Italy requires all immigrants to speak Italian for work visa

[Jaggy001]

Originally Posted by theunbrainwashed

Yes, but are they able to do it? Short of working in the same trades that illegal immigrants here do, and opening up your own pub (like so many Brits in Spain do), what kind of life is that? Same with the Polish taking up jobs with the Irish health service but can't speak English. How are you supposed to communicate with your patients? Plus, in France, they will not let any EU citizen practice medicine unless they graduated from a French medical university.

It depends what you want to do. For example, there is a region of Italy, South Tirol, which is mainly German speaking. That could be attractive for Germans. There are international companies where the lingua franca is English or the tourist industry where Italian may not be so necessary.

But all that is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the title of the thread is misleading. If you are an EU citizen then the Italian government cannot require Italian as a condition of residency. In practice you would want to speak some Italian but it is not a requirement.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by Jaggy001

Actually, EU citizens can live and work in Italy without a requirement to speak Italian.

Originally Posted by Jaggy001

It depends what you want to do. For example, there is a region of Italy, South Tirol, which is mainly German speaking. That could be attractive for Germans. There are international companies where the lingua franca is English or the tourist industry where Italian may not be so necessary.

But all that is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the title of the thread is misleading. If you are an EU citizen then the Italian government cannot require Italian as a condition of residency. In practice you would want to speak some Italian but it is not a requirement.

Ahh right. That was what I thought, because my fiancee is British and she has a few retired relatives living in Spain (that don't speak Spanish) and I'm aware of the difficulties they face as a result.

[oz in SC]

Would EU citizens be considered immigrants in the first place?