To register with the National Health Service you must go to the ASL (Local Health Office) in your place of residence or where you currently live (as indicated on your permit to stay). You must bring:

• personal identity card
• tax code number
• permit to stay
• self-certification of residence or abode (a reception centre where you have lived for more than three months can be considered habitual abode).

 While registering with the SSN you may choose your family doctor.

Registration validity

Registration is valid for the entire duration of the permit to stay and remains valid while the permit to stay is in the process of renewal: it can, therefore, also be renewed by submitting to ASL the documentation proving that application has been made to renew the permit to stay.

If the permit to stay has not been renewed, has been revoked, or if an expulsion order has been issued then the registration becomes no longer valid, unless the party concerned can provide evidence that he or she has lodged an appeal against the above measures.   

Your rights

On registering with the S.S.N., you will be given a Tesserino sanitario personale (Health Card) entitling holders to receive medical assistance either without payment or by paying a contribution (called a ticket), the amount of which may vary according to the region they live in. This medical assistance consists of check-ups in out-patient departments, specialist examinations, home visits, hospitalization, vaccinations, blood tests, X-ray examinations, ultrasound scans, medicines, rehabilitative and prosthetic treatment.