Family permit applicants may work after filing application

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? Italy’s Ministry of Labor has confirmed that applicants for family permits may begin working once they have lodged their application.

What does the change mean? Family permit applicants will be able to start work once they have received a receipt of application from the post office. Previously, family permit applicants could not start work until they had obtained their residence permit.

• Implementation time frame: Immediate and ongoing.
• Visas/permits affected: Residence permits for dependent family members.
• Who is affected: Family members of principal residence permit holders who intend to work in Italy.
• Impact on processing times: Processing times themselves are not affected, but the change will allow family permit applicants to begin work months earlier than they previously could.
• Business impact: Employers may be able to move up start dates for family permit applicants.

Background: Italy generally allows residence permit applicants to work once their applications are lodged. Up until now, however, this was not true for family permit applicants, who had to wait until they had obtained their residence permit before beginning work. Officials adopted the change described above to harmonize the rules for principal residence permit applicants and family permit applicants.

BAL Analysis: The change is welcome news for family resident permit applicants, who previously had to wait months for their permit applications to be finalized before they could start work.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Italy. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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