Decreto Flussi 2027: quotas, click days and nulla osta

What the Decreto Flussi 2027 is, in plain words

Raj runs a small restaurant in via Padova, in the Padova district, and has been looking for a cook for his second kitchen for months. Few candidates come through, and his recipes need skilled hands: he would like to bring his brother-in-law over from Bangladesh, but every time he opens his computer he finds hard words — nulla osta, click day, Portale ALI, quota. He is not the only one. Every autumn our patronato hears from restaurateurs, families and small businesses in Milano with the same question: how do you bring someone from abroad to work here?

The answer is called Decreto Flussi: it is the measure by which the Government decides how many foreign citizens may enter Italy to work. For the three-year period 2026-2028 the reference is the D.P.C.M. of 2 October 2025, published in Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 240 of 15 October 2025: 497,550 entries over three years, of which 165,850 for 2027 alone. The operating rules — how the application is filled in and when it is sent — are set out in interministerial circular no. 8047 of 16 October 2025.

The 2027 quotas: how many places and for which sectors

The 165,850 entries planned for 2027 are not all the same: each sector has its own slice and its own submission day. Here is the breakdown set out in the decree:

• 89,000 places for seasonal work, in the agricultural and tourism sectors
• 76,200 places for non-seasonal subordinate work: restaurants, transport and logistics, construction, retail, industry, healthcare and social care, among the other sectors listed in the decree
• 650 places for self-employment
• of the 76,200 non-seasonal places, 14,000 are reserved for family care: domestic workers, carers (badanti) and family assistants

The sectors looking for people in Milano

In the city the decree touches above all three worlds. Restaurants: the places in via Padova and across Milano look for cooks, pizza chefs and kitchen staff all year, not only in summer. Logistics: warehouses and couriers on the eastern side need storekeepers and drivers, and here the model is non-seasonal work. Then the families, looking for domestic workers and carers for elderly people and children: it is the demand we hear most often at the counter.

Self-employment: 650 places

They are reserved for those who open something of their own: entrepreneurs with an investment plan of at least 500,000 euro that creates at least three new jobs, self-employed professionals with regulated professions or professions represented by national associations, members of company boards, artists of clear reputation and those setting up an innovative start-up. Few places, but the road exists.

The 2027 click days: the dates to mark in your diary

The click day is the moment when the applications already filled in actually go off. The dates are fixed by the decree and apply to every year of the three-year period, always at 9:00 in the morning:

• Tuesday 12 January 2027: seasonal work in agriculture (form C-STAG for the agricultural sector)
• Tuesday 9 February 2027: seasonal work in tourism (form C-STAG for the tourism sector)
• Tuesday 16 February 2027: non-seasonal subordinate work, so restaurants, logistics and the other sectors (form B2020)
• Thursday 18 February 2027: family care, domestic workers and carers (form A-BIS)

Applications may be sent until 31 December 2027, but only if places are still available: in the most sought-after categories the race closes within the first hours of the click day. Before the click day, though, there is another date that counts, that of the pre-filling: the Ministry of the Interior opens the Portale ALI a few weeks earlier to fill in the forms and save them as a draft. For the 2026 cycle the window ran from 9:00 on 23 October to 20:00 on 7 December 2025; for 2027 the dates will come with the next interministerial circular.

From the click day to the permit: how it works in Milano

After the click the real procedure begins, which in Milano goes through the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione of the Prefettura. Let us look at the steps in the order in which they happen.

1. The allocation of the quota and the nulla osta

Not all applications go off together: the Ministry of Labour distributes the quotas by province and sector within 10 days of the click day, and from that moment your application is «allocated to the quota». The terms of the Sportello Unico start from there: 20 days for seasonal work and 60 days for non-seasonal, at the end of which, without a decision, silent consent (silenzio-assenso) applies. For some nationalities — including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Morocco and Sri Lanka — the route of the opinions instead applies, with the Questura and the Ispettorato territoriale del Lavoro, and in that case silent consent does not apply: the time gets longer, but the application moves forward.

2. The Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione in Milano

The Sportello Unico in Milano is at Corso Monforte 31 and does not receive at the counter: you go only by appointment, booked online through the Portale Servizi ALI with the application identifier. That is where you collect the communication of the nulla osta and sign the following steps. We follow the application from before the click day and, when needed, we also help you book the right appointment.

3. After the nulla osta: visa, entry and contract

The nulla osta does not close the application: it is the start of the fast part. Here is what happens next, with the updated terms:

• the employer confirms their request by PEC within 15 days: without this confirmation the nulla osta lapses
• the worker applies for the entry visa at the Italian consulate: it must be requested within 6 months of the issue of the nulla osta, otherwise the nulla osta lapses
• within 15 days of entry into Italy the contratto di soggiorno for subordinate work is signed together with the employer (the term was 8 days, decree-law no. 146 of 2025 raised it to 15)
• with the contratto di soggiorno you apply for the residence permit for work at the Questura

The folder to prepare before the click day

Back to Raj and his brother-in-law: the difference between an application that goes off and one that gets stuck is almost always a missing sheet of paper. The folder to put together is simpler than it looks, but every detail must match the documents, letter by letter.

• the worker's passport, valid, with the personal details written exactly as on the document
• the employer's identity document and tax code
• proof of accommodation: housing suitability certificate and declaration of hospitality, tenancy agreement or transfer of property
• the details of the employment contract: role, level, pay and the applicable collective agreement, for example the one for tourism or logistics
• the asseverazione of the contract, when the rule requires it
• the check of unavailability of workers registered at the Centro per l'impiego, for non-seasonal work
• the employer's SPID or CIE and a PEC registered in INI-PEC (companies) or INAD (individuals)

What more is needed for domestic workers and carers

For family care the heart of the file is the employer's income requirement: 20,000 euro a year for those hiring alone, 27,000 euro when the income is added to that of the spouse. The only case where it is not needed is the care of a person who is not self-sufficient, certified by the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale. On top of that come suitable accommodation and, apart from that case, the asseverazione of the contract.

With us the first consultation at the office is free: bring what you have and we tell you straight away whether the paperwork is in order or what is missing, without waiting for the click day to find out.

Five mistakes that cost you the place

These are the mistakes we see repeated every year, the ones that turn a good idea into twelve months of waiting:

• turning up on the click day with no pre-filling: the application is not filled in in that hour, and whoever has no ready draft is left watching
• leaving a detail that does not match, such as a surname or a passport number written differently from the document: the application stops exactly when the places are running out
• choosing the wrong form: domestic workers and carers have form A-BIS and their own click day, not the companies' one
• forgetting the income requirement or suitable accommodation: for family care these are two knots that get untied weeks in advance, not the night before
• trusting those who promise a guaranteed place or ask for money to «unblock» the queue: the application is filed only by the employer and nobody can sell a faster submission

All things considered, there is only one right road: preparing early and with someone who knows the way. If your case is Raj's or that of a family looking for a carer, the time to move is now: book an appointment at our patronato and in an hour you know exactly where things stand.

The questions that reach us most often at the counter

Here you find the five questions we hear repeated most often about the Decreto Flussi 2027. If your situation is different, it is worth talking about it in person: we receive at Via privata Atene 6, 20132 Milano, Padova district, by appointment only, or write to us on WhatsApp.