On Monday (June 30), Premier Giorgia Meloni's government authorized the entry of 500,000 foreign workers for the next three-year period, 2026 to 2028. This is a slight increase over the current three-year period, when it greenlit 450,000 entries.

The new quotas were agreed during a cabinet meeting. In a press statement from the Prime Minister's office, the government underlined that they believe these additional migrant workers are "indispensable for the national economic and productive system and not otherwise available."

The quota has been divided into different categories. Around 230,550 visas will be issued for non-seasonal workers and the self-employed, and around 267,000 for seasonal workers in sectors like agriculture and tourism.

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Plan to scrap 'click days' and encourage entries outside quotas

The press release went on to explain that quotas are established "by taking into account the needs expressed by [employers and representative bodies] as well [as being calculated based on] the work permit applications that were actually presented over the past few years, with the objective of [drafting] a program that will meet the needs of businesses but which is also realistic.

The government underlines that the quotas allow it to enact a "legal and controlled mechanism of immigration," as well as opening "fundamental channels of communication" with "countries of origin" of migrant workers, thus building "a tool to fight the phenomena of irregular entry and permanence in our country" as well as the possibility of "illegal labor and worker exploitation."

The Italian goverment indicated that it intended to alter its system slightly in the future too. Previous three-year quotas are generally announced and then a so-called "click day" is designated when employers and employees are expected to fill out online applications.

In the future, the government hopes to incentivize entries outside the established quotas. The first professions to which the new strategy will be apllied, said the government, were the "most sought-after professions requested by employers."

The government also hopes to boost training programs for workers in their countries of origin.

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Praise and criticism

The farmer's representative body Coldiretti expressed its satisfaction for the new plans. Coldiretti stated that they believed the decree "represents an important step forward to guarantee the availability of workers in the fields and, with it, food production in the country."

The organization, moreover, urged the government to "finally [move away from] click days, allowing companies to file requests during the course of the whole year, with the support of agricultural associations and based on real seasonal needs."

However, there was also criticism for the new plans from the government's political opposition. Riccardo Magi, leader of the + Europa (More Europe) party in the center-left opposition, criticized the measure saying it "risks being useless if it remains an increase in the figure written in the decree, which however doesn't turn into effective job contracts and residence permits, as [already] occurred [in the past]."

According to data presented by the campaign 'Ero straniero' (I was foreign) promoted by a network of organizations supporting migrants, in 2024 only 7.8 percent of entry quotas established by the government turned into work permits and stable, regular jobs. A total of 9,331 applications for the legal entry of workers were finalized by Italian prefectures out of the 119,890 quotas assigned for the year, the figures showed.

Meanwhile in 2023, the figure stood at 13 percent with 16,188 applications completed compared to the 127,707 quotas assigned, according to the data.

Central police departments materially granted 9,528 permits, with only 7.5 percent of procedures successfully finalized compared to the quotas in terms of 2023 figures one year on from the click days [application days].

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