No papers yet? Your route in Italy

This page makes you no promises. In Italy the routes without documents are narrow, and it is more honest to say that waiting is usually part of it. What follows is the order the system actually works in, and the things you can do today.

1. Italy is not Spain

In Spain the padrón is open without documents and starts the clock. In Italy residenza (registration at the anagrafe) is generally not open in the same way. [VERIFY] — ask your comune and a patronato what is possible in your situation; we make no general promise here. This difference is exactly why advice from another country goes wrong in Italy.

2. Guard the paper you do have

If you hold a ricevuta for a permesso application, that is a real document. Never leave it with an adviser or an employer. Photograph it, email it to yourself, and keep the original.

3. Patronato first, agent later (or never)

Applying for and renewing a permesso, family applications, social-security forms — a patronato does these and does not charge you for them. Anyone asking for money for the same tasks should be asked what they are doing that a patronato is not.

4. Work, and the record of it

Work does not give you documents, but keeping a record of it does two things: it makes a wage claim possible, and it helps show how long you have been here. Write down your hours daily, keep every busta paga, do not delete messages.

5. Flussi, and the people selling "places"

Italy periodically opens quotas for workers from abroad under a decreto flussi. [VERIFY] — the dates and conditions change every time and we print no date here. What matters is this: a “place” in the flussi, or a nulla osta, is not something for sale. Anyone offering to sell you one is robbing you.