Services and professionals: finding your way
The GoNest directory lists relocation agencies, lawyers and accountants, language schools and coworking spaces. Lawyers and accountants are listed in public registers that can be checked; CAF and patronati offer free assistance. Beware of intermediaries who promise permits or residence for a fee.
Sections: Providers · Listings · Contacts · Requests
What the directory holds
GoNest's Services section lists, for each city, operators useful to newcomers: relocation agencies (housing search, paperwork, school placement), lawyers specialising in immigration and labour law, accountants and tax advisers for VAT numbers and foreign income, Italian schools and certification centres, coworking spaces, sworn translators, estate agencies. Inclusion in the directory is not a recommendation: GoNest checks that the operator exists and, where applicable, is registered with the professional body, and flags when a listing is paid. Reviews, where present, are by users.
How to check a professional
In Italy many professions are 'ordinistiche': they can be practised only with registration in a register kept by a professional body, after a degree, traineeship and State exam. Lawyers are registered with the Bar Council (Ordine degli Avvocati) of their city, searchable online, and the Consiglio Nazionale Forense keeps the single national register; accountants are in the CNDCEC register, with a public member search; notaries, surveyors, architects, engineers, doctors and labour consultants have similar registers. Check registration before engaging anyone, ask for a written quote (mandatory for lawyers) and keep receipts. 'Immigration consultant' is not a regulated profession: someone doing it without being a lawyer can fill in forms but cannot represent you in court.
Free help: CAF, patronati, desks
Many procedures do not need a paid professional. CAFs (tax assistance centres), run by unions and associations, prepare tax returns, ISEE and benefit applications at no or low cost. Patronati, recognised by the Ministry of Labour and publicly funded, assist free of charge with INPS procedures (pensions, child allowance, invalidity), residence permits and family reunification, often with multilingual staff. Municipal and association immigration desks, trade unions for labour disputes, the Universities for Foreigners and the CPIA for language complete the public or free network. The Ministry of Labour's Portale Integrazione Migranti maps local services.
Unlicensed intermediaries
No intermediary can 'sell' a residence permit, a residence registration, a codice fiscale or a Questura appointment: these procedures are free or have fixed statutory costs and are done only in public offices or through official channels. Warning signs are requests for cash without a receipt, promises of guaranteed timing for a permit, requests to hand over the original passport, paid 'convenience' employment or lease contracts, room listings asking for payment before a viewing. Victims of such abuse can report to the police or carabinieri, also through unions and associations, without the report affecting their residence status.
Sources
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Updated: 2026-10-14
Reviewed: 10/23/2026 · by piero.avolio · rev. 1 · Period: → 2027-04-30
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