For the three-year period 2023-2025, a total of 452,000 foreign citizens will be admitted to Italy for seasonal and non-seasonal employment and self-employment, divided as follows:

(a) 136,000 foreigners  for the year 2023

(b) 151,000 foreigners for the year 2024

(c) 165,000 foreigners for the year 2025.

In 2024, there are 61,250 quotas reserved for recruiting non-seasonal workers and 680 quotas reserved for registering self-employed workers. The quotas reserved for seasonal workers are instead 82,550.

The hiring of subordinate workers is possible in the following sectors: road haulage for third parties and passenger transport by bus, tourism-hotel sector, mechanics, telecommunications, food sector, shipbuilding; fishing; hairdressers, electricians and plumbers; family and socio-medical assistance; seasonal tourist-hotel sector.

Within the total number of entries, quota reserves for different types of foreign workers are identified. In particular:

- 5500 quotas (2380 for non-seasonal subordinate work, 120 for self-employment and 3000 for seasonal subordinate work) are reserved for workers from States that promote media campaigns for their citizens concerning the risks to personal safety deriving from involvement in irregular migratory trafficking, by agreements concluded with Italy on the subject

- 25,000 quotas are reserved for non-seasonal employees who are citizens of countries with migration cooperation agreements or arrangements. At present, the countries with which migration agreements have been stipulated are: Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia Herzegovina, South Korea, Ivory Coast, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Japan, Jordan, 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. Compared to 2022, in 2023, there will also be the possibility of entry under these quotas for citizens of Jordan and Kyrgyzstan. In addition, 12,000 quotas are reserved for citizens of other countries for which migration agreements are not yet in force but will come into force in the coming months.

In this regard, we recall that on 20 November the Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and Tunisia came into force, under which a quota of 4,000 entries for non-seasonal subordinate labour will be reserved for Tunisian workers.

Regarding seasonal employment, the quotas reserved for citizens of countries that have concluded agreements on migration are equal to:

- 2,000 units for entries for multi-year seasonal work, i.e. for those foreign citizens who, belonging to the countries mentioned above that have signed agreements on migration matters with Italy, have entered Italy to perform subordinate seasonal work at least once in the previous five years and for whom the employer applies for a multi-year authorization for subordinate seasonal work. Please note that the Consolidation Act on Immigration (TUI, art. 5, par. 3-ter and art. 24, par. 11) provides for the possibility of applying for a three-year residence permit, again for seasonal employment, in the case where the worker has already entered Italy to perform subordinate seasonal work at least once in the previous five years. In such cases, the application may also be submitted by a different employer

- 41,000 units for the agricultural sector. In this case, the applications must be submitted, on behalf of the employers, by the following employers' professional organisations: the National Confederation of Direct Farmers, the Italian Farmers' Confederation, the General Confederation of Italian Agriculture, the Confederation of Agricultural Producers and the Alliance of Italian Cooperatives (National League of Cooperatives and Mutual Societies, the Confederation of Italian Cooperatives and the General Association of Italian Cooperatives);

- 31,000 units for the tourism sector. In this case, the applications must be submitted on behalf of the employers by the most representative employers' professional organisations at the national level. In any case, the employers' associations are not limited to submitting applications. Still, they are committed to overseeing the conclusion of the recruitment process, including the signing of employment contracts and the communication formalities required by current legislation.

In addition, 12,000 quotas are reserved for nationals of other countries for which migration agreements are not yet in force but will come into force in the coming months, while another 3000, as mentioned above, are reserved for workers from states that promote media campaigns on the risks of becoming part of irregular migratory trafficking.

It should be recalled, that for all sectors, the transmission of the application for work authorisation is also allowed by employment agencies in the manner already identified in the circular of 10 August 2023.

Three different entry reserves are provided for in favour of:

(a) Workers of Italian origin on the part of at least one of the parents up to the third degree in direct line of descent, resident in Venezuela, up to a maximum of 100 units, of which 90 are for subordinate work, and 10 are for self-employment. In the case of employment, the sectors for which recruitment is possible remain the same as for other categories of workers.

b) stateless persons and refugees recognised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or by the competent authorities in the countries of first asylum or transit, up to a maximum of 250 units, of which 180 for non-seasonal subordinate work, 20 for self-employment and 50 for seasonal subordinate work. In the case of subordinate work, the sectors for which recruitment is possible remain the same as for the other categories of workers.

c) non-seasonal subordinate workers in the family and socio-healthcare sector up to a maximum of 9.500 units. As specified in the interministerial circular, recruitment in this case is possible either full-time or part-time, with the salary provided for by the sector's CCNL and not less than the minimum provided for the social allowance (EUR 503.27 per month). No special employer's income is required if the employer suffers from pathologies or disabilities that limit his self-sufficiency and submits the application to hire a care worker. In other cases, as specified in the INL circular of 21 March 2023, the taxable income of the employer with a household consisting only of their own person cannot be less than €20,000.00 per year, a limit that rises to €27,000.00 if the employer's registered family consists of several cohabiting family members. As a rule, the spouse's income and relatives up to the second degree of kinship may be included in the employer's income requirement, even if they are not cohabiting.

For all other labour sectors, the employer's income (in the case of a natural person/individual enterprise) or turnover (in the case of entities and companies), cannot be less than €30,000.00 per year, as expressly indicated in INL circulars no. 3 of 5 July 2022 and 2066 of 21 March 2023.

In the case of self-employed workers, a maximum of 500 workers belonging to the following categories will be admitted:

- 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 and the creation of at least three new jobs

- self-employed professionals intending to exercise regulated or supervised professions, or professions that are neither regulated nor supervised but represented at the national level by associations registered in lists kept by public administrations and issuing a certificate of quality of services and professional qualification of members

- holders of corporate management and control positions expressly provided for in Decree No. 850 of 11 May 2011

- artists of clear fame or well-known professional qualification, hired by public or private entities, in the presence of the requirements expressly provided for by Decree no. 850 of 11 May 2011

- foreign nationals for the establishment of 'innovative start-up' companies under Law 221/2012, in favour of whom an employment relationship of an autonomous nature with the company is attributable. Go to the dedicated page for more information on the Italia Start-Up Visa programme.

As of this year, there are no longer any quotas for workers trained abroad, as Law Decree 20/2023, as converted by Law 50/2023, amended Article 23 of the Consolidation Act on Immigration (Legislative Decree 286/1998), placing the entry of non-EU foreign citizens residing abroad who have completed vocational and civic-linguistic training programmes approved by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies outside the quotas of the Flows Decree. The Ministry adopted and published the Guidelines on how to prepare vocational and civic-linguistic training programmes and the criteria for their evaluation.

Concerning the conversions into residence permits for subordinate work and self-employment of residence permits issued for other reasons, the following are reserved:

- 4,000 quotas for those with a residence permit for seasonal work to be converted into a residence permit for non-seasonal subordinate work. The circular of .... recalls that it is possible to convert a residence permit for seasonal work into a residence permit for subordinate work only after at least three months of regular seasonal employment (Paragraph 10 of Article 24 of the Consolidated Act on Immigration). To this end, the Territorial Labour Inspectorates will have to verify the presence of the requirements for the establishment of a new work relationship, the fact that the worker was hired on the occasion of the first entry for seasonal work, the duration of the same seasonal work relationship, as well as the relative contribution payments made to the competent authorities in favour of the worker during the period considered. Concerning the agricultural sector, whose seasonal workers are employed on a 'per day' basis and not on a 'per month' basis, for the purposes of conversion, an average of at least 13 working days per month must be demonstrated over the three working months (for a total of 39 days), covered by regular social security contributions.

- 100 quotas reserved for those who have an EU long-term residence permit issued not by Italy but by another EU Member State to be converted into a residence permit for employment

- 50 quotas reserved for those with an EU long-term resident permit issued by another EU Member State to be converted into a residence permit for self-employment.

The -- document not available -- reiterated that, in the case of conversion into employment, the worker must present the proposed residence contract signed by the employer at the time of the convocation at the Sportello Unico. Subsequently, the system will generate the Compulsory Hiring Communication and send it electronically to the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies.

For all hypotheses of conversion requests, the checks on the conditions are carried out according to the ordinary procedure by the Territorial Labour Inspectorate.

Finally, it should be noted that from this year, there are no longer any quotas for conversion from study/internship to work, since the so-called "Cutro Decree" (Decree Law no. 23 of 20 March converted into Law no. 50 of 5 May 2023) has abolished the provision that made the conversion of these permits subject to the availability of a quota provided for by the annual flows decree.

As a result, these permits, provided they are still valid, can now be converted at any time of the year and without numerical limits by submitting VA or Z forms.