Waiting for an Italian residence permit does not automatically prevent a foreign national from working. In 2026, Italian law expressly protects the right to work while a valid application for the first issue, renewal or conversion of a residence permit is pending. Recent legislative changes have strengthened this protection and clarified several practical points that are important both for workers and employers.
The receipt is not just proof of an appointment
Article 5, paragraph 9-bis, of Legislative Decree no. 286/1998 provides that, while the procedure for the issue, renewal or conversion of a residence permit is pending, the foreign national remains lawfully in Italy and may exercise the rights connected with lawful stay, including the right to work, provided that the application has been properly submitted.
The receipt proving submission of the application is therefore a legally relevant document. It is not merely an administrative acknowledgment. For employment purposes, it allows the worker to demonstrate that the residence procedure is still pending.
This protection now expressly covers three situations: the first issue of a residence permit, the renewal of an existing permit, and the conversion from one type of residence permit to another.
Employers can hire a worker who is waiting for the permit
An employer may lawfully hire a foreign national who is waiting for the issue, renewal or conversion of a residence permit. The mandatory employment communication must still be completed through the ordinary channels.
For ordinary employment, the employer must send the UNILAV communication within the applicable deadline. For domestic workers, the employment relationship must be reported to INPS. The residence permit receipt should be kept together with the employment documentation because it proves that the immigration procedure has been regularly activated.
The fact that the plastic residence card has not yet been delivered is therefore not, by itself, a lawful reason to refuse employment.
What if the receipt itself shows an expiry date?
Since late 2024, receipts issued in connection with electronic residence permit applications may indicate a procedural expiry date, normally calculated up to a maximum of nine months from acceptance of the application.
This date must not be confused with the final decision on the residence permit. According to the official guidance updated in 2026, an employment relationship may continue even after the procedural expiry date printed on the receipt when the delay depends on the administration and the application is still pending.
The worker must remain available for any appointment, fingerprinting request or document request from the Questura and must provide the final residence permit once it has been issued.
A residence permit close to expiry is not a lawful reason to exclude a candidate
A particularly important decision was issued by the Labour Court of Milan on 15 January 2026. The Court held that it may be discriminatory to exclude a non-EU candidate from recruitment simply because the remaining validity of the residence permit is shorter than the proposed employment contract.
The employer must verify that the worker is lawfully staying in Italy, but cannot automatically treat the approaching expiry date as if it were an immediate loss of the right to work. Where the renewal application is duly submitted, employment may continue while the administrative procedure is pending.
This distinction is important in practice because residence permits and employment contracts do not need to have identical expiry dates.
The 2026 reform changed the timing of residence permit procedures
Legislative Decree no. 83 of 16 April 2026, which entered into force on 4 June 2026 and implemented Directive (EU) 2024/1233 on the single permit, introduced new procedural deadlines.
For the first issue of a single work permit, the Questura must issue the permit within 30 days from completion of the application. For renewals and the ordinary residence permit procedures covered by Article 5 of the Immigration Act, the statutory procedural period is now 90 days instead of 60.
The reform also moved the statutory reference period for submitting a renewal request from 60 to 90 days before expiry. Foreign nationals should therefore organise renewal documentation well in advance and should not wait until the last days of validity of the permit.
Conversion applications are also protected
The right to work while waiting is particularly important in conversion procedures. A foreign national who has properly submitted an application to convert a residence permit may, where the legal requirements for the new employment relationship are satisfied, work while the administration completes the procedure.
This principle is especially relevant for workers converting a seasonal work permit into a non-seasonal employment permit. The worker does not necessarily have to remain unemployed while waiting for the decision: once the conversion application has been properly submitted and the required employment communication has been made, the new employment activity may begin under the conditions provided by law.
What happens if the application is rejected?
The protection linked to the pending application lasts while the administrative procedure remains legally pending. If the application for issue, renewal or conversion is definitively rejected and the rejection becomes effective, the right to work based on the pending application ceases.
Where a refusal is received, it is therefore essential to examine immediately whether an administrative or judicial remedy is available and whether the legal conditions exist to preserve the effects of lawful stay during the challenge.
Practical documents to keep
A worker waiting for a residence permit should keep copies of the previous residence permit, the application receipt, passport, appointment notices, any communications received from the Questura and the employment documentation. Employers should retain the documents used to verify the worker’s immigration status together with the UNILAV or INPS employment communication.
Long administrative waiting times should not, by themselves, force a lawfully resident foreign national out of employment. The current rules are designed precisely to avoid a bureaucratic delay becoming an unjustified interruption of work and income.
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.
