On October 3, 2023, the joy of foreign workers increased when big news came from Italy about the Decreto Flussi. Italy has announced that the date for submitting applications for the Flow Decree is from December 2 to December 31, 2023.
According to official announcements, the Flow Decree will allow more than 4,50,000 foreign workers to Italy for the three years 2023-2025.
Applications for entrance into the current year will be submitted from December 2, 2023, and up until Dec 31, 2023. The application must include all necessary documentation and be examined in the order of arrival.
Who is eligible for Decreto Flussi Italy?
The program is made of 3 years 2023-2025. Article 1, paragraph 3 of Decree-law tells us the specific needs for subordinate, seasonal, and self-employment work, both inside and outside quotas.
- The distance between the volume of entrance flows and the labor market demands identified by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy gradually minimizing, by a schedule that takes into account the ability of local communities to accept foreign workers;
- Expanding the economic sectors taken into account when planning entrance flows;
- Improvement of training resources in the nations where foreign workers are recruited;
- Promotion of means of collaboration with nations where migration flows originate and transit before arriving in Italy;
- Incentives for high-skilled professionals to enter the country.
There are then some main criteria including:
- Establishing preferential hiring quotas for nationalities that, along with the Italian government, support media campaigns educating their citizens about the dangers of illegal migration;
- Allocation of the desired agricultural employees to employers who have not yet received the requested quotas, giving them preference over new applications and staying within the bounds of the quotas allotted to the agricultural sector by subsequent decrees inflows;
- Reactivation of a special quota for personnel working in the social-health care and family-related fields (such as domestic helpers and caregivers).
Total quotas for Decreto Flussi
The regulation, which was published in the Official Gazette, grants permission for 452,000 admissions over three years for foreign citizens living abroad to work seasonally and nonseasonally and for themselves. Over the three years, these overall quotas are distributed as follows:
- 136,000 in 2023,
- 151,000 in 2024, and
- 165,000 in 2025.
Seasonal work quota
Citizens of nations with which Italy has cooperation agreements are permitted entry into Italy for
the purpose of seasonal employment in the agricultural and hotel tourism industries, subject to the following quotas, within the overall quotas:
- 82550 workers in 2023;
- 89,050 in 2024;
- 93,550 workers in 2025.
Quotas for subordinate, non-seasonal employment, self-employment, and conversions
By the following maximum limits, foreign nationals living abroad will be hired for non-seasonal for construction, tourism, hospitality, mechanics, telecommunications, food, shipbuilding, bus passenger transport, fishing, hairdressing, electrical work, plumbing, and self-employment. The quota for these categories will be as follows:
- For 2023, 53,450 workers will be allowed, including 52,770 for employment and 680 for self-employment;
- For 2024, 61,950 workers will be allowed, including 61,250 for employment and 700 for self-employment;
- For 2025, 71,450 workers will be allowed, including 70,720 for employment and 730 for self-employment.
Certain citizenry groups are given preference in the allocation of particular units within the aforementioned quotas.
New categories included in 2023
Newly added categories for the upcoming three years will be:
- 2,000 seats for residents of nations that support media campaigns against trafficking in irregular migrants;
- 25.000 seats are allocated for citizens of Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Korea (Republic of Korea), Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Philippines, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Jordan, Guatemala, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Republic of North Macedonia, Senegal, and Serbia;
- 12.000 seats for residents of nations that will apply cooperation agreements with Italy during the years 2023-2025;
- 100 seats for residents of Italian origin residing in Venezuela – of which 90 units for employment and 10 units for self-employment;
- 200 seats to stateless persons or refugees, of which 180 for employment and 20 for self-employment;
- 9.500 seats for non-seasonal workers in the family and socio-healthcare sector (i.e. caregivers).
The decree specifies the chances of conversion into residence permits for employment and self-employment within the aforementioned quotas. For the current year, these include:
- 4,000 seats for converting seasonal work visas into employment;
- 100 seats for converting long-term visas for third-country nationals issued by another EU member into employment; and
- 50 seats for converting long-term visas for third-country nationals issued by another EU member into self-employment.
For the period between 2023 and 2025, immigration into Italy under self-employment is permitted to 500 foreign country residents abroad who fall into the below categories;
- Business owners who want to carry out an investment plan that would benefit the Italian economy, requiring the deployment of at least €500,000 in their funds and the creation of at least three new jobs;
- freelancers who want to work in regulated or closely overseen fields, or in fields that are not regulated but are nevertheless represented nationally;
- People who possess corporate offices of administration and control specifically mentioned in Interministerial Decree No. 850 of May 11, 2011;
- professionals with a high level of notoriety who are employed by public or private organizations and who meet the criteria mentioned in Interministerial Decree No. 850 of May 11, 2011; and
- foreign nationals planning to launch “innovative start-up” businesses by Law No. 221 of December 17, 2012, in the present or in the future.
Date and Time for Application Submission of Italy Decreto Flussi 2023
The starting and ending dates for submitting the work permit file for the current year are;
- For applications for non-seasonal work, citizens of the following nations must be residents of nations with which Italy has cooperation agreements: Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Korea (Republic of Korea), Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Philippines, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Jordan, Guatemala, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on December 2, 2023 (the 60th day after the date of publication of this decree in the Official Gazette), and continuing until the applicable quotas are satisfied or, in any case, by December 31, 2023;
- For submission of other nations for non-seasonal work: beginning 9:00 a.m. of December 4th, 2023 (the 62nd day after the date of publication of this decree in the Official Gazette), until the applicable quotas are met, or, in any case, by December 31, 2023),
- For submission for seasonal work: from 9:00 a.m. of December 12th, 2023 (until the corresponding quotas are satisfied or, in any case, by December 31st, 2023 (70th day from the date of publication of this regulation in the Official Gazette).
For 2024 the deadlines for submitting work authorization applications for entry within the quotas was first set in February but now these have been changed to as follows:
- From 9:00 on 25 March 2024, applications regarding seasonal workers can be submitted.
- From 9:00 on 18 March 2024, applications can be submitted regarding citizens of countries with cooperation agreements on immigration with Italy (Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia–Herzegovina, South Korea, Costa Rica). Ivory, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Philippines, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Guatemala, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Republic of North Macedonia, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia and Ukraine).
- From 9:00 on 21 March 2024, applications can be submitted regarding workers in the family assistance and social-health sectors and other non-seasonal subordinate workers not from the countries listed above.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Politics might assess to decide on a different quotas split according to the real need if, 90 days after the deadlines for application submission, the authorities observe that a sizable proportion of quotas have not been utilized.
In a meeting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the decree informs that additional implementing provisions regarding its application will be defined with a view to simplification through a special joint circular of the Ministries of the Interior, Labor and Social Policies, Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, and Tourism.