In the Cdm

Migrants, towards approval of the flows decree: another 500,000 regular entries in three years

After the 450,000 for the three-year period 2023-2025. The government is preparing to launch the new flows decree establishing 164,850 quotas for 2026, 165,850 for 2027 and 166,850 for 2028. The measure should go to the Council of Ministers tomorrow and concerns seasonal and non-seasonal workers, domestic helpers and caregivers.

by Rome Editorial Staff

29 June 2025

3' min read

3' min read

A new 'flows decree', the decree of the Prime Minister's Office by which the entry quotas for regular migrants are defined, could arrive tomorrow in the Council of Ministers. The new Dpcm should allow 500,000 arrivals for the three-year period 2026-2028, 164,800 entries per year between seasonal and non-seasonal workers, domestic helpers and carers

Another 500,000 entries of foreign workers in three years. After the 450,000 in the three-year period 2023-2025. The government is preparing to launch the new flows decree establishing 164,850 quotas for 2026, 165,850 for 2027 and 166,850 for 2028. The measure should go to the Council of Ministers tomorrow and concerns seasonal and non-seasonal workers, domestic helpers and carers.

Flows related to labour needs

The Prime Minister's Decree aims to correlate the size of entry flows with labour market needs, consistent 'with the capacity to welcome and integrate foreign workers into local communities,' a draft reads. Collaboration with the countries of origin and transit of migratory flows to Italy will be incentivised in order to facilitate regular migration and counteract irregular migration. The entry of workers with high professional qualifications will also be incentivised.

The preferred quotas

Preferential quotas will be reserved "for workers from States which, also in cooperation with the Italian State, promote media campaigns for their nationals concerning the risks to personal safety deriving from involvement in irregular migratory trafficking, in accordance with agreements or understandings, however named, concluded on the matter with Italy, commensurating such quotas to the entries actually occurred for this reason in the previous three-year period".

The breakdowns

For non-seasonal employment and self-employment 76,850 persons are admitted for each of the three years. Domestic helpers and carers are admitted in the order of 13,600 for 2026, 14,000 for 2027 and 14,200 for 2028. For seasonal work the quotas are: 88,000 for 2026, 89,000 for 2027 and 90,000 for 2028. With the Meloni government, therefore, there are almost one million authorised entries of foreign workers in six years.

The actual numbers

But in reality the actual numbers are considerably lower. The latest monitoring of the Ero Straniero campaign shows that in 2024 only 7.8% of the entry quotas established by the government were transformed into residence permits and stable and regular employment: 9,331 applications for the entry of workers were finalised at the Italian prefectures out of a total of 119,890 quotas allocated during the year. In 2023 the percentage had been 13% (16,188 finalised applications out of 127,707 quotas allocated). With regard to the physical issuance of residence permits by the police headquarters, compared to the 2023 flows one year after the click days, there were 9,528 permits actually granted, with a success rate of the procedure compared to the quotas that dropped to 7.5%.

Hypothesis quotas on a regional basis

It remains to be seen whether the hypothesis of quotas divided on a regional basis, more in line with the real labour needs of the different territories, will find a place. Until now (2025 is the last year of the three-year decree 2023-2025), quotas have never been divided on a regional basis but in relation to the type of contract: seasonal workers, non-seasonal workers and those working in family and socio-health care. The regional distribution could be added to the previous ones, to strengthen the anti-cheating measures and avoid an excess of applications from some areas (as has happened in past years from Campania).