Foreign workers who are subjected in Italy to serious wage abuse, illegal recruitment, degrading accommodation, unsafe working conditions or other forms of labour exploitation may have access to a specific immigration protection that is still not sufficiently known: the residence permit for “special cases” under Article 18-ter of the Italian Immigration Act. In 2026 this protection has become particularly important because the legislation now provides a longer initial duration, broader social protection and a clearer route towards a stable work or study permit.
When a labour dispute becomes exploitation
Not every dispute with an employer amounts to criminal labour exploitation. Unpaid overtime, delayed salaries or an unlawful dismissal may give rise to labour claims without necessarily activating the special immigration protection. Article 18-ter is aimed at more serious situations connected with the offence of unlawful labour intermediation and exploitation regulated by Article 603-bis of the Italian Criminal Code.
The law looks at concrete indicators of exploitation. These include repeated payment of wages that are clearly below the levels established by collective agreements or disproportionate to the work performed, systematic violations of working-time and rest rules, serious breaches of health and safety legislation, and working, surveillance or accommodation conditions that are degrading. The assessment is always based on the overall circumstances of the individual case, particularly where the employer or intermediary has taken advantage of the worker’s state of need or vulnerability.
This distinction is important for foreign nationals because exploitation often develops precisely where the worker believes that losing the job will also mean losing the right to remain in Italy. The legal framework is designed to break that dependence: immigration status must not become an instrument through which an employer or illegal intermediary can force a person to accept unlawful conditions.
The residence permit under Article 18-ter
Article 18-ter of Legislative Decree no. 286/1998 provides for a residence permit for foreign nationals who are victims of unlawful labour intermediation and exploitation. The permit may be issued by the Questore when situations of violence, abuse or labour exploitation emerge during police operations, inspections, investigations or criminal proceedings concerning the offence provided for by Article 603-bis of the Criminal Code.
The procedure does not necessarily depend on the worker personally filing a formal criminal complaint. The facts may also emerge through an investigation initiated by the authorities or through inspection activities carried out by the National Labour Inspectorate. What matters is that the exploitation is brought to the attention of the competent authorities and that the worker provides useful cooperation in clarifying the facts and identifying those responsible. The Public Prosecutor may propose the issue of the permit, while the Labour Inspectorate may express an opinion to the Questore and transmit the elements supporting that assessment.
This protection can therefore be relevant even for a worker who is in an irregular immigration position. Its purpose is not to reward irregular stay, but to ensure that a person who has been exploited can leave the abusive situation, cooperate with the authorities and begin a genuine path towards social and occupational independence.
How long the permit lasts in 2026
The rules were strengthened by the reforms introduced in 2025 and fully applicable in 2026. The Article 18-ter permit now has an initial duration of one year. It may be renewed for a further year and, where necessary, for the longer period required either by the social and occupational integration measures undertaken by the victim or by the requirements of justice.
The extension from the previous shorter duration is significant. A victim of exploitation often needs time not only to participate in the investigation but also to obtain accommodation, access healthcare, rebuild a lawful employment relationship, attend training and move away from the economic dependence that made the exploitation possible. A residence permit that is too short can undermine precisely the protection that the law intends to provide.
Work and other rights while the application is pending
One of the most useful aspects of the current system concerns the period before the physical residence permit is issued. Once the competent office has issued the receipt proving that the application for the Article 18-ter permit has been submitted, the foreign worker may lawfully remain in Italy and may temporarily work while the procedure is pending, unless the public security authority subsequently communicates the existence of grounds preventing the issue of the permit.
The protection is therefore intended to avoid a legal vacuum in which a person escapes exploitation but immediately becomes unable to work. The permit gives access to employment, including subordinate and self-employed work, education and training, registration with employment services and the other social and assistance measures provided by law. The current framework also allows holders of residence permits for “special cases”, including Article 18-ter permits, to access the Inclusion Allowance under the special rules clarified by INPS in 2026.
Where the statutory conditions are satisfied, protection may also extend to members of the worker’s family present in Italy through the issue of a residence permit for family reasons. This aspect is particularly important in cases in which threats, economic dependence or housing vulnerability affect not only the worker but the entire household.
Can the Article 18-ter permit become a normal work permit?
Yes. The Article 18-ter permit is not necessarily the final stage of the immigration path. At its expiry it may be renewed, but it may also be converted into a residence permit for subordinate or self-employed work. The conversion into a work permit is expressly possible outside the numerical quotas of the annual Flows Decree. It may also be converted into a study permit where the holder is enrolled in a regular course of study.
This is one of the most important practical consequences of the protection system. A worker who has emerged from exploitation does not have to return to the same dependency that produced the abuse and does not have to wait for a click day merely to regularise a genuine new employment relationship. If the legal conditions are met, the transition from protection to ordinary employment can take place through a specific route that is independent of the ordinary quota mechanism.
What an exploited worker should do
A person who believes that he or she is being exploited should, whenever safely possible, preserve evidence relating to the employment relationship: contracts, messages, payslips, bank transfers, records of hours worked, photographs of working or accommodation conditions and the names of people who can confirm what happened. The absence of a formal written contract does not make protection impossible, because exploitation frequently takes place precisely in undeclared or irregular employment relationships.
The worker can contact the Labour Inspectorate, law-enforcement authorities, a trade union, a specialised anti-exploitation service or a lawyer. The correct route depends on the facts. In some cases the priority will be immediate personal safety; in others it will be an inspection, a criminal investigation, recovery of unpaid wages or the activation of the Article 18-ter residence procedure. These remedies may operate together and should not be confused with a simple application to regularise immigration status.
It is equally important to understand what Article 18-ter is not. It is not an automatic residence permit for anyone who has had a difficult employment relationship, nor is it a general amnesty for irregular workers. The competent authorities must identify elements of violence, abuse or exploitation within the legal framework connected with Article 603-bis of the Criminal Code. Precisely for this reason, early documentation and qualified legal assistance can make a decisive difference.
A protection that separates immigration status from exploitation
The Italian system has increasingly recognised that the fight against irregular migration and the fight against labour exploitation cannot be pursued as if they were unrelated. An employer or intermediary who uses a worker’s fear of losing the right to stay in Italy gains an unlawful form of control that can make exploitation extremely difficult to report. Article 18-ter addresses that problem by giving the victim a legal position independent from the exploiter and by creating a path from protection to lawful employment.
For foreign workers, families and professionals assisting them, the practical message is therefore clear: serious labour exploitation is not merely an employment-law problem. In the situations covered by the law, it can activate a specific residence right, immediate access to protection measures and, subsequently, the possibility of converting that status into a stable work or study permit. Knowing that such a route exists is often the first condition for making the protection effective.
Avv. Fabio Loscerbo
Avvocato Cassazionista
Iscritto nel Registro dei rappresentanti di interessi della Camera dei deputati in materia di Immigrazione
Lobbista registrato presso il Registro per la Trasparenza dell’Unione europea n. 280782895721-36 in materia di Migrazione e Asilo
ORCID: 0009-0004-7030-0428
Articolo redatto con l’ausilio di strumenti di AI, sotto la direzione, revisione e responsabilità editoriale dell’autore.
