Working in Italy

This is the default route for many non-EU hires in Italy. The employer must work through the decreto flussi system when a quota is available, obtain the nulla osta through the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione, and then the worker uses that clearance for the national visa and residence-permit steps.

Min salary

No single Italy-wide threshold is published for all cases; pay still has to respect the applicable collective agreement and the filed contract terms.

Timeline

Depends on quota windows, nulla osta handling, and consular appointment timing; treat it as a staged process rather than a fixed national turnaround.

Italy's Blue Card route sits outside the decreto flussi quotas and starts with an employer filing through the Interior Ministry portal using model BC. The route accepts tertiary qualifications, some regulated-profession cases, and certain experience-based cases under the 2023 reform, but the employer still needs a qualifying contract and route-compliant evidence.

Min salary

At least the current statutory Blue Card threshold under article 27-quater; verify the live figure on the current official filing guidance before submission.

Timeline

Italy's 2024 guidance says the Blue Card decision should normally be taken within 30 days, with a possible extra 30 days in justified complex cases.

The research route is outside quota limits and is built around the hosting agreement between the researcher and the authorised institution. The host files the research nulla osta, and after entry the researcher completes the residence-permit process with the research-specific paperwork.

Min salary

No single national salary floor is published in the general guidance; the hosting agreement has to document the research arrangement and the guarantees required by law.

Timeline

Official guidance says the permit should be issued for the duration of the research programme, with post-arrival permit steps starting within 8 working days after entry.

Italy's intra-corporate transfer route is outside quota limits and only fits group-company transfers, not ordinary recruitment. The worker must have already been employed by the sending company for at least three months, and the Italian host has to support the transfer under the ICT rules rather than the standard quota track.

Min salary

The route requires compliant pay and working conditions during the transfer, but the current general guidance does not publish one simple national ICT threshold to reuse across cases.

Timeline

Maximum stay is capped at 3 years for managers and specialists and 1 year for trainees, including extensions.