In January 2011 came into force the Agreement of integration between foreigner and the State: a document, definitively approved on June 10th 2010 by the Council of Ministers in the wider Plan for integration in security "Identity and encounter", which changes the rules of entry into our country and with them the relations between foreign citizens and the Italian State.
Since integration can only be achieved by effective and thorough mastery of the Italian language, considered as the primary means of understanding and interpersonal contact, the Agreements binds the possibility to reside in our country to pass an Italian language test level A2.
In particular, the Ministerial Decree of 4th June 2010 identified the procedures for carrying out the test of knowledge of the Italian language that the foreign citizen will have to pass in order to obtain the permit of stay.
The provisions of the Decree, issued by the Minister of the Interior in consultation with the Minister of Education, University and Research, apply to foreign nationals applying for a residence permit and to their family members. On the other hand, they do not apply to children under the age of 14 and to those suffering from severe limitation on language learning, as attested by a public health facility.
The Italian language test, carried out by computer and structured on the understanding of short texts and ability to interact, will take place at the prefecture territorially competent according to the domicile of the applicant. The result of the test is communicated to the person concerned and inserted by the prefecture into the information system of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration of the Ministry of the Interior. If the test fails, the test may be repeated by making a new request.
For more information, read the decree.