ITALY - New immigration decree enters into force

The Immigration Decree no. 130/2020 has been published into the official gazette on 21/10/2020 entering into force 22/10/2020

The decree provides for several changes to the current Immigration law and partly cancels/modifies the provisions introduced in 2018 by the controversial  “security and immigration decree” - also known as Salvini decree. 

The new decree provides for:

• Reforming the migrants reception system
• More favourable conditions to apply for humanitarian protection, special protection
• Possibility of asylum seekers to register as resident with the city council
• Possibility to convert some residence permits, including elective residence, pending citizenship application, calamity, special protection and others into residence permits allowing work
• Reduction of processing time for citizenship applications for naturalization and marriage from 48 months to 36 months (the term was raised from 24 months to 48 months by the previous Salvini decree)
• Reduced fees for NGOs that violate the sailing ban

In particular, it is confirmed that the following residence permits (permessi di soggiorno) can now be converted into permits for work reasons:

• Permit for special protection - permesso  di  soggiorno  per  protezione  speciale under certain conditions
• Permit for calamity  - permesso di  soggiorno  per  calamita'
• Permit for elective residence - permesso  di  soggiorno  per  residenza  elettiva, but only those issued to retirees with an Italian pension
• Permit  for pending citizenship application or pending recognition od stateless status - permesso di soggiorno per acquisto della cittadinanza o  dello stato di apolide
• Permit for sport activity - permesso  di  soggiorno  per  attivita'  sportiva
• Permit for artistic work - permesso di soggiorno per lavoro di  tipo  artistico
• Pemrit for religious reasons - permesso  di  soggiorno  per   motivi   religiosi
• Permit for assisting minors - permesso  di  soggiorno  per  assistenza   minori

Also, it is confirmed that for citizenship applications for naturalization and marriage filed after the date of entry into force of the decree (22 October 2020) processing times are reduced from 48 months to 36 months