How many days can I spend outside of Italy without losing my permesso di soggiorno?

Let’s start by clarifying one thing: you will not face any problem with your current permesso staying outside of Italy, but the authorities will deny the renewal of it if you overcome a certain period outside of Italy

So, how long is this period?

This period depends from the type of permesso you are holding:

• With a permesso of the duration of 1 year you cannot overcome 6 months in a row outside of Italy
• With a permesso of the duration of 2 or 3 years you cannot overcome 12 months in a row outside of Italy
• With the Carta di Soggiorno per familiare di cittadino UE/Italiano you cannot overcome 6 months in a row outside of Italy
• With the Long Term Permesso, the Permesso per lungo soggiornanti UE you cannot overcome 1 year in a row outside of the Schengen Area and you cannot overcome 6 years in a row outside of Italy

So that means that this period is considered only if it’s in continuous, that means that, if after 5 months outside of Italy you enter to Italy, the count will restart from 0 and you can leave again.

But I want to remind you, that if your goal is to obtain the long term permesso, one of the requirements to obtain it, is to not overcome in total 10 months outside of Italy during the 5 years before the application.

What If I had to stay outside for serious reasons?

If you overcome this period because you had to do military obligations or you had serious reasons (for example related to your health), you can renew your permesso if you can prove it.

Here you can find the law that states how many months you can stay outside of Italy.

Here you can find the law that states how many months you can stay outside of Italy and outside of the Schengen area, with the long term permesso