Employers hiring non-EU nationals under Italy’s newly reformed Permesso Unico di Lavoro (Single Permit) need to rethink compliance timetables. An analysis published on 29 June by HR consultancy GEPS explains the impact of Legislative Decree 83/2026, which transposes EU Directive 2024/1233 and entered into force on 4 June 2026. The headline change is speed: once a complete application is filed, police headquarters (Questure) must issue the single permit within 30 days, down from 60. Combined with a 60-day deadline for the initial nulla osta (work authorisation) from the Immigration Single Desk, the overall first-entry process is now capped at 90 days.
![Single-Permit Reform Takes Effect: Italy Cuts Issue Time to 30 Days and Clarifies Work-Access Rules for Employers]()
For employers or assignees seeking extra help navigating these new, faster timelines, VisaHQ provides an online portal and dedicated specialists who can oversee the entire Italian visa and permit process—from paperwork checks to consular appointments—while offering real-time status tracking. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/italy/
Renewal times extend slightly—from 60 to 90 days—to give authorities more room to assess ongoing compliance. For employers the decree imposes new duties. Sponsors must keep foreign workers informed of every communication on their nulla osta file and, once the consulate has issued the entry visa, must reconfirm the employment request within 15 days or risk cancellation. Companies must also verify the validity and convertibility of any existing permits before onboarding a worker already in Italy; the generic “application in progress” will no longer suffice. The reform brings Italy in line with faster processing commitments across the EU and is expected to make the country more competitive for scarce talent, particularly in engineering and construction where project delays are costly. However, GEPS warns that HR departments will need tighter expiry tracking and earlier renewal starts to avoid inadvertent work without authorisation. In parallel, the Interior Ministry is developing a new biometric residence-permit card with enhanced security features, due for rollout in Q4 2026, signalling continued investment in modernising Italy’s migration infrastructure.
For employers or assignees seeking extra help navigating these new, faster timelines, VisaHQ provides an online portal and dedicated specialists who can oversee the entire Italian visa and permit process—from paperwork checks to consular appointments—while offering real-time status tracking. Learn more at https://www.visahq.com/italy/
Renewal times extend slightly—from 60 to 90 days—to give authorities more room to assess ongoing compliance. For employers the decree imposes new duties. Sponsors must keep foreign workers informed of every communication on their nulla osta file and, once the consulate has issued the entry visa, must reconfirm the employment request within 15 days or risk cancellation. Companies must also verify the validity and convertibility of any existing permits before onboarding a worker already in Italy; the generic “application in progress” will no longer suffice. The reform brings Italy in line with faster processing commitments across the EU and is expected to make the country more competitive for scarce talent, particularly in engineering and construction where project delays are costly. However, GEPS warns that HR departments will need tighter expiry tracking and earlier renewal starts to avoid inadvertent work without authorisation. In parallel, the Interior Ministry is developing a new biometric residence-permit card with enhanced security features, due for rollout in Q4 2026, signalling continued investment in modernising Italy’s migration infrastructure.
