To apply to INPS for NASpI or the assegno unico, see your data at the Agenzia delle Entrate or enrol your children in school online, you need a digital identity: SPID or the electronic identity card (CIE). For foreign citizens the easiest path almost always starts at the Comune.
Step one: the electronic identity card
Most SPID providers ask for an Italian identity document: the residence permit on its own is usually not enough. If you are a registered resident, you can apply for the CIE at your Comune’s registry office (anagrafe).
- Requirements: registered residence in the Comune and a valid residence permit; if it has expired, you need the receipt of your renewal application.
- Bring: your permit (or receipt), a recent passport photo and your tessera sanitaria with the codice fiscale.
- Cost: about €22–23; some Comuni charge a little more.
- For non-EU citizens the card is marked “non valida per l’espatrio”: it cannot be used to travel, but in Italy it is a valid identity document.
With the CIE, its PIN and the free CieID app you can already log in to public-administration websites, even without SPID. Keep the PIN and PUK codes you receive with the card in a safe place.
Then SPID
- Choose a provider from the list on the official website spid.gov.it.
- You need: a valid Italian identity document, your tessera sanitaria, and an email address and mobile number of your own.
- Identification is done in person, by webcam (often for a fee) or by yourself using the CIE.
- Cost: since 1 January 2026 Poste Italiane’s SPID costs €6 a year when you renew; the first year is free if you activate it now, and renewal stays free for under-18s, over-75s and people living abroad. Other providers have different prices.
Be careful
SPID and CIE work like your signature: never give your login details to an agency or middleman who “does the paperwork for you”. With your credentials someone can file applications and change data in your name. If you can’t manage on your own, a patronato or CAF can submit INPS applications for you with a written authorisation, without needing your passwords.
Need help? Contact the BIMAS help desk.
