Skip to content As announced in Press release No. 140 of September 4, 2025, the Council of Ministers has approved a new decree-law.
This decree provides for urgent measures for the regular entry of non-EU citizens and workers. The goal is to fight the illegal employment of foreign labor. In addition, the government aims to ensure greater efficiency of the immigration offices, for the benefit of workers and employers.
Main changes
The changes concern the work permit obtainment procedures and timing, the duration of certain residence permits, and the permitted activities.
Procedures and timing for the nullaosta obtainment
One of the main changes is a revision of the deadline for the adoption of work permits for subordinate employment. In fact, this deadline now starts from the entry quota allocation, and not from the date of the application submission.
In addition, the decree established the work permit applications pre-filling procedure for foreign workers, including season workers. It also confirms the limit on the number of applications – a maximum of 3 nullaosta applications by employers (private users).
Furthermore, the decree extends the checks on the employers’ statements accuracy when pre-filling permit applications to the following categories:
- Entry for employment in special cases:
- Volunteering;
- Research permits;
- Highly skilled foregin workers;
- Intra-company transfers.
Finally, with regards to family reunification, the law extends the nullaosta release deadline from 90 days to 150 days. This is in line with the nine-month deadline provided for by the European legislation.
Duration of residence permits and permitted activities
With regards to conversions, the decree extends the workers’ right to reside in Italy and carry out temporary work to the cases where workers are awaiting conversion of their residence permit. This is in addition to the cases already provided for by the law.
Furthermore, the new law extends the residence permit duration for foreigners who are victims of labor exploitation from 6 to 12 months. For systematic consistency, it also extends the duration of residence permits for social protection from 6 to 12 months, as it is already the case for victims of domestic violence.
The decree permanently sets out of the quota system the entry of workers in the family or social-healthcare sector, for the case of people with disabilities or the older people. During the first 12 months of actual legal employment in Italy, such workers may only carry out the authorized activity and they may change employers only with the labor inspectorate’s prior authorization.
Finally, it establishes that the ministerial decree setting the quotas for young foreigners who want to participate in voluntary programs of general interest and social utility will be issued every three years rather than annually.