Italy's decreto flussi quotas from 2026 to 2028

The DPCM of 2 October 2025, published in Gazzetta Ufficiale on 15 October 2025, authorises 497,550 entries of third country nationals for work across the three years: 164,850 in 2026, 165,850 in 2027 and 166,850 in 2028. The Ministry of Labour states that 267,000 places are reserved for seasonal work.

Employers in Italy do not plan against the national total. They plan against the bucket a specific role draws from, because every category has its own ceiling and its own opening date. A Nepali welder going to a machine shop and a picker going to a farm are not competing for the same place and do not file on the same day.

How the DPCM splits the 497,550 entries

The decree divides entries into two blocks. The first covers non seasonal subordinate work and self employment, at 230,550 places for the whole period. The second covers seasonal work in agriculture and tourism, at 267,000 places. The split between provinces is not written into the decree: the Ministry of Labour sets it after applications close, based on the demand employers actually filed.

Seasonal work therefore absorbs slightly more than half of the period. For the non seasonal sectors, construction, engineering, road haulage, logistics and personal care, the real pool is tighter than a headline of half a million entries suggests. The binding constraint, as the guide to the nulla osta and the click day sets out, is the quota place, not the headcount the company says it needs.

Opening dates and the pre filing window

Joint circular no. 8047 of 16 October 2025, signed by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labour, fixed the calendar for the 2026 quota. Applications are prepared on the Interior Ministry's ALI portal during a pre filing window and transmitted only on the opening date, in order of submission.

Pre filing decides the outcome more than connection speed does. An employer who opens the portal on the morning of submission is still typing while others transmit, and in the most demanded categories the pool empties within hours of opening. The decree also sets aside a channel for nationals of countries that have signed migration cooperation agreements with Italy, with its own opening date.

What happens after the application is sent

A quota place is not an authorisation. Once submitted, the file goes to the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione at the prefecture covering the workplace, which under article 22 of the immigration consolidated act (D.Lgs. 286/1998) decides the nulla osta application within sixty days. The nulla osta, once issued, is valid for six months. The Italian consulate in the worker's country then issues the entry visa within thirty days of the request.

After arrival in Italy the worker has eight days to report to the Sportello Unico, sign the residence contract and start the residence permit application. On cost, the Ministry of the Interior lists a 16 euro duty stamp, 30.46 euro for the electronic permit and 30.46 euro for the postal service, plus the contribution under article 5, paragraph 2 ter of the consolidated act, between 40 and 100 euro depending on how long the permit runs.

Adding the statutory terms together, four to five months normally pass between a February submission and the first day of actual work. A company using the decreto flussi to cover an April peak is looking at the wrong bucket: that peak needed the seasonal nulla osta that opened in January.

Werklist runs this sequence for European employers hiring from Nepal, India and the Philippines, and the employers page sets out which steps stay with the company and which do not. The 2026 to 2028 period does not change the shape of the Italian procedure. It changes only how much room sits inside each bucket, and that figure is worth reading before any start date is promised.