Italy's decreto flussi and family care work: quotas and the out of quota channel

An Italian household that wants to hire a non EU care worker living abroad has two routes. The first is the ordinary family care quota of the decreto flussi, set by the DPCM of 2 October 2025 at 13,600 entries for 2026. The second is an experimental out of quota channel of up to 10,000 permits a year, reserved for the care of people with disabilities and of frail older people.

The quotas for 2026 to 2028

The DPCM of 2 October 2025 carries the three year programming of entries and allocates 181,450 places in total for the first year. Family care and social healthcare work receives 13,600 of them in 2026, 14,000 in 2027 and 14,200 in 2028.

Those figures have to be read against the total: 13,600 places out of 181,450 puts family care at a little over seven per cent of the programming. Real demand from Italian households runs far higher, which is why the quota empties within minutes of the click day opening. The full programming picture sits in the decreto flussi quotas for 2026 to 2028.

Alongside the ordinary quota, an experimental contingent runs for the 2025 to 2028 period: a maximum of 10,000 permits a year, outside the quota, for hiring workers who assist people with disabilities or frail older people. The click day dedicated to that contingent is set for 18 February 2026.

Who may apply, and for whom

The out of quota channel is not open to every domestic hire. The application covers care for the employer personally, or for a relative up to the second degree, extended to the third degree in the cases set out in article 3 paragraph 3 of Law 104/1992, that is where the disability is certified as severe.

One prohibition closes a common shortcut: hiring a spouse, or a relative or in law within the third degree, is not permitted. A household cannot bring in a sister in law as the carer for its own parent. The Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione checks the family link against civil status records before it looks at the rest of the file.

The ordinary requirements of any domestic hire still apply. The employer must show income capacity sufficient to support the contractual pay and must provide suitable accommodation, with the housing suitability certificate issued by the municipality where the contract does not include living in. The steps are the ones described in the residence contract and housing suitability certificate.

Preparing the application before the click day

The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy set the programming together, but the application runs through the Ministry of the Interior portal and is examined by the Sportello Unico at the prefecture where the employer resides. Pre filling opens some weeks before the submission date, and everything is uploaded in that window: the worker's identity document, the draft residence contract, proof of income, the medical documentation for the person receiving care.

Nothing is filled in on the day itself. It is sent. An employer who reaches the date with an incomplete form is not really in the race, because places are allocated in order of submission and the margin is measured in seconds.

The costs stay ordinary: the 16 euro flat charge for the nulla osta application, the 16 euro stamp duty, the 30,46 euro postal kit and the residence permit contribution of 100 euro for permits between one and two years. The full picture, INPS contributions for domestic work included, sits in the cost of hiring a non EU worker in Italy.

A household planning care for 2026 should decide by December which of the two channels it will use, because the out of quota file needs medical documentation for the person receiving care and that does not arrive in a week. The choice of channel, rather than typing speed on the click day, is what decides the outcome. Our Italian corridors are described on the employers page.