Working in Rome: a practical guide for foreigners

1. First question: are you an EU citizen?

Your rights depend mostly on your citizenship. The two main groups are EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (free to live and work in Italy) and non-EU citizens (who need a work authorisation).

2. If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen

• You can stay in Italy for up to 3 months with no formalities, as long as you have a valid ID document (Legislative Decree 30/2007, art. 6).
• For stays longer than 3 months, an employee or self-employed worker has the right to stay (art. 7). You must register with the municipality (Comune) where you live once three months have passed since you entered Italy, and you will need to show proof of your work activity (art. 9).
• You do not need to ask the Questura for a residence card: registering with the Comune is enough for stays over three months.
• The decree also applies to EEA and Swiss citizens, according to a Ministry of the Interior circular (from 2007).

3. If you are from outside the EU

To work as an employee in Italy you generally need a work authorisation (nulla osta al lavoro) before you enter the country, and then a residence permit (permesso di soggiorno).

• Nulla osta: your future employer applies online to the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione (the immigration desk of the Prefecture) in the province where the job is. Before that, the employer must check with the local job centre that no suitable worker is available locally (Legislative Decree 286/1998, art. 22). You cannot apply for it yourself.
• Yearly quotas ("flussi"): most entries for work are limited by quotas. The current decree (DPCM of 2 October 2025, Official Gazette no. 240 of 15 October 2025) covers 2026-2028. The 2026 application days (click days) were held between 12 January and 18 February 2026. Applications can still be submitted until 31 December 2026, but only if quota is still available. Dates for 2027 and 2028 should be checked on the official sites.
• EU Blue Card: for highly qualified workers, outside the quotas. In general you need a higher-education qualification of at least 3 years (or an equivalent qualification, or 5 years of comparable professional experience), and a work contract or binding job offer of at least 6 months. The salary must not be lower than the national collective agreement and not lower than the ISTAT average gross annual pay (Legislative Decree 286/1998, art. 27-quater). Check the official sources for the current salary figure.
• Residence permit: after you arrive, the request for the permit must be made within 8 days of entering Italy. After a work nulla osta, the first permit is requested through the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione; for other cases the application may be sent with the postal kit available at Post Offices. The immigration office of the Questura di Roma is at Via San Vitale 15, 00184 Rome (Questura switchboard: 06 46861). Procedures and appointments can change: check the Polizia di Stato website.

4. Your Italian tax code (codice fiscale)

You need a codice fiscale for almost everything: contracts, bank account, health card. Who issues it depends on your case:

• Non-EU citizens entering for subordinate work: it is assigned by the Sportello Unico per l'Immigrazione.
• Non-EU citizens applying for or renewing a residence permit: it is assigned by the Questura.
• Foreigners already in Italy without one: you can ask any office of the Agenzia delle Entrate using form AA4/8 and an identity document (a valid passport, a valid residence permit, or an Italian ID card, among others).

5. Health care

• Non-EU workers with a regular permit who are employed, self-employed or registered as unemployed must register with the National Health Service (SSN), with the same treatment as Italians (Legislative Decree 286/1998, art. 34).
• EU citizens staying more than 3 months as employees or self-employed workers register with the SSN too, according to ASL Roma 1. Visitors under 3 months normally use the European Health Insurance Card (TEAM).
• Registration is done at your local health authority (ASL). The health card (tessera sanitaria) is free.

6. Finding a job

• Public job centres (CPI): once in Italy, you register with the public job centre (Centro per l'Impiego) nearest to where you live and make a declaration of immediate availability for work (DID). The online DID requires an Italian tax code and SPID or CIE. See our list of job centres in Rome and its province (in Italian).
• EURES: the European network of public employment services, for jobs across the EEA and Switzerland. Most services for jobseekers are free: eures.europa.eu.
• This site: we collect job ads for Rome and Lazio from several sources. Most are in Italian. Good starting points: remote jobs, tourism and hospitality, and the full search. Our salary pages show typical pay for jobs in Rome.
• Public-sector jobs: see public competitions in Lazio (most require Italian or EU citizenship: read each notice).

7. Your contract and your pay

• Written information: before you start, your employer must give you key information in writing or electronically: who the parties are, workplace, duties, start date, type of contract, probation, pay, hours, leave, notice and the collective agreement that applies. Usually this is done by giving you the written contract or a copy of the employment start notification. Anything missing must follow in writing within 7 days of starting (Legislative Decree 152/1997, as amended by Legislative Decree 104/2022).
• Fixed-term contracts must be in writing, and a copy given to you within 5 working days of starting, or the end date has no effect (Legislative Decree 81/2015, art. 19). This does not apply to jobs of 12 days or less.
• No general statutory minimum wage: in Italy pay is set mainly by national collective agreements (CCNL), based on art. 36 of the Constitution. A law on a legal minimum wage has not been approved.

More in Italian: types of contract, CCNL and payslip, NASpI unemployment benefit, and our guide to job scams.