Green light for the new decree flows, 500 thousand entries

The Council of Ministers has approved the new decree on flows for the three-year period 2026-2028. A total of 500,000 foreign workers are expected to enter Italy, including seasonal and non-seasonal workers, domestic workers and carers: 164,850 quotas for 2026, 165,850 for 2027 and 166,850 for 2028. In the previous decree issued in 2023 by the Meloni government, the permitted flows were 450,000 for the three-year period 2023-2025.

The objective of the measure, the cabinet informs, "is to allow the entry into Italy of manpower that is essential to the national economic and productive system and otherwise not available". Furthermore, it is emphasized, "with the stable identification of a legal and controlled immigration mechanism, fundamental communication channels are activated in the dialogue with the countries of origin of migratory flows and a tool is built to combat irregular phenomena in entry and permanence in our country, in the fight against undeclared work and the exploitation of workers".

Over the three-year period 2026-2028, the authorized units will be 497,550, with the following distribution: 230,550 for non-seasonal subordinate and self-employed work, 267,000 for seasonal work in the agricultural and tourism sectors. The quotas were determined taking into account the needs expressed by the social partners and the requests for work permits actually submitted in previous years, "with the aim of planning that takes into account the needs of companies and that is also realistic". The note from Palazzo Chigi concludes, "the desire to incentivize entries outside the quota remains firm, also with a view to scaling down the 'click day' mechanism, which could occur by following a gradual path, which first of all concerns the professional profiles most sought after by employers and which strengthens the training of workers in their countries of origin".