Who must issue the invitation letter?

The Italian company hosting the trip. The Mumbai Consulate General asks for the letter on the company’s letterhead, emailed to the consulate by the inviting company before submission, with a copy of the signatory’s ID and a recent visura camerale. Other offices may have their own instructions, so confirm with the office handling each file.

Can one covering letter name the whole team?

Yes. The Mumbai checklist asks for the covering letter to give the name and designation of the applicant and the other members travelling, so one letter can list the full delegation. Each traveller still lodges an individual application with their own documents.

Does the invitation letter or fair registration guarantee a visa?

No. Supporting documents help the file, but the Italian mission decides each case and may ask for additional documents or an interview.

Which bank statements and tax papers does the Mumbai checklist ask for?

Three months of original salary-account statements with the bank’s stamp and signature, ITR acknowledgements for the last three assessment years or Form 16A, and the last three salary slips. Proprietors give the company’s bank statements for the last two months and ITRs for three years. Confirm the list for your own office.

Italy Business Visa for Teams: Schengen Checklist & Offices

Q: Which visa do Indian employees need for a business trip to Italy?

A uniform Schengen visa (type C) with the purpose “business”. It allows a stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen Area. If paid work in Italy is planned, confirm the correct category with the Italian mission.

Q: Which Italian office should our company apply through?

The one whose published area covers the traveller’s state of residence. Italy has the Embassy in New Delhi and Consulates General in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru; each handles applications from residents of its own area. The table above lists the areas as the offices publish them.

Which visa fits a company trip to Italy

Short business trips use the uniform Schengen visa (type C), applied for under the purpose “business” (affari). A Schengen visa allows a stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period across the Schengen Area. It is meant for business meetings, fairs and similar activity; if any paid work in Italy is planned, check the correct category with the Italian mission first.

Italy’s network in India is the Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulates General in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru. Each office handles applications from residents of its own area, and the Italian mission alone decides the case. Applications can be submitted by appointment at the VFS Global visa application centres, which collect the documents; the Embassy and the Bengaluru consulate state that using the centres is not mandatory.

Check which office covers each traveller’s state of residence before you plan the team’s appointments — a mixed-state delegation can end up with files at more than one office.

Italian office	Residents of (as published by the office)
Embassy, New Delhi	Delhi, Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh
Consulate General, Mumbai	Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Consulate General, Kolkata	Eastern and north-eastern states including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (full list on the consulate’s page)
Consulate General, Bengaluru	Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Puducherry

Italy: company pack and traveller pack (Mumbai checklist)

Group files go wrong when the employer side and the traveller side are prepared separately. Use this split as a working checklist; the exact list for your category and each traveller is confirmed by the visa centre and the inviting party.

Company / employer pack

Covering letter on company letterhead, in original: name and designation of every traveller, travel dates, itinerary and duration of stay, details of the sponsor of the trip and the purpose of the visit
Name, designation and signature of the authorised signatory, with a copy of the signatory’s passport
Copy of the company registration certificate or memorandum of articles, and the company’s ITR for the last three years
Invitation letter from the Italian company on its letterhead — Mumbai asks the inviting company to email it to the consulate before the application is submitted
Copy of the passport or ID of the person in Italy who signs the invitation, and a recent visura camerale (chamber of commerce registration) of the inviting company — the Mumbai checklist sets a six-month limit
Hotel reservation covering the travel dates, mentioned in the invitation letter by the party bearing the expenses or submitted separately

Each traveller provides

Passport with no handwritten data or manual observations, valid at least 3 months after the return date, with at least 2 blank pages
Visa application form completed and signed twice, with 2 photographs and the travel dates and duration of stay filled in (applicant’s own contact details, not the agent’s)
Salary-account bank statements for 3 months in original with bank stamp and signature; ITR acknowledgements for the last three assessment years or Form 16A; last 3 salary slips
For proprietors: company bank statement for the last two months and ITRs for the last three years
Overseas medical insurance of €30,000 with a repatriation clause covering the travel period; return flight details; bookings for any other Schengen country on the itinerary
Copies of previous Schengen visas and of valid US and UK visas, if held

Source note on this checklist

The two lists above follow the Business Visa checklist of the Consulate General of Italy in Mumbai (revised July 2024). The Consulate General in Kolkata publishes its own Business Visa checklist; the New Delhi and Bengaluru offices point applicants to the Visto per l’Italia portal instead. Requirements can change, so treat this as a working template and confirm the current version for each traveller’s office. The mission may ask for additional documents or an interview.

How we run an Italy file across four Italian offices

Sort travellers by state of residence. The Embassy in New Delhi and the Consulates General in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru each accept applications only from residents of their own areas, so a mixed delegation can mean files at more than one office.
Brief the Italian host. The Mumbai checklist asks for a letter of invitation on company letterhead (emailed to the consulate by the inviting company before submission), a copy of the ID of the person signing it, and a visura camerale dated within six months of the travel date.
Build the Indian-side pack. One covering letter on letterhead naming every traveller and designation, the signatory’s passport copy, the company registration certificate and three years’ ITR.
Cross-check every file. Names, dates, hotel reservations and the €30,000 insurance with a repatriation clause must agree across all travellers; bookings for other Schengen countries on the route are needed too.
Book appointments and track. VFS centres are optional according to the Embassy and the Bengaluru consulate; the mission may still ask for more documents or an interview, and we relay each request.

Planning around an Italian trade fair

Italian events covered in detail on this site, with dates, venues and registration steps:

Timing, fees and processing

Under the Schengen rules, applications can be lodged no more than six months before the trip and, as a rule, at least 15 days before it. A normal decision takes up to 15 days, which can be extended to 45 days where a closer examination is needed. For a trade-fair delegation, build the schedule backwards from the show date: the invitation letter and company documents come first, because every traveller’s file depends on them.

The Schengen visa fee for adults is €90 (the European Commission lists lower amounts for children aged 6 to under 12 and certain other applicants), and a visa service centre may charge its own service fee on top. These figures are set at EU level and can change, so confirm them on the official pages below before you pay.

Figures can change; decisions are not guaranteed

The fee and timing figures above are taken from the European Commission’s Schengen pages and may change; a visa service centre may charge its own fee on top. The Italian mission decides each application, and neither an invitation nor a complete file guarantees a visa. Check the official sources below, or ask us to confirm the current position for your team.

What commonly delays a team application

Invitation letter not sent to the consulate before the application is submitted
An out-of-date visura camerale, or no copy of the signatory’s ID
Hotel bookings that do not cover all dates or the other Schengen countries on the itinerary
Handwritten or manually annotated passports, or fewer than 2 blank pages
Bank statements that are photocopies, or without bank stamp and signature
Insurance that does not cover the whole stay or carry a repatriation clause

Official sources

Last reviewed on 12 October 2026. Rules change — verify on the official sources before you apply.

Talk to our corporate team

Share your destination, travel dates and number of travellers and we will outline the route and document checklist for your team.

Email corporate@btwvisas.com or 9403460643 | 9730490449 | 9172791061.

Corporate Italy Visa Support for Trade Fairs and Business Teams