Italy will issue almost 500,000 new work visas for non-EU nationals from 2026 to 2028 as part of a strategy to expand legal immigration channels and address labor shortages.
In order to reach a cumulative total of 497,550 new entries by 2028, 164,850 people will be permitted entry in the upcoming year.
Since taking office almost three years ago as the leader of a right-wing coalition, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made two similar decisions. Between 2023 and 2025, the government had already made the decision to grant more than 450,000 permits to migrants.
Meloni has taken a tough stance against illegal arrivals, enacting measures to expedite repatriations and restricting the operations of organizations that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean, in addition to regulations that permit the entry of new workers.
According to the statement, “the quotas were determined taking into account the needs expressed by the social partners and the actual applications for work permits submitted in previous years, with the aim of a program that responds to the needs of businesses and is also realistic,”
The third-largest economy in the euro zone needs to draw in foreign workers due to an aging population and a declining birthrate. In 2024, the population decreased by 37,000 to 58.93 million, continuing a ten-year trend in which there were about 281,000 more deaths than births.
Coldiretti, an agricultural lobby, praised the government’s plan, stating that it was a significant step to ensure the nation’s food production and the availability of laborers in the fields.
On Sunday, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told the daily La Stampa, “The government will continue with determination to allow legal migration channels, benefiting important sectors of our economy.”
