INPS

The pension is intended for totally blind adults in financial difficulty with an income not exceeding the thresholds established annually by law.

Start date and duration

To be entitled to the financial allowance, the citizen must make a claim for recognition of their health conditions, by submitting a claim via the "Civilian invalidity - Submit claim for the recognition of health requirements” service.

Once the health and administrative requirements envisaged have been confirmed, the financial allowance is paid for 13 months starting from the first day of the month following the one in which the request was made or, in exceptional cases, from the date indicated by the relevant health authorities in the report of acknowledgement of the civilian invalidity sent by INPS.

The pension is disbursed to citizens over 67 years of age. It is not reversible.

What am I entitled to?

For 2020, the amount of the pension is € 310.17 for non-admitted blind persons and € 286.81 for admitted blind adults, and it is paid in 13 monthly payments.

The annual personal income limit is € 16,982.49.

In order to calculate the income requirement for the first payment, the interested party’s income for the current year is considered on a presumptive basis. For subsequent years, the income received in the calendar year in question is considered for pension calculations, whilst for other types of income, the amounts received in previous years are taken into account.

The pension amount, in certain income conditions, can be increased by a monthly amount provided for by law (supplement).

Requirements

The totally blind who meet the following health and administrative requirements are entitled to the irreversible pension:

• age;
• total blindness;
• in need of financial assistance;
• hold Italian citizenship;
• community foreign citizenship and registration at the registry office of the municipality of residence;
• non-EU citizenship and residence permit of at least one year pursuant to art. 41 TU immigration, without a long-stay permit;
• have a permanent and regular residence within the national territory.

The pension for the totally blind is compatible with other invalidity allowances on whatever basis. The pension is disbursed also in case of free admission.

When can I claim?

To receive the allowance, the disability must be confirmed in advance by a medical-legal consultant and the issuance of a health report.

It is therefore necessary to obtain an introductory medical certificate from a GP including the read code which should be entered in the health check claim and submitted to INPS using the “Civilian invalidity - Procedures for confirming health requirements (InvCiv2010)” service.

The confirmation process is complete after INPS has sent out the civilian invalidity report. This is sent either by registered mail with a return receipt or to a certified email (PEC) address (if provided by the applicant) and can be accessed via the on-line mailbox service.

Once the report has been received with recognition of the disability, the citizen must submit the AP70 form via the Civilian invalidity - Send socio-economic and income data for the granting of financial allowances service.

For submitting either the health check claim or the confirmation of socio-economic requirements (AP70 form), the citizen can independently use the on-line services available on the INPS portal, through the dedicated service. Alternatively, the claim may be submitted using the electronic services offered by patronage institutes.

How can I claim?

Once the introductory medical certificate and the read code have been obtained, the claim should be made to the INPS on-line using the dedicated service.

Alternatively, claims can be made via institutes for advice and social assistance or via Italian organisations for the disabled (ANMIC, ENS, UIC, ANFASS) using their telematic services.

With the exception of claims made by cancer patients, it is not possible to submit a new claim for the same allowance until the current one has been completed, or, in the event of a judicial appeal, until the final judgement has been reached.