Italy to issue 67k work permits max for third country nationals in 2022

Rome: The Italian Ministry of Interior Affairs has announced the maximum number of work permits that can be issued to non-European Union workers, both seasonal and non-seasonal, as well as to those self-employed.

In a press release announcing the decision taken on the maximum quota for these workers, which was previously adopted on December 21, 2021, and has now been published in the Official Gazette, the Ministry points out that the maximum quota for 2022 is 69,700.

“27,700 quotas [are reserved] for non-seasonal, self-employed subordinate work and conversions,” the Ministry notes.

It further points out that 20,000 work permits out of the total quota have been reserved for reasons of non-seasonal subordinate work in the sectors of freight transport for third parties, construction and hotel tourism for citizens for the following countries: Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, El Salvador, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kosovo, Mali, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia and Ukraine.

The remaining 7,700 permits are divided between categories of third-country citizens who have completed training and education programs in their countries of origin, workers of Italian origin residing in Venezuela, and self-employed persons.

The Ministry has noted that applications for these types of work permits can be filed starting from January 27, at 9 am.

The other 42,000 work permits will be allocated for subordinate work in the agricultural and tourism-hotel sectors for workers from Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Republic of Korea, Ivory Coast, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Philippines, Gambia, Ghana, Japan, Guatemala, India, Kosovo, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Moldova, Montenegro, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, North Macedonia, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine.

“Within this quota, 14,000 permits are reserved for workers from the same countries whose applications will be presented, in the name and on behalf of employers, by the following organizations: Cia, Coldiretti, Confagricoltura, Copagri, Alleanza delle Cooperative (including Lega cooperatives and Confcooperative),” the Ministry notes.

At the same time, the quotas will be divided between the regions and the autonomous provinces by the Italian Ministry of Labor and Social Policies. Applications will be open from February 1, at 9 am.

According to official data, in 2019 alone, there were two and a half million non-Italians working in Italy, 10.7 per cent of the total workforce of the country. 642,000 of them were employed in Collective and Personal Services, 466,000 in Wholesale and Retail and another 235,000 in Construction.