Italy · Work authorisation

Salaried work within the annual quotas (decreto flussi)

Issued by The Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione at the prefecture, on an application the employer files on the click day; then the Italian consulate and the Questura. It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
6
Possible outcomes
3
Last checked
2026-10-07

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

The ordinary route, and the one that depends on a calendar. The quotas for 2026 to 2028 are fixed per sector and per year by a DPCM, applications open on a set day and are ranked in the order they arrive, and an application that gets no quota place lapses. Being qualified does not move you up the queue.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

No qualification level is set. What is tested is the employer and the job: a prior check with the Centro per l'impiego that no worker already in Italy is available, an employer with taxable income or turnover of at least €30,000 a year, and an application filed within the quota for its sector.

The procedure

6 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Your employer checks with the Centro per l'impiego that no worker already in Italy is available for the job. If the centre does not report an available worker within eight calendar days, the check counts as negative and the application can go ahead.
  2. The employer needs taxable income, or turnover for a company, of at least €30,000 a year, and an asseverazione of the application, which is waived when it is filed through an organisation that has signed the relevant protocol. A private employer may file at most three nulla osta applications a year.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. The employer files the application online on the click day. For non-seasonal salaried work in 2026 that was 9:00 on 16 February, after a pre-filling window that ran from 23 October to 7 December 2025, and applications can be filed until 31 December 2026 while quota places remain.Applications are ranked by the time they were sent on the click day. One that gets no quota place lapses six months after 31 December. The dates for 2027 and 2028 were not found published when this was read.
  2. The procedure has an overall deadline of sixty days, counted from the day the application is assigned a quota place, not from the day it was filed. The nulla osta is valid for up to six months, and the employer confirms the application within fifteen days.

Close any gaps

  1. Apply for the visa at the Italian consulate with the nulla osta. For salaried work within the quotas, the Foreign Ministry's deadline for issuing it is 30 days.

Register and start working

  1. Within fifteen days of entering Italy, sign the contratto di soggiorno at the Sportello Unico, where you also collect the permit form to send from an authorised post office. You may work on the nulla osta while the contract is being signed.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

Long-stay visa (type D)
€116 in the consular fee table, collected in local currency where the consulate charges it
Permit contribution
€40 for a permit of more than three months up to one year, €50 for more than one year up to two
Filing the permit at the post office
€16 revenue stamp, €30 to the post office and €30.46 for producing the card, on top of the contribution

Timeframes

Centro per l'impiego check
Eight calendar days without an available worker
Click day, 2026
From 9:00 on 16 February 2026, until quota places run out or 31 December 2026
Nulla osta
Sixty days in total from the day a quota place is assigned
Visa
30 days for salaried work within the quotas
First permit
One year on a fixed-term contract, two years on an open-ended one; each renewal up to three years

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Italy and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

9 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-10-07, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Italy opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

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