros and expires at the end of the year,
regardless of when you signed up for it.

Private health insurance is valid for 365 days from the time of payment and costs about 98
euros. There is an English speaking insurance office called Assitalia at Via Cesare Fracassini
13 (walking distance from flaminio metro station.) The only document you need is your
passport/ID card.

Residence permit

All non European foreigners that plan to reside in italy for a period greater than 3 months
must apply for a residence permit (permesso di soggiorno). Ideally and by definition, an
application for the residence permit should be made within 8 days of arriving in Italy.
However practically speaking, there have been many of our colleagues who applied for the
residence permit after the 8 day threshold, without facing any problems, and honestly, as
long as your study visa is valid, the lack of a permit shouldn’t be of any problem. Just
remember the ideal is within 8 days. Also, the sooner you get it done, the better it is as this
won’t be an added distraction once lectures start.
Procedure:

1) You have to start the process by going to any post office (there is a poste
italiane inside the university near Viale Regina Elena. It is open till around
2pm and another one in termini that opens past 7pm). You should ask for a
permesso di soggiorno kit (which is free of charge). Inside the kit you will find
all the instructions you need to fill up your form as well as the form itself.
(However, everything is in Italian, so unless you are familiar with the
language, you might need the help of a friend or if not just ask the hello
office. Alternatively you could also ask your embassy in Rome for
assistance).

2) As you will find out in the instruction booklet inside the residence permit
kit, you also need to make copies of things like your passport, student visa,
letter of enrollment to Sapienza, health insurance etc and attach these to
your application.

3) Once this is done, you will need to buy a Marca da bollo from any
tobacconist (called tabbacheria). You will find many around the piazza
bologna area close by to the university. It costs 16 euros and you have to
stick it on to the form.

4) Once you've done all this, you can to take your application back to the
post office and pay 30 euros for the postal service and 107.5 euros for the
procedure that will give you residency up to one year. There is a separate
form inside the kit for this.

5) Once you pay, the post office will give you a receipt as well as a letter with
the date and time for your appointment at the Immigration Office for
fingerprinting. Make sure you save all the documents given by the post office
as you will need all of these for your appointment.

6) Your appointment will be approximately a month from the date when you
posted your application. Along with the documents given by the post office,
you must also take 4 recent passport sized photographs. Also it would be
better to take copies of all the documents you posted (passport copy, copy of
student visa, letter of enrollment to sapienza, health insurance) along with a
copy of your contract of residence, bank balance etc, just to be safe.
7) The address of the Immigration Office is Questura di Roma – Divisione
Straineri, Via T. Teofilo Patini, 23, 00155 Roma. It would also be printed on
the letter given to you by the post office. The easiest route would be to take
the metro line B all the way to Rebibia. Then get a bus going towards the
Immigration Ofiice. Alternatively you could also ask by word of mouth or by
checking a mobile app such as:
Probus Rome/ Muoversi Roma or Google Maps

8) Please note that at the Questura, the queue for obtaining the residence permit
(at least at the time of writing) is the one on the outside of the building. The
uniformed guards will instruct you in what to do further.

9) Once you have given the fingerprints, the Questura will mail the residence permit
to the nearest police station (it is advised to ask it to be sent to the police station in
Sapienza for easy collection). You will be able to collect it from the post office after
approximately 45 days.

* In case you miss the appointment for fingerprinting, you have to get another date
by going to the Immigration Office, and explaining the situation to one of the people
behind the counters. This process itself is not so difficult, but your next appointment
will be about a month later, so try not to let this happen.

** You have to reapply for your residence permit for the next year, 60 days before
the expiration of your first residence permit.

Contacts:

International Office:
Sapienza University of Rome
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 2, 244, 00186, Rome, Italy (Level 2)
Opening hours: Monday – Friday 10 am – 1 pm

To schedule an appointment:
Phone: +39 06 4991 8598
Email: infoecw@uniroma1.it

Foreign Student Office:

Main Campus
Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma
Palazzo delle Segreterie – Scala C – 2nd Floor
Opening hours:
Monday-Wednesday-Friday: 08:30-12:00
Tuesday-Thursday: 14:30-16:30
Phone: +39 06 4991 2707, +39 06 4991 0651
Email: settorestudentistranieri@uniroma1.it
HELLO Office - information and orientation for International Students:
Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5
Palazzo del Rettorato (porticato aula Magna) 00185, Roma
Email: hello@uniroma1.it
Office hours: Monday – Friday 9:30 – 17:00

Student forum
http://ims-sapienza.com/

written by Nishika Pieris and Yashwanth Suresh (entry year 2014)

Note of the founder of ims-sapienza.com

Dear Nishika and Yash,

In our first year of medical school, my colleagues and I were so enthusiastic

about what we were doing that we literally felt the obligation to open a
website and tell the World how amazing our course was. Our student website
is believed to give a significant help to thousands of international applicants.
With this guide, you literally brought our work, which is now your work, to the
next level. We believe that you have the responsibility to mentor your future
colleagues. We are now certain that you will do it brilliantly.

Thank you so much by all of us.

With love,

Edoardo Trovato