ITALY FILING ONLINE WORK PERMITS

Corrado Scivoletto
Studio Legale Monaco e Associati
c.scivoletto@monacoeassociati.com


The Decree of the Prime Minister of October the 30th, 2007, sets forth (amending a previous decree) the maximum number of Italian work permits that can be granted in 2007 to individuals who are not citizens of EU Member States for purposes of subordinated employment (not seasonal) and self-employment activities.

This Decree contains two important innovations aimed at simplifying and speeding-up the pertinent immigration formalities:

1) each prospective employer can download a software which is linked to the Immigration Office database and can thus file on-line the applications to obtain the authorisation to work (this being the first step of the immigration process, followed by the release of a visa and, thereafter, by the release of a permit of stay);

2) the Decree establishes three “click-days” on which said applications shall be filed on-line, in order to avoid potential telecom overloading caused by the forwarding of the applications. The first employees that can benefit from this new procedure are those who belong to States that have signed cooperation-agreement, for immigration purposes, with Italy.