Italy caps single permit issuance at 30 days for non-EU hires

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Italy caps single permit issuance at 30 days for non-EU hires

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Italy now has a hard 30-day deadline for issuing the single work-and-residence permit once a non-EU worker's file is complete, with the full authorization chain capped at 90 days.

From open-ended waits to a 90-day ceiling

Before the reform, employer-sponsored hires faced processing times that could stretch well past three months, with no statutory ceiling on how long the Questura could take to issue the permit after a complete application. Under Legislative Decree No. 83 of April 16, 2026, which took effect May 22, 2026, the process is now split into two hard stages: up to 60 days for the employer's work authorization (nulla osta), then 30 days for the Questura to issue the single permit once the file is complete.

The decree implements EU Directive 2024/1233 and amends Italy's Consolidated Immigration Act. Renewals are also bound to a 90-day processing ceiling, giving current holders a firmer read on timing than the old open-ended rule.

Who is caught and what changes on the ground

The change hits non-EU employed workers arriving under employer-sponsored visas and the Italian companies hiring them. Tourists, students, family-reunification applicants and remote workers on the Italian digital nomad visa sit outside the single-permit track and see no change to their timelines.

Two substantive shifts sit alongside the deadline:

• Job mobility: single-permit holders can change employers during the permit's validity without triggering a new authorization from scratch.
• Unemployment buffer: if the job ends, the permit isn't immediately revoked. The worker keeps at least three months in Italy to find new work.

Employers also carry a new duty to promptly pass on any official communications received about the authorization to the worker.

Who needs to act now

Anyone whose application was filed and completed on or after May 22, 2026 is already inside the new regime and can hold the Questura to the 30-day clock. Files completed before that date fall under the old rules and won't get the benefit retroactively, so workers stuck in older queues can't invoke the deadline. Employers running hires under the current Decreto Flussi quotas should rebuild their onboarding timelines around a 90-day worst case rather than the six-month cushion many previously assumed and budget the standard residence-permit card fees of roughly €100,€200 ($108,$216) per applicant.

For the wider picture on work and residence tracks, see the Italy country guide.