Legal status in Italy: how to choose a legal basis for your stay

This page will help you understand on what basis you can stay in Italy and where to go next. It compares the main grounds and lists the changes. Step-by-step explanations of temporary protection are on a separate page.

# What does a legal stay in Italy mean?

You are staying in Italy legally if you have a valid residence permit (permesso di soggiorno), a receipt for your application for one, or a visa-free period. Permits are issued by the Questura (the provincial police headquarters).

Ukrainian citizens with a biometric passport can stay without a visa for up to 90 days from entering the Schengen area. If you entered through another Schengen country and your passport has no Italian stamp, file a declaration of presence (dichiarazione di presenza) with the Questura within 8 working days. If you want to stay longer than 90 days, apply for a residence permit within the same period.

While a permit is being issued, renewed or converted, the law allows you to stay in Italy legally with the receipt for your application. A tax code (codice fiscale) does not give you the right to stay, and the law provides for residence registration (residenza anagrafica) for foreigners who are already staying legally. How these documents are connected is explained on the page Documents for living in Italy.

# How do the grounds for staying differ?

The grounds differ in how you get the permit, how long it is issued for, whether you can work and whether they lead to an EU long-term residence permit.

Quotas for entry for work (decreto flussi) are set by the government: for 2026, 164,850 places for employment, seasonal and non-seasonal, and for self-employed people; for 2027, 165,850; for 2028, 166,850. Within the non-seasonal quotas there is a shared quota of 25,000 places a year for citizens of 38 countries on a special list, which includes Ukraine. The quotas apply to people who live abroad. For those who already have temporary protection in Italy, the law provides for converting the permit (see below).

# How does your status affect work?

Your right to work comes from your residence permit, and with temporary protection already from the receipt for your application. While any permit is being renewed or converted, you can work with the receipt. A family permit gives you the right to work as an employee and as a self-employed person.

An applicant for international protection whose application was registered on or after 12 June 2026 can work after 90 days if the procedure has not been completed and the delay is not their fault. Holders of refugee status and subsidiary protection work on the same terms as Italian citizens. More about work on the page Work in Italy.

# Can you bring your family?

It depends on your status: with temporary protection, ordinary family reunification is closed, while with a work permit or an EU long-term residence permit it is possible if you meet the income and housing conditions.

The temporary protection rules cover family members: a husband or wife or a long-term partner, unmarried minor children and dependent relatives who lived with you as one household. Within temporary protection, you can be reunited only with family members who are outside the EU. Ordinary family reunification under Article 29 of the Immigration Act does not apply to holders of temporary protection.

For ordinary reunification you need:

• income from legal sources of at least the annual amount of the social allowance (assegno sociale), increased by half of that amount for each family member you bring; in 2026 the annual amount of the assegno sociale is €7,101.12;
• housing that meets health and habitability requirements.

You can bring a husband or wife aged 18 or over, minor children, adult dependent children with a total disability and dependent parents under the conditions set by law. The permit (nulla osta) for reunification must be issued within 150 days; until 4 October 2025 the deadline was 90 days. Refugees are reunited with their family without income or housing requirements.

# Can you switch from temporary protection to another permit?

Yes, to a work permit, if you are actually working. Since 1 January 2024 the law has allowed you to convert a temporary protection permit into a work permit “for the work you are actually doing”, and since 2025 you can also do this during renewal. You submit the application pack (kit) at a post office with the Sportello Amico service (the Poste Italiane counter that accepts permit applications). The conversion costs €16 for a revenue stamp (marca da bollo), a €30 postal fee, €30.46 for the electronic card and a fee of €40 or €50 depending on the validity of the work permit.

Conversion opens the way to ordinary family reunification and, later, to an EU long-term residence permit, which are closed to holders of temporary protection. We have not found rules on converting temporary protection into a study permit or a family permit: the law provides only for conversion into a work permit.

# When does temporary protection end?

Protection ends, among other cases, when the EU Council decides to end it, when you are granted international protection or when you move to another EU country. What to do if your permit has simply expired is explained on the page about temporary protection.

# What changed in 2025–2026?

There is no single new law on legal status; individual rules have changed:

• On 27 December 2024 Decree-Law 202/2024, approved by a law in February 2025, provided that temporary protection permits expiring on 31 December 2024 are renewed only at the holder’s request, until 4 March 2026; that a permit can be converted into a work permit during renewal; and that most of the 2022 temporary protection rules are extended until 31 December 2025.
• On 15 July 2025 the EU Council extended temporary protection until 4 March 2027.
• On 4 October 2025 the law allowed people to work while their application to convert a permit is being processed, and extended the deadline for issuing a family reunification permit from 90 to 150 days.
• On 15 October 2025 the quotas for 2026–2028 were published; Ukraine is one of 38 countries with a shared quota of 25,000 places a year.
• On 1 March 2026 the extension of medical care for people from Ukraine until 31 December 2026 came into force.
• On 22 May 2026, for ordinary permits, a renewal application must now be filed at least 90 days before the permit expires (previously 60), and applications for issue, renewal or conversion must be decided within 90 days (previously 60). The new single permit for residence and work (permesso unico) is issued within 30 days; it does not apply to holders of temporary protection.
• On 12 June 2026 applicants for international protection gained the right to work 90 days after their application is registered (previously 60 days after it was filed).
• On 5 August 2026 the EU Council decision of 30 July 2026 came into force: protection was extended until 4 March 2028, and anyone who did not have protection in Italy on 4 August 2026 or did not keep it without a break must confirm that they meet their military obligations in Ukraine or are exempt from them, if they have such obligations.
• On 27 August 2026 the Questura in Arezzo updated its page: permits are renewed until 4 March 2028. As of 13 October 2026, other Questura offices still give 2027.

# What about Italian citizenship?

You can apply for citizenship by residence after 10 years of legal residence in Italy, or after 5 years for stateless persons. You are legally resident if you have a residence permit and are registered in the population register (anagrafe). You need to know Italian at level B1 or higher.

Marriage to an Italian citizen shortens the period: you can apply after 2 years of legal residence in Italy after the marriage (3 years if the couple lives abroad); if you have children, these periods are halved.

# When do you need a lawyer?

You need an immigration lawyer in Italy when your case goes beyond the general rules:

• you were refused conversion of your permit, or your application is taking longer than the deadline;
• your permit has expired and you did not apply for renewal;
• you are deciding whether to ask for international protection while you hold temporary protection;
• you have a dispute over proof that you meet your military obligations;
• your permit is being revoked or you face expulsion;
• you were refused citizenship.

For people on low incomes, the law provides state-funded legal aid (patrocinio a spese dello Stato) in civil and administrative cases if their claims are not clearly unfounded. Foreigners who were staying legally in Italy when the relationship or event that the case is about arose also have this right. The income limit is €13,659.64 a year, and the incomes of family members are added together. Disputes over a refusal of family reunification or of a family permit are heard by the ordinary court.

Kompanion does not provide legal services and does not recommend lawyers.

# What mistakes should you avoid?

• Expecting your temporary protection permit to be extended by itself: you must ask for renewal.
• Thinking that the military obligations requirement applies only to new applicants: it applies to anyone who did not have protection in Italy on 4 August 2026 or did not keep it without a break.
• Taking the date 31 July 2026 from the Questura in Arezzo page: under the corrected text of the EU Council decision, the requirement applies from 5 August 2026.
• Treating the codice fiscale or residence registration as a residence permit.
• Counting on ordinary family reunification or an EU long-term residence permit without switching from temporary protection to another permit.
• Moving to another EU country without knowing the consequences: you lose temporary protection in Italy when you do.

# What has not yet been officially confirmed?

Several questions have not yet been officially clarified:

• we have not found an Italian act on renewing temporary protection permits until 2028;
• the legal provisions on conversion expressly name only permits that expired on 31 December 2023 and 31 December 2024; Questura offices accept conversions of permits renewed until 2027 or 2028, but there is no separate provision for them;
• whether years under temporary protection count toward the five-year period for an EU long-term residence permit and the ten-year period for citizenship.

We will update this page as soon as clarifications appear.