u/bruceww10

Situation:
\- UK citizen
\- My partner is an Italian citizen. We have been together for 7+ years. We lived together for the last 3-4 years. She moved back to Italy about a year ago to get re-settled.
\- We're not married. I'd like to join her in Italy, planning to arrive around September 2027.
\- We have documents showing our shared life, including our partnership visa for Australia, rental leases, car insurance and holiday flights etc.

My questions:

1. Can I apply for a permit as the unmarried partner of an Italian citizen, and can I start before getting to Italy, or only after arriving?
2. If I arrive as a visitor (up to 90 days), can I register and apply in that time? How do you deal with municipalities that won't register a partner who has no permit yet?
3. Would a long-stay study visa for an Italian language course be a sensible first step, and can that permit later be converted to a partner
4. Has anyone been in a similar situation and found a work around if the above aren’t possible?

Thanks in advance!