Italy migrant worker visas 2024-25 information

Italy will offer 10,000 more migrant work visas next year for people caring for the elderly and disabled, the government said on Wednesday as it adopted a new package of migration rules.

Saddled with an aging population and a falling birth rate, Italy has long faced a shortage of healthcare workers, and charities including the Catholic group Sant’Egidio have lobbied the government to bring more of them from abroad.

The “experimental” additional quota for caregivers will add to the 452,000 work visas announced last year for the period 2023-2025 – representing an increase of almost 150% compared to the previous three years.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has adopted a series of measures to crack down on illegal arrivals, but has also expanded legal immigration channels in response to growing labor shortages.

Wednesday’s decree included another crackdown on sea rescue NGOs, signaling that charities using planes to spot migrant boats in distress must immediately inform authorities of their movements or risk punishment.

The measure mirrors what already applies to NGO boats, which are fined and ordered to remain grounded in port if Italian authorities decide that their rescue operations have not been properly coordinated with the coast guard.

The new decree also introduced stricter anti-fraud safeguards in the migrant visa system, after Meloni denounced that it had been infiltrated and fraudulently exploited by crime groups, including the mafia.

The government statement stated, among other things, that stricter controls would apply in 2025 on applications from countries considered to be at a higher risk of fraud, namely Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.