The Italian Golden Visa, known as La Dolce Visa, was launched in 2017 to increase direct foreign investment in Italy.
However, it did not attract many high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) or investment migration companies as it was expected because of some decent reasons as reported by Christian Henrik Nesheim in Imidaily.
These reasons included the high minimum amount of investment, strict investment format, and on top of that the mandatory requirement of staying in Italy for at least half of the visa time.
Fortunately, based on a new revision of these laws by the Italian government, the Italian residency program (RBI) has been back in the game with its European counterparts since May 2019.
According to the recent decree or Decreto Rilancio, the minimum amount of investment has decreased to half of La Dolce Visa and there are various methods of investments available for investors.
Moreover, the mandatory physical residence in Italy is not required anymore.
All of these amendments have made the Italian Golden Residency scheme one of the cheapest and suitable residency programs in EU zone.
Although the absolute number of successful applicants is still low compared to other RBI programs, yet compared to the last year, there is a noticeable 300% growth in the number of applicants as illustrated in the figure below.
It will not be surprising that by this rise in the number of applications, more investment firms and applicants would be attracted to this program, as Italy already owns the third-largest economy of the eurozone.