As required by the Italian law, the Government prepared and issued the so-called Flows Decree or, in Italian, Decreto Flussi (Prime Minister's Decree of 29 December 2022 published in the Official Gazette on 26 January). This is a regulatory act, revised and issued annually (usually in January), which establishes the quotas allowed for the entry into Italy of non-EU workers for subordinate, self-employed, seasonal work and for conversions of permits already issued by the Italian authorities.

The information hereafter will therefore not refer to those workers for whom work permit issuance procedures are based on particular job titles (e.g., managers, specialised workers, students, etc.).

A total of 82,705 foreign citizens resident in non-EU countries will be admitted to Italy for the current year. The largest share of it is reserved for seasonal work. Exclusively the following sectors are included in seasonality for the purposes of flows: agriculture, tourism and hotels.

In detail, the government reserved 38,705 entries for non-seasonal and self-employment.

This year's decree is particularly noteworthy because:

• provides a procedure for verifying the unavailability of workers with the skill set needed and currently unemployed already available in Ita...