Short answer
Italian family reunification starts in Italy, not in Pakistan. Your family member applies online to the Sportello Unico per l Immigrazione for a nulla osta, which is to be issued within 150 days, and the prefecture checks their residence permit, their income and their housing. Only once that clearance exists do you apply in Pakistan for a national type D visa for family reasons.
Why is this decided in two places?
Italian family reunification splits the checks between two authorities, and families who do not understand that lose months applying in the wrong order.
What the prefecture checks
The first stage is handled by the Sportello Unico per l Immigrazione at the prefecture. It verifies the objective requirements: that the sponsor holds a permit that allows reunification, that the income reaches the threshold, and that the housing is certified as suitable. The outcome of that stage is the nulla osta.
What the consulate checks
The second stage is handled by the Italian mission in Pakistan. It verifies the personal requirements, which are the family relationships themselves, and issues the entry visa. A consulate does not re-run the income test, and a prefecture does not decide whether your Nikah Nama is convincing.
What that means in practice
Nothing useful happens in Pakistan until the nulla osta exists. An agent who takes money to start your visa file before the prefecture has even been approached is selling you waiting, not progress.
Who can sponsor, and which relatives can come?
Not every permit holder in Italy can bring family, and not every relative qualifies.
The sponsor
Reunification is open to holders of an EU long term residence card, an EU Blue Card, and a residence permit of at least one year issued for reasons such as work, family, study, asylum or protection. Someone whose permit is shorter than a year, or who is still waiting for a first permit, is not in a position to start.
The relatives
- a spouse who is 18 or over;
- minor children, including the other spouse’s children, where the other parent consents;
- adult children only where they are totally unable to support themselves because of a disability;
- parents who are dependent, where a parent under 65 has no other children in the home country, and where a parent over 65 meets stricter conditions including health insurance.
Protection status changes the test
Where the sponsor is a beneficiary of international protection, the income and housing requirements do not bite in the same way. The family relationship still has to be proved, and that is often the harder half for a family whose documents are in Pakistan.
How much income does the sponsor need?
This is the number that decides most cases, and it is not a fixed figure in the law. It is tied to the Italian social allowance, which changes every year.
The rule
The sponsor must show a lawful annual income of at least the yearly assegno sociale, increased by half of that amount for each family member being reunited. Where two or more children under fourteen are being reunited, the law asks for twice the yearly assegno sociale. Income of cohabiting family members can be counted if it is documented.
The 2026 figure
As of 20 October 2026, INPS set the assegno sociale for 2026 at 546.24 euros for thirteen months, which is 7,101.12 euros a year, against 7,002.97 euros in 2025. The figures below follow from that arithmetic.
| Who is being reunited | How the law counts it | Annual income needed |
|---|---|---|
| One family member | Assegno sociale plus half | EUR 10,651.68 |
| Two family members | Assegno sociale plus half for each | EUR 14,202.24 |
| Three family members | Assegno sociale plus half for each | EUR 17,752.80 |
| Two or more children under 14 | Twice the yearly assegno sociale | EUR 14,202.24 |
Read the threshold honestly
The assegno sociale is revalued each year, and the 2026 amount is provisional until the following year’s adjustment. Work out the figure for the year your family member actually files, and check that payslips and the tax return support it. A sponsor who is just above the line on paper, with irregular work behind it, is in a weaker position than the number suggests.
What does the housing certificate involve?
Italy tests the house, not just the household. The municipal offices where your family member lives certify that the accommodation meets the hygiene and sanitary requirements and is suitable for the number of people who will live there.
What the municipality looks at
- the floor area against the minimum standards for the number of occupants;
- the hygiene and sanitary condition of the property;
- the tenancy or ownership documents behind the address;
- who is already registered as living there.
The six month rule, twice
The certificate is normally accepted only if it is no more than six months old, and a rental contract is usually expected to run at least six months beyond the date of the application. A family that gets the certificate early and then takes a year over the rest of the file ends up paying for it twice.
The nulla osta and its 150 days
The application is filed online through the Ministry of the Interior portal and goes to the Sportello Unico at the prefecture. The nulla osta is to be issued within 150 days of the request.
What that deadline means
One hundred and fifty days is five months, and that is before the visa stage in Pakistan has begun. Families regularly budget for a three month process and are then surprised. Plan for the clearance and the visa as two separate waits, not one.
What the clearance is not
A nulla osta is not a visa and not a promise of one. The consulate still decides whether the family relationship is proved, and an inconsistency between the Pakistani documents and the declaration filed in Italy can sink an application that the prefecture already cleared.
Documents, translation and the apostille
Pakistani civil documents have to be understandable and verifiable in Italy. That means an official translation into Italian and an apostille.
The usual list
- the completed visa application form and photographs;
- a passport valid for at least three months beyond the visa you are asking for;
- the nulla osta issued by the Sportello Unico;
- NADRA birth and marriage registration certificates, translated and apostilled;
- the Nikah Nama with a translation;
- for a minor travelling without both parents, the consent of the other parent, translated and apostilled.
Keep the two files consistent
The declaration your family member signs in Italy and the documents you hand over in Pakistan have to describe the same family. Different spellings of the same name across a CNIC, a passport and a Nikah Nama are the most common source of trouble, and they are fixable before you file rather than after.
The visa stage in Pakistan
With the nulla osta in hand, the applicant applies in Pakistan for a national type D visa for family reasons.
Appointments
As of 20 October 2026, the Embassy in Islamabad has announced that since 1 April 2025 family reunification applications go through a waiting list operated by its external provider, BLS International, with appointments assigned in chronological order according to daily availability. Family members of Italian and EU citizens resident in the district are directed to request an appointment by certified email instead.
Fees
The Embassy publishes a tariff table and says consular tariffs change every three months. The table I could read listed 116 euros for a long stay national visa, 90 euros for a short stay visa and 50 euros for a national study visa, and it was marked valid until 31 March 2026. That window has passed, so read the current table on the Embassy page before you budget, and do not accept an agent’s number as the official one.
What if your family member is an Italian or EU citizen?
This is a different and much lighter route, and families on it are often pushed through the heavier one by mistake.
The June 2024 announcement
The Embassy in Islamabad announced that from 1 June 2024, foreign family members of Italian or EU citizens who wish to join a family member stably resident in Italy are issued a national type D visa for family reasons. For the family members covered by article 2 of Legislative Decree 30 of 2007, the nulla osta is not required and the visa is free of charge. Other relatives fall under article 3 and are handled differently.
Why it matters
No nulla osta means no five month prefecture stage and no income and housing test in that form. If your husband, wife or parent in Italy holds Italian or another EU citizenship, say so at the first conversation. It changes the route, the cost and the timeline.
How do you apply, step by step?
The order below keeps the two stages in the right sequence, which is where most of the wasted time comes from.
Check that the sponsor in Italy can apply at all
Family reunification is for holders of an EU long term residence card, an EU Blue Card, or a residence permit of at least one year issued for work, family, study, asylum or protection. A person waiting for a first permit, or holding a short permit, cannot start the process. Refugees and holders of subsidiary protection follow a lighter route.
Work out the income figure before anything else
The sponsor needs a lawful annual income of at least the yearly assegno sociale, increased by half of that amount for each family member being reunited. For two or more children under fourteen, the law asks for twice the yearly assegno sociale. Work out your own figure for the year you apply in, and check it against payslips and the tax return.
Get the housing suitability certificate
The sponsor applies to the municipal offices where they live for a certificate that the accommodation meets the hygiene and sanitary requirements and is big enough for the number of people who will live in it. The certificate is normally accepted only if it is no more than six months old, and a rental contract usually has to run at least six months beyond the application.
File the nulla osta application online
The sponsor files the application through the Ministry of the Interior portal, addressed to the Sportello Unico per l Immigrazione at the prefecture. The Sportello Unico checks the objective requirements, which are the permit, the income and the housing, and the nulla osta is to be issued within 150 days of the request.
Legalise and translate the Pakistani documents
Birth, marriage and family certificates issued in Pakistan have to be translated into Italian and carry an apostille. Where a child travels without both parents, the consent of the other parent is also translated and apostilled. Start this while the nulla osta is still with the prefecture, because it is slow.
Book the appointment and apply for the type D visa
With the nulla osta issued, the applicant in Pakistan books through the external provider the Embassy in Islamabad uses, and attends with the form, photographs, a passport with at least three months of validity beyond the visa, the nulla osta and the civil documents. The consulate checks the family relationship and decides the visa.
What goes wrong most often?
Starting in Pakistan
Everything useful begins with the nulla osta in Italy. Paying an agent in Lahore to open a file before the prefecture has been approached buys nothing but a receipt.
Using last year’s income figure
The threshold tracks the assegno sociale and moves every year. A family that works to the 2025 number can fall short in 2026 by a few hundred euros, which is enough.
A housing certificate that has gone stale
Six months passes quickly when the rest of the file is slow. Get the certificate when the application is genuinely close to filing, not the day the idea is first discussed.
Missing the EU route
Families of Italian citizens have been pushed through the ordinary reunification process, paying for a clearance the announcement says is not required and a visa that should have been free.
Documents that do not match
A name on the Nikah Nama that differs from the passport, or a birth date that differs between NADRA and a school record, is read as a reason for doubt. Fix it in Pakistan before the file leaves the country.
A realistic example
This is a hypothetical illustration, not a real client. Imran has lived in Brescia for six years and holds an EU long term residence card. He wants to bring his wife Ayesha and their two sons, aged nine and eleven, from Faisalabad.
- The arithmetic. Three family members on the 2026 assegno sociale means 7,101.12 euros plus half for each, which is 17,752.80 euros a year. Because two of them are children under fourteen, he also checks the twice the assegno sociale rule and works to the higher of the two figures.
- The house. He asks the comune in Brescia for the housing suitability certificate, having first confirmed his tenancy runs well past the application date.
- The clearance. He files online to the Sportello Unico and is told the nulla osta is to be issued within 150 days. He treats that as five months, not as a worst case.
- In Faisalabad. Ayesha orders NADRA birth and marriage registration certificates, has them translated into Italian and apostilled, and keeps the Nikah Nama with its translation.
- The appointment. With the nulla osta issued, she joins the waiting list through the Embassy’s external provider and waits for the slot that comes in chronological order.
- The visa. She attends with one consistent story, the passport with enough validity, and every document the published list names.
The version that goes wrong
Imran’s neighbour is an Italian citizen of Pakistani origin. An agent charges his brother in Gujranwala for a full reunification package, including help with a nulla osta application that the Embassy’s own announcement says is not required for family members under article 2 of Legislative Decree 30 of 2007, and a visa fee for a visa that is free in that category. Nobody checked the citizenship at the first meeting. That single question would have saved months and a lot of money. If you are comparing routes across Europe, the Schengen visit visa guide explains why a short stay visa is not an alternative to this process.
Key takeaways
- Italian family reunification is decided in two places: the prefecture issues the nulla osta, the consulate issues the visa.
- The nulla osta is to be issued within 150 days of the request, which is before the visa stage in Pakistan starts.
- The income threshold is the yearly assegno sociale plus half for each family member, and INPS set the 2026 assegno sociale at EUR 7,101.12 a year.
- On that figure one family member needs EUR 10,651.68 a year and two need EUR 14,202.24.
- Housing is tested by a municipal suitability certificate, normally no more than six months old.
- Family members of Italian and EU citizens under article 2 of Legislative Decree 30/2007 need no nulla osta and the visa is free of charge.
- Pakistani civil documents must be translated into Italian and apostilled, and the Embassy runs family reunification appointments through a waiting list.
Frequently asked questions
What is the nulla osta, and who applies for it?
It is the clearance issued by the Sportello Unico per l Immigrazione at the prefecture where your family member lives in Italy. They apply for it, not you, through the Ministry of the Interior portal. It is to be issued within 150 days of the request. Without it, an ordinary family reunification visa application in Pakistan has nothing to stand on.
How much income does my family member in Italy need?
The rule is a lawful annual income of at least the yearly social allowance, the assegno sociale, increased by half of that amount for each family member to be reunited. For two or more children under fourteen, it is twice the yearly assegno sociale. INPS set the assegno sociale at 546.24 euros for thirteen months in 2026, which is 7,101.12 euros a year.
So what is the actual figure for one spouse in 2026?
On the 2026 assegno sociale of 7,101.12 euros a year, the figure for a single family member works out at 10,651.68 euros, and for two family members at 14,202.24 euros. The assegno sociale is revalued each year, so check the figure for the year the application is filed rather than copying an old one from a forum.
Can the income of other people in the household count?
Income of cohabiting family members can be counted towards the threshold, provided it is documented. In practice that means payslips, contracts and tax returns, not a declaration. Where the sponsor is self employed, the prefecture looks at the tax position rather than at a promise of future earnings.
What does the housing certificate involve?
The municipal offices certify that the accommodation meets hygiene and sanitary requirements and is large enough for the number of occupants, measured against minimum floor area standards. The certificate is usually required to be no more than six months old, and a tenancy is expected to run for at least six months beyond the application.
Which relatives can be reunited?
A spouse aged 18 or over, minor children with the consent of the other parent where that applies, and adult children only where they are totally unable to support themselves because of a disability. Parents can be included under conditions: under 65 they must have no other children in the home country and be dependent, and over 65 the rules are stricter and health insurance is required.
Do refugees have to prove income and housing?
No. Where the sponsor is a beneficiary of international protection, the income and housing tests do not apply in the same way. The family relationship still has to be proved, and documents from Pakistan still have to be translated and legalised. This is one of the few genuinely lighter routes in Italian family reunification.
My wife is an Italian or EU citizen. Is it the same process?
No. Since 1 June 2024 the Embassy in Islamabad has announced that foreign family members of Italian or EU citizens joining a family member stably resident in Italy are issued a national type D visa for family reasons. For the family members covered by article 2 of Legislative Decree 30/2007, no nulla osta is required and the visa is free of charge. Other relatives fall under article 3 and are handled differently.
How do appointments work at the Embassy in Islamabad?
Since 1 April 2025 the Embassy has run family reunification appointments through a waiting list operated by its external provider, BLS International, with appointments assigned in chronological order according to daily availability. Family members of Italian and EU citizens resident in the district are told to request the appointment by certified email instead. Check the current notice before paying anyone for a slot.
How much is the visa fee?
The Embassy publishes a tariff table that it says changes every three months, and the table I could read listed 116 euros for a long stay national visa, 90 euros for a short stay visa and 50 euros for a national study visa, valid until 31 March 2026. Because that window has passed, check the current table on the Embassy page rather than relying on this figure.
Do Pakistani documents need an apostille for Italy?
Yes, the document lists published by the Embassy ask for translated and apostilled civil documents, including the consent of the other parent where a minor travels. Pakistan joined the Hague Apostille Convention, so a Pakistani apostille is the route rather than old style double legalisation. Build time for this into the plan.
Can Ch. Bilal Rasheed handle an Italian family reunification?
He offers a consultation and general guidance on the documents, the sequence and what the published rules say. He is an ICEF-accredited education consultant and an immigration advisor in Pakistan, not an Italian lawyer, and the nulla osta stage happens in Italy. Nobody can guarantee a visa, and the prefecture and the consulate each decide their own part.
