Italy: How many work permits will be granted in 2023?

Newswire

Rome: Italy’s government is working on the next annual decree governing how many and which types of workers will be allowed to move to Italy next year for employment reasons.

At the end of every year, the Italian Labour Ministry publishes the next year’s decreto flussi, which translates as ‘flows decree’; the piece of legislation which governs the number of work permits available to those coming to Italy from outside of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA).

The government has not yet confirmed any details about the next decree, but the number of permits available is widely expected to be cut under the new Italian government, which has a strongly nationalist, anti-immigration stance.

Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, confirmed on Saturday that the government was working on a “strategy” for the 2023 decreto flussi, which is expected to be published at the end of December.

“We would like to have workers arrive in our country already trained” and with a job already lined up, he told reporters.

The Italian government is expected to offer a larger quota of work permits to countries that agree to sign repatriation agreements with Italy for irregular migrants, according to reports in Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The new decree is also expected to extend some types of work permit to two or three years – rather than permits having to be renewed after one year, as is currently the case.

It’s hoped that this change could ease the workload at Italian government offices which have reportedly faced problems in processing work permit applications due to a chronic shortage of staff.

The number of permits available to different categories of worker is subject to change under each decree, but the government has not given any indication as to which groups may be allocated a greater or lower number of permits this time.

The last decree, covering work permit applications for 2022, sharply increased the number of foreign workers allowed to come to Italy, to a total of 69,700, up from 30,000 in 2021.

Most of those permits (42,000) were for temporary seasonal workers, such as those working in agriculture or tourism.

However, the number of permits issued for some categories, such as self-employed workers, did not increase at all in 2022.

Applications for work permits usually open at the end of January. Further details about the application process for 2023 will be available when the new decreto flussi is published.

Getting one of these permits is just the start. As a non-EEA citizen, there are three main documents you’ll need to live and work in Italy: a work permit (nulla osta), a work visa (visto) and a residence permit (permesso di soggiorno).

Find out more information about the types of Italian work visa available here.