Decreto Flussi 2022 Announced by Italian Government (Quota 69,700)

Italy goes big and extremely big as the Decreto Flussi 2022 eventually comes into reality. The wait is finally over as Prime minister Mario Draghi signed the Decreto Flussi draft on 23 December. This decree concerning the transitional programming of entry flows of non-EU workers for seasonal and non-seasonal work in Italy has been signed for the year 2022.

Quota for Decreto Flussi 2021

According to this, non-EU citizens are admitted to Italy, from January 2022, within a maximum quota of 69,700 units. The quotas will be divided between the regions and the autonomous provinces, by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies. With a special circular from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies to the National Labor Inspectorate, indications will be given on the investigation of these requests.

Out of the maximum quota of 69,700, non-EU citizens within a quota of 42,000 are admitted in Italy for seasonal subordinate work in the agricultural and tourism-hotel sectors. Furthermore, within the same quota for seasonal subordinate work, for the agricultural sector alone, a quota of 14,000 units is reserved for non-EU workers, whose applications for authorization are presented, in the name and on behalf of the employers, by the following professional employer organizations: Cia – Coldiretti – Confagricoltura – Copagri – Alliance of cooperatives (includes Lega cooperative and Confcooperative).

The text of the decree, discussed on 23 December 2021 in the Council of Ministers, provides for the entry of 70 thousand workers, more than double the figure provided for in the latest similar decrees. However, the door remains open for an additional measure, so as to increase the number of workers. A quota is foreseen for the entrances of seasonal workers in the agricultural and tourism-hotel sectors; another share is reserved for the self-employed.

The conversion into residence permits for subordinate work of 4,400 residence permits for seasonal work is also authorized.

Decreto Flussi 2022 Opening dates

The submission by an Italian or foreign employer legally resident in Italy, of the request for the permit for the recruitment of a non-EU worker, represents the moment of initiation of the entire procedure.

Starting from 9:00 on 12 January 2022, the application for the pre-filling of the application forms will be available at https://nullaostalavoro.dlci.interno.it , which will be transmitted, exclusively with the usual telematic methods.

Applications can be sent starting from:

Non-seasonal workers

  • from 9:00 am on January 27, 2022 for the hiring of non-seasonal workers, for self-employed workers and for conversions.

These questions also include those for non-seasonal workers in the road transport, construction, and tourism sectors relating to citizens of countries that have signed cooperation agreements on migration with Italy. On the other hand, for citizens of those countries whose migration cooperation agreement is not yet in force,  applications can only be sent starting from the fifteenth day following the publication of the cooperation agreement in the Official Gazette.

Seasonal workers

  • from 9:00 on 1 February 2022 for the hiring of seasonal workers.

Like last year, the necessary prerequisite for the compilation and electronic submission of applications is the possession of a SPID identity, as illustrated by the Ministry of the Interior Circular no. 3738 of 4 December 2018 using, if possible, the same email address used for the SPID identity, as the username.

During the compilation and forwarding of questions, assistance is provided to users through a help desk service, which can provide technical information and can be reached via a request for assistance form using the  “Help Desk” link on the home page of the application, available to all registered users.

All applications can be submitted until March 17, 2022, and will be processed on the basis of the respective chronological order of submission.

Decreto Flussi 2022 Eligible Countries List

  • Albania,
  • Algeria,
  • Bangladesh,
  • Bosnia-Herzegovina,
  • Korea (Republic of Korea),
  • Ivory Coast,
  • Egypt,
  • El Salvador,
  • Ethiopia,
  • Philippines,
  • Gambia,
  • Ghana,
  • Japan,
  • Guatemala,
  • India,
  • Kosovo,
  • Mali,
  • Morocco,
  • Mauritius,
  • Moldova,
  • Montenegro,
  • Niger,
  • Nigeria,
  • Pakistan,
  • The Republic of North Macedonia,
  • Senegal,
  • Serbia,
  • Sri Lanka,
  • Sudan,
  • Tunisia,
  • Ukraine

Decreto Flussi 2022 Eligible Sectors

  • Freight transport on behalf of third parties,
  • Construction,
  • Tourism
  • Agricultural and seasonal work

Below you can read a complete overview of the Decreto Flussi of the current year to be implemented from January 2022.

Article 1

By way of transitional programming of entry flows of non-EU workers for the year 2021, non-EU citizens are admitted to Italy for seasonal and non-seasonal subordinate work and self-employment reasons within a maximum overall quota of 69,700 units.

Article 2

Non-EU citizens are admitted in Italy, within the maximum quota indicated in Article 1, for reasons of non-seasonal subordinate work and self-employment, within a quota of 27,700 units.

Article 3

As part of the quota indicated in Article 2, 20,000 citizens of countries that have signed up or are about to sign up are admitted to Italy for non-seasonal subordinate work in the sectors of freight transport on behalf of third parties, construction, and hotel tourism. Signed specific cooperation agreements on migration, divided as follows:

a) n. 17,000 non-seasonal employees citizens of Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Korea (Republic of Korea), Ivory Coast, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Philippines, Gambia, Ghana, Japan, Guatemala, India, Kosovo, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Republic of North Macedonia, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine;

b) n. 3,000 non-seasonal subordinate workers who are citizens of countries with which cooperation agreements on migration come into force in the year 2022.

Article 4

As part of the quota indicated in Article 2, 100 non-EU foreign citizens residing abroad who have completed training and education programs in their countries of origin pursuant to Article 23 of Legislative Decree 25 July 1998 are admitted to Italy. , no. 286.
It is also allowed the entry into Italy, within the quota indicated in article 2, for reasons of non-seasonal subordinate work and self-employment, of 100 workers of Italian origin on the part of at least one of the parents up to the third degree in direct line of ancestry, residents of Venezuela.

As part of the quota provided for in Article 2, the conversion into residence permits for subordinate work is authorized for:
a) n. 4,400 residence permits for seasonal work;
b) n. 2,000 residence permits for study, internship, and/or professional training;
c) n. 200 EU residence permits for long-term residents issued to third-country nationals by another member state of the European Union.

The conversion into residence permits for self-employment of:

a) n. 370 residence permits for study, internship, and/or professional training;
b) n. 30 EU residence permits for long-term residents, issued to third-country nationals by another member state of the European Union.

Article 5

500 non-EU citizens residing abroad, belonging to the following categories, are allowed to enter Italy for self-employment, within the quota provided for in Article 2:


a) entrepreneurs who intend to implement an investment plan of interest to the Italian economy, which provides for the use of their own resources of no less than 500,000 euros, as well as the creation of at least three new jobs;

b) freelancers who intend to exercise regulated or supervised professions, or unregulated but represented at national level by associations registered in lists kept by public administrations;

c) holders of corporate administration and control positions expressly provided for by the interministerial decree of 11 May 2011, no. 850;

d) artists of clear fame or of high and well-known professional qualification, hired by public or private bodies, in the presence of the requirements expressly provided for by the interministerial decree of 11 May 2011, n. 850;

e) foreign citizens who intend to set up “innovative start-up” companies pursuant to law no. 221, in the presence of the requirements of the same law and who are holders of an independent employment relationship with the company.

Article 6

Decreto Flussi SeasonalWork Quota:

Within the maximum quota indicated in Article 1, non-EU citizens residing abroad within a quota of 42,000 units are admitted in Italy for seasonal subordinate work in the agricultural and tourism-hotel sectors.

The quota indicated in paragraph 1 of this article concerns non-EU seasonal workers who are citizens of the countries indicated in article 3, paragraph 1, letter a) of this decree.
As part of the quota indicated in paragraph 1 of this article, a quota of 1,000 units is reserved for non-EU workers, citizens of the countries indicated in article 3, paragraph 1, letter a), who have entered Italy to lend seasonal subordinate work at least once in the previous five years and for which the employer submits a request for a multi-year permit for seasonal subordinate work.

As part of the quota indicated in paragraph 1 of this article, a quota of 14,000 units is also reserved for the agricultural sector to non-EU workers, citizens of the countries indicated in article 3, paragraph 1, letter a), whose requests authorization to enter Italy for seasonal work, including long-term work, are presented by the professional organizations of the employers of Cia, Coldiretti, Confagricoltura, Copagri, Alleanza Delle cooperative (Lega cooperative and Confcooperative). These organizations undertake to supervise the conclusion of the procedure for hiring workers until the actual signing of the respective employment contracts, including the communication requirements required by current legislation.

Article 7

The terms for submitting applications pursuant to this decree run as follows:

a) for the categories of non-EU workers indicated in Article 3, paragraph 1, letter a) and Article 4, from 9.00 on the tenth day following the date of publication of this decree in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic;

b) for seasonal non-EU workers provided for in Article 6, from 9.00 on the fifteenth day following the date of publication of this decree in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic;

c) for the categories of non-EU workers referred to in Article 3, paragraph 1, letter b), from 9.00 on the fifteenth day following the publication of the agreement referred to in the aforementioned provision in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic.

Within the limit of the quota referred to in Article 1, applications for work permits submitted within two months of the date of publication of this decree in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic are allowed.

Article 8

  1. The quotas for seasonal and non-seasonal subordinate work, provided for in this decree, are divided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies between the territorial labor inspectorates, the regions and the autonomous provinces.

After ninety days from the date of publication of this decree in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic, if the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies detects significant unused shares among those provided for by this decree, it can make a different subdivision based on the actual needs found in the labor market, without prejudice to the overall maximum limit indicated in Article 1.
Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 34, paragraph 7, of the Decree of the President of the Republic of 31 August 1999, no. 394 with reference to the redistribution of the share of non-EU workers trained abroad provided for in Article 4, paragraph 1.

Article 9

  1. The implementing provisions relating to the application of this decree are defined, with a view to simplification, with a specific joint circular from the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies , having consulted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, which is communicated on the websites of the aforementioned ministries