Special Work Visa for People with Italian Heritage A new immigration rule lets foreign workers with Italian roots work in Italy more easily —no more quota limits
Italy has approved important changes to the rules for obtaining citizenship by descent (ius sanguinis). The key change is the establishment of a generational limit, allowing Italian citizenship to be passed down only from parents or grandparents. The Official Gazette published the text formalizing the conversion of Decree-Law n.36 into ordinary law on Friday, May 23rd, 2025
In the law, however, there is an interesting new provision introduced by the abovementioned law into Italian Immigration law (legislative decree 25 July 1998, n. 286 ). Article 1-bis of the law sets forth the possibility for descendants of Italian citizens to obtain a work permit, visa and residence permit for subordinate work not subject to the limits imposed by the “immigration quotas” set by the government periodically, which limit and determine the number and type of work permits/visas that can be issued to foreign citizens. In fact, Italian immigration law foresees several exceptions from the set immigration quotas, mainly for highly skilled workers, certain categories of professionals (university professors, translators, journalists, nurses, digital nomads, intra company transfers, etc), researchers etc. These exceptions are listed under article 27 (and additional provisions to Article 27) of Italian Immigration law. The law introduces a new paragraph to article 27, paragraph 1-octies.
The rule allows, outside of the quotas, entry and stay in Italy for foreign citizens with Italian origins who have a job offer from an Italian employer to work as employee (lavoro subordinato). Main conditions:
– The foreigner lives abroad (not already in Italy), and is descendant of Italian citizen (it is not clear how this will be proved however no generational limits apply)
– the foreigner is a citizen of a country with many Italians emigrated there in the past. These countries will be decided with a decree by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Labour.
To enter Italy, the person must follow the regular procedure for subordinate work:
– An Italian employer must apply for the work authorization (nulla osta) to the immigration office;
– After receiving the authorization, the foreign worker goes to the Italian Consulate and applies for visa for subordinate work;
– upon arrival in Italy, the employee signs the contract of stay and applies for the residence permit.
This rule can be very helpful for people of Italian origin who cannot get Italian citizenship directly based on new regulations but still want to move to Italy and potentially be able to reside in Italy the necessary amount of time to apply for citizenship in the future.
This article was written by Giuditta Petreni.
Giuditta Petreni has over 10 years of experience in assisting companies and business investors with relocation of managers and staff to Italy. Giuditta has extensive experience advising corporate and private clients on a full range of Italian immigration categories. She is fluent in Italian and English.
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