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WORKING IN ITALY

Digital nomad: What are the rules on working remotely from Italy?

Many jobs can now be done from anywhere with only a laptop and a decent wifi connection - but what are the rules if you want to work remotely in Italy for a company back in your home country?

Digital nomad: What are the rules on working remotely from Italy?
Working from home might be technically easy, but there other things to consider. Photo: Chris Delmas/AFP

Remote work, or even just working from home, was almost unheard of in Italy just a few years ago but that’s all changed since the pandemic.

These days it’s perfectly possible to be physically located in Italy while working remotely for a company based in the UK, the USA or elsewhere. More companies worldwide are open to the idea of remote working, and Italy’s internet connections are (gradually) improving.

So it seems easier than ever before to move abroad and take your existing job or freelance business with you.

But anyone considering doing this will also have to factor in paperwork: namely residency and work permits, and tax status.

What are the rules?

What you need to do depends on where you’re from and how long you intend to be in Italy for. 

If you want to live in Italy longer term, rather than just passing through for a short while, you’ll need to get some paperwork in order.

If you are an EU national, there will be no requirement to obtain a visa or work permit.

However, if you belong in this category you will need an Italian residence permit for stays longer than three months.

READ ALSO: Remote workers: What are your visa options when moving to Italy?

Person working on their laptop in a cafe

The rise in remote working means more people are looking to work temporarily in different countries. Photo: Alizée Baudez, Unsplash

If you’re from a country that doesn’t benefit from EU freedom of movement, you can take advantage of the 90-day rule, which means you can travel to Italy visa-free for up to 90 days in every 180.

See more details on these rules in a separate article here.

This may be enough if you only want to spend a short time in Italy before returning home. However, if you want to stay longer, you’ll most likely need a visa.

What type of visa will you need?

You might have heard the term Digital Nomad, which is usually used to describe someone spending a short time in a country, or moving between various countries while doing some short-term tech-based work – for example bloggers or Instagram influencers.

Italy doesn’t have a specific Digital Nomad visa – at least, not yet. One has been promised in Italy for some time, and was even approved in March 2022 – but the process has since stalled and there’s no sign of this visa becoming available any time soon.

And unfortunately the options available at the moment are not always viable for self-employed freelancers and remote workers, immigration law experts say.

The self-employment visa, or visto per lavoro autonomo, is the permit that most non-EU freelancers would probably expect to apply for when seeking to move to Italy for work. 

But successful applications are rare. So rare, in fact, that Costanza Petreni, a senior immigration consultant at specialist law firm Mazzeschi, says she actively discourages clients from taking this route.

READ ALSO: Italy confirms how many work permits it will grant in 2023

“We have so many clients asking for this type of application, because in the absence of a digital nomad visa there’s almost no other option. But what we tell them is it’s extremely hard and uncertain,” Petreni says.

As well as a low number of work permits available via this route (the limit has been set at 500 per year for the past few years) experts say another problem is the absence of clear guidance from consulates as to exactly what documentation applicants will need.

Here’s a breakdown of the visa options available at the moment for those hoping to work in Italy.

Find more information on the Italian Foreign Ministry’s visa website here, which details the visa requirements that may apply in your circumstances.

Will you need to pay Italian taxes?

This is often an area that trips people up if they work for international clients but live in Italy. Where do the taxes get paid to?

“If you live in Italy, you pay taxes in Italy,” clarifies tax expert Nicolò Bolla who runs Accounting Bolla.

If you’re a resident in Italy, your income will be subject to tax known as ‘Irpef’.

READ ALSO: Reader question: Do US nationals in Italy have to pay taxes twice?

For employees, the employer is also required to pay the social security contributions to Italian Social Security Authority (INPS) – even if the employer is based outside Italy.

Different tax rates apply for freelancers with tax breaks available to new residents – and of course, you’re responsible for paying social security contributions too. 

You’ll need to file an annual tax return in Italy as stipulated by the worldwide taxation principle, which dictates that you must report your worldwide income and therefore file your taxes in the country where you reside.

You shouldn’t be paying your taxes twice, however, according to Italy’s Inland Revenue or tax office (Agenzie delle Entrate).

“Italy has bilateral agreements with many foreign countries to avoid double taxation on income and capital. These agreements establish the range of the power of the two states to set taxes,” to the Italian tax authority’s website says.

Please note that The Local is unable to advise on individual cases. For more information on visa applications, consult the Italian embassy or consulate in your country or an immigration law professional.

Member comments

  1. A quick note for Americans…if you’re a 1099 freelancer, you can theoretically work for whomever from wherever, including 90 days in Italy. But if you’re a remote W2 employee for a US company, the IRS requires you to be physically present in the state you’re a resident of “the majority of the time.” So 98% of “remote” jobs are not “work from anywhere” positions, and would presumably require federal and probably state approval, not just permission from the Italian side. Given the complexities and the fact there’s already a freelance visa, I don’t think the digital nomad visa is likely to see daylight anytime soon, if ever.

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VISAS

How and why is Italy planning to reform its work visa?

After Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced plans to reform the country's work visa scheme, what's the problem with the current system and what is she planning to change?

How and why is Italy planning to reform its work visa?

Meloni on Tuesday announced plans to overhaul the country’s work visa system for non-EU nationals, saying it was being exploited by organised crime groups to smuggle in illegal migrants.

An analysis of the system had uncovered “alarming” data, she said in a cabinet briefing and video speech released by her office on the same day.

READ ALSO: Italy to reform work visa scheme over fears of mafia infiltration

In some regions, the number of applications was “totally disproportionate” to the number of potential employers, and “only a minimal percentage” of those who obtained a work visa actually signed an employment contract, she said.

“We are faced with a mechanism of fraud and circumvention of regular entry systems – with the heavy interference of organised crime – which we must stop and correct,” the prime minister added.

So how does Italy’s work visa system currently work, and why is it so vulnerable to abuse?

Decreto flussi

Every three years, Italy announces a quota of work visas known as the decreto flussi, or ‘flows decree’, with a set number of permits released each year.

These visas are almost entirely allocated to sectors for which there is a high need in Italy; mainly agricultural labour, caregiving, tourism, and heavy industry. Just a few hundred each year are reserved for other forms of work, like self-employment.

For that reason, immigration lawyer Nick Metta of Metta Studio Legale says he tells US-based clients hoping to move to Italy that it’s not worth applying through the decreto flussi – he compares making a successful application to winning the lottery.

It’s important to note that the decreto flussi is completely unrelated to Italy’s new digital nomad visa and the EU Blue Card for highly qualified workers, which aren’t subject to these quotas.

READ ALSO: Q&A: Your questions answered about Italy’s digital nomad visa

Despite coming to power in 2022 on an anti-immigration platform, Meloni’s government significantly raised the decreto flussi quotas: in 2023 the limit was 136,000, compared to around 31,000 in 2018 and 2019.

Giorgia Meloni has said she plans to reform Italy’s work visa scheme to combat criminal exploitation. Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP.

Nevertheless, the quotas remain massively oversubscribed: for the 151,000 places available in 2024, there were 690,000 applications, according to interior ministry data.

The days when applications open online are known as ‘click days’. The slots are typically exhausted within minutes of the submissions window opening, not unlike buying tickets for a music festival. 

Open to abuse

The applications – which can only be made by the prospective employer, not the employee – are then processed chronologically in the order in which they were received, on a first come, first served basis.

In theory, when an application is successful, the prospective employer accompanies the prospective employee to the immigration desk at the local prefettura (prefecture) within eight days of their arrival in Italy to sign a contratto di soggiorno, or employment contract, and complete the process.

In reality, no one’s really checking to make sure the employer actually goes through with this last part once the visa-holder has made it to Italy.

The migrant rights organisation Ero Straniero (‘I was a foreigner’), wrote in a report published last week that just 23.5 percent of all decreto flussi visas approved by Italy last year actually ended in the employer and employee signing a job contract.

This makes the system ripe for abuse: any ’employer’ can offer to put in an application for someone desperate for an Italian visa – for a price.

Meloni in her briefing on Tuesday said she’d heard of traffickers demanding payments of up to €15,000 for a work permit.

EU elections

The prime minister said she “didn’t hesitate” to lodge a complaint with Italy’s national anti-mafia and anti-terrorism prosecutor on Tuesday as soon as she learned of the likely involvement of organised crime in the decreto flussi system.

In reality, there are reports dating back over a decade of unscrupulous agents asking for large sums of money in exchange for filing an application, and the timing of Meloni’s speech, days before the EU elections, hasn’t gone unnoticed.

According to Italian newspaper Domani, Ero Straniero and other migrants rights organisations wrote to the interior ministry in March highlighting the problem and asking the government to intervene on behalf of migrant workers.

The organisation recommends that the government offer temporary stay permits for decreto flussi visa-holders waiting for a contract so they’re not left in a state of legal limbo.

Meloni’s focus on Tuesday, however, was firmly on clamping down on the illegal sale of work permits and closing a loophole that has created a “further channel for irregular immigration” – though how she planned to do so was unclear.

Without offering any detail, the prime minister said the government was “already working on a set of regulations to stop this phenomenon” that would be presented in an upcoming cabinet meeting.

Whether the government’s sudden interest in the issue is purely a question of shrewd electioneering, or whether it actually plans to take further action, will be revealed over the next few months.

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