We are a family, husband & wife & 18yr old daughter wishing to retire to Northern Italy and our daughter would like to enrol in an English speaking Uni/College either to continue her degree in Business/Commerce that she is enrolled here in Australia or to learn Italian and then go on to a degree in Italy. We have been advised that she will need a student visa to stay any length of time in Italy and she wants to continue her degree anyway. Does anyone know of English speaking Uni/College in the northern part of Italy or a way to learn Italian to start with. She will need to do this full time to meet her Student Visa requirements. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Are you going to retire in Northern Italy or in Perpignan ?

The top university for Business/Commerce in Italy is the Bocconi in Milan. They even have degrees taught in English - see http://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/con...nance/?lang=en

Their international site is - http://www.unibocconi.eu/wps/wcm/con...tion+Tree/Home

If you are retiring I would not suggest living in Milan but somewhere on lake Como. Many people live in Como and work or study in Milan without any difficulty. My nephew has just completed his degree at the Bocconi and he has always lived in Como.

If you have more specific questions ask here or contact me direct - [email protected]

http://www.aacupi.org/

Thanks for your replies - our preference is Perpignan France, but as we learnt a bit of Italian years ago, we want to keep our options open as to whether it would be easier for us to move to Northern Italy. We are learning French at the moment until we come over. Won't hurt we don't think!! So just trying to find enough info to make a more informed decision.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Pros and cons between Perpignan/Northern Italy

Perpignan
Pros
It is your preference
You are learning French
House prices are probably less
Near sea
Cons
No English speaking university nearby or one offering business & commerce degree in English
Poor travel connections

Northern Italy (say Como)
Pro
Bocconi offers degree in English. Bocconi is generally rated as about the 15th best business school in Europe.
Good travel connections
May be a more appealing location for an 18 year old
The jump from French to Italian is not that difficult. When I first arrived 30 years ago I spoke no Italian and my French help considerably
Connections help with all applications!
Con
House prices probably more expensive
Not your preferred destination?

Maybe others can add or comment this list which I have also posted on the French forum for more visibility (future posters should consider doing the same or perhaps you - Original Poster - should re post tagging the article both Italy and France).

if you are from Oz, have you thought about your right to emigrate to France/Italy? generally, only EC citizens can do so of right.

annhig.. if one fulfills the requisites one can go live anywhere one chooses. The OP said that since her daughter is 18 she can not be considered a dependent and pulled onto their family visa.

One has to produce a lot of paper work, but it is not impossible to do, only time-comsuming and somewhat frustrating.

lin- my point exactly.

normally, if you are wishing to settle from outside the EC, you will need to show considerable wealth and as you say, the daughter will not be included even if the parents qualify.

if they are entitled to say, UK passports, the situation is different.

Hi thanks for all your replies - yes we will have to go through an Immigration Lawyer for ourselves to emigrate and we are researching and doing those things that are required but as mentioned our daughter can't come under our visa so that is our problem. But we have found that the Uni in Perpignan does have French language courses - took a lot of time trying to find it, but we have found that out now, so that will be good for her and then she will have to work out what degree she will go into afterwards. Thanks again

Hello?

I live in Europe and I don't have "considerable wealth" by American standards. I have enough to make sure the EU won't end up supporting me.

One really tires of reading all this on Fodor's. It is not as difficult as many of you believe to live in Europe.