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Italy opens work visa scheme for 2022 – Decreto Flussi Quota and Opening Dates Details

The Italian government has finally announced the applications submission dates for work visa applications. The allowed dates will help both seasonal and nonseasonal workers. The new Decreto Flussi was registered by the Court of Auditors on December 27, 2021, and will be published in the Official Gazette of January 17, 2021. Work visa applications through Italian employers can be submitted Starting from 9:00 on 12 January 2022. Furthermore, 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.

Decreto Flussi applications submission dates

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 apply links

Application links and the forms can be found here.

Decreto Flussi 2022 Quota

According to the new decree, 69,700 foreign workers are admitted to Italy for seasonal and non-seasonal subordinate work and self-employment. The overall quota is divided as follows:

1- Quota for Seasonal Workers

The Decree (Decreto Flussi) allows 42,000 quota for entry for seasonal work.

Quotas for seasonal work are reserved for the following nationalities:

  • 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.

The experimentation continues this year in order to prevent forms of illicit intermediation, reserving, within the overall quota of 42,000 units, 14,000 quotas,  for the agricultural sector alone, to workers of the aforementioned nationalities against whom the requests for permits are submitted, in the name and on behalf of employers, by the following professional employers’ organizations:

  • CIA
  • Coldiretti
  • Confagricoltura
  • Cover
  • Alliance of cooperatives (includes Lega delle Cooperative and Confcooperative). 

With a specific directive of the Minister of Labor and Social Policies to the National Labor Inspectorate, further indications will be given on the investigation of such requests.

Lastly, 1,000 of the 42,000 quotas are reserved for entrances for multi-year seasonal work.

The Consolidated Law on Immigration provides for the possibility of applying for a three-year residence permit, again for seasonal work, in the event that the worker has already entered Italy to perform seasonal subordinate work at least once in the previous five years.  

The application can also be submitted by an employer other than the previous one. One of the main advantages of the multi-year permit is to allow the seasonal worker to enter Italy the following year regardless of the publication of the decree for seasonal work. The request for employment in the event of a multi-year seasonal permit for the years following the first can also be made by an employer other than the employer who has obtained the three-year permit for seasonal work.

2. Quota for Non-Seasonal and Self Employment

27,700 Quota are reserved for recruitment in the road transport, construction, and tourism-hotel sectors for citizens of countries that have signed or are about to sign cooperation agreements on migration matters.

Of the aforementioned 27,700 entrances, 17,000 are reserved for workers who are 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.

The remaining quota of 3,000, on the other hand, remains available to citizens of other countries with whom, in the course of 2022, cooperation agreements on migration will come into force

The interministerial circular prot. n. 116 of 5 January 2022,  specifies that, for the freight transport sector on behalf of third parties, the application for authorization for subordinate work is allowed only in favor of driver workers, equipped with professional licenses equivalent to driving licenses CE category, citizens of countries that issue driving licenses equivalent to the CE category and convertible in Italy on the basis of existing reciprocity agreements (Algeria, Albania, Morocco, Moldova, Republic of North Macedonia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Ukraine).

100 numbers have been reserved for foreign workers who have completed training and education programs in their countries of origin pursuant to art. 23 of the legislative decree 25 July 1998, n. 286.

100 quota is reserved for foreign workers of Italian origin for the part of at least one of the parents up to the third degree of the direct line of ancestry, residing in Venezuela.

500 quota is reserved for self-employed workers belonging to the following categories:

  • foreign citizens for the establishment of “innovative start-ups” pursuant to law no. 221, in the presence of the requisites provided for by the same law and in favor of which an independent employment relationship with the company is attributable.
  • entrepreneurs who carry out activities of interest to the Italian economy that involve the use of their own resources of no less than 500,000 euros and from legitimate sources, as well as the creation of at least three new jobs;
  • holders of corporate administration and control positions expressly provided for by the interministerial decree of 11 May 2011, n. 850;
  • freelancers attributable to supervised or unregulated professions but representative at national level and included in the lists maintained by the Public Administration;
  • well-known artists or artists 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 11 May 2011, n. 850;

3- Visa conversions quota

The remaining 7,000 quotas provided for by the Decree are reserved for those who have to convert the residence permit already held for another reason into work. In particular, in this context, the quotas are divided as follows:

4,400 reserved for those who have a residence permit for seasonal work to be converted into a residence permit for non-seasonal subordinate work
2,000 reserved for those with a residence permit for study, internship, and/or professional training to be converted into a residence permit for subordinate work
370 reserved for those who have a residence permit for study, internship, and/or professional training to be converted into a residence permit for self-employment
200 reserved for those who have an EC residence permit for long-term residents issued not by Italy but by another Member State of the European Union to be converted into a residence permit for subordinate work
30 reserved for those who have an EC residence permit for long-term residents issued by another Member State of the European Union to be converted into a residence permit for self-employment