Work

Steps

1. Look for a job:
   • at a Centro per l'impiego (CPI, public employment agency): you need a SPID digital identity and a DID (declaration of immediate availability for work); each CPI has an EURES service;
   • on the Ministry of Labour's SIISL platform (siisl.lavoro.gov.it), where published offers must now state the CCNL applied and the pay linked to the qualification (art. 7, para. 6 of decree-law 62/2026, in force since 28/06/2026), and on the European EURES portal; the ministry's cliclavoro.gov.it site offers guides and news on work;
   • by applying directly to companies. ANPAL, the former national agency, was abolished on 1 March 2024: its tasks passed to the Ministry of Labour.
2. Prepare your papers: codice fiscale (sheet IT-NIF-TOUS-001), registration with the Comune if you stay more than 3 months (sheet IT-SEJOUR-TOUS-001), bank account for your salary (sheet IT-BANQUE-TOUS-001).
3. Read your written contract. It must state the employer, your position, the start date, the probationary period, the working hours, the salary and the applicable CCNL.
4. Identify the type of contract:
   • tempo indeterminato (permanent contract): the rule;
   • tempo determinato (fixed-term contract): 12 months at most without a reason; up to 24 months only in the cases provided by the CCNLs, to replace an employee, or, until 31 December 2026 and in the absence of cases provided by the CCNLs, for technical, organisational or production needs set by the parties in the collective agreements applied in the company. Beyond that, or after 24 months of successive fixed-term contracts with the same employer for duties of the same level and category, the contract becomes a permanent contract (unless the CCNLs provide otherwise, and for seasonal activities; a contract of 12 months or less can still be signed before the territorial labour directorate);
   • other forms: apprenticeship, temporary agency work, part-time, intermittent contract.
5. During probation (periodo di prova): 6 months at most (often less depending on the CCNL). For a fixed-term contract, it is proportional to the length of the contract; no new probation if your contract is renewed for the same tasks.
6. If you lose your job: apply for the NASpI online to the INPS (or through a patronato, a free assistance body) within 68 days, then go to the CPI within 15 days to sign the patto di servizio (job-search commitment).
7. Regulated profession (doctor, nurse, lawyer, architect, teacher, etc.): have your qualification recognised before practising.
8. Have your qualification recognised according to the use you want to make of it (in Italy, a foreign qualification has no legal value in itself, MUR):
   • private employment in a non-regulated occupation: no compulsory procedure, the employer assesses your qualification; a CIMEA statement of comparability (Italian ENIC-NARIC centre) can help. For qualifications from the 55 countries of the Lisbon Convention, comparability can be downloaded free of charge from the ARDI database; CIMEA then only offers verification of authenticity, on the CIMEA-Diplome platform: €150 incl. VAT per qualification, 60 working days after receipt of the complete file and payment. For a qualification from a country outside the Lisbon Convention, the statement of comparability costs €150 incl. VAT (60 working days; urgent procedure in 30 working days for €100 more), and comparability plus verification €300 incl. VAT (rates displayed by CIMEA-Diplome, consulted on 20/10/2026; protected page, to be confirmed on the site before paying);
   • full legal value (equipollenza, academic recognition): it is decided by the Italian university, within 90 days of the application; it can also let you enter partway through a course;
   • public-sector competitions (equivalenza): you can compete "subject to recognition"; if you succeed, you must submit your recognition application, within 15 days of publication of the final ranking and on pain of forfeiture, to the Ministry of University and Research or the Ministry of Education and Merit; the Public Administration Department then concludes the procedure (art. 38, para. 3 of d.lgs. 165/2001, text in force since 14/05/2025). It is only valid for taking part in public competitions. School teacher competitions follow another procedure.

Documents

• Valid identity document and codice fiscale.
• Written employment contract (copy given within 5 working days for a fixed-term contract of more than 12 days).
• Qualifications and employment certificates, with translation if requested.
• SPID or CIE for the online services of the CPI and the INPS (sheet IT-ADMINISTRATIONS-TOUS-001).
• If you have worked in another EU country before: the U1 form (certificate of your unemployment insurance periods), to be requested from the body in that country; the INPS may also request it itself.
• If you arrive unemployed from another EU country: the U2 form from your home body.

Costs and timelines

• Minimum wage: no statutory amount in 2026. EURES confirms that the law does not guarantee a minimum wage for everyone; the CCNL minimums apply in practice, including to non-union members. Law 144/2025 had delegated to the Government the generalisation of the minimums of the most widely applied CCNLs. In the end it is decree-law no. 62 of 30 April 2026 ("fair wage"), converted by law no. 112 of 25 June 2026, that sets the rule (art. 7): the "fair wage" is the trattamento economico complessivo of the CCNL signed by the comparatively most representative employers' and trade union organisations in the sector; another CCNL cannot provide for less, and in a sector with no agreement it is the CCNL closest to the activity that serves as the floor. The decree links this rule to access to hiring incentives; it does not create a single statutory hourly minimum wage.
• Working time: 40 hours per week (less if the CCNL so provides); 48 hours on average at most, overtime included, over 4 months (up to 6 or 12 months depending on the CCNL). Rest: 11 hours per day and 24 consecutive hours per week (EURES).
• Leave: at least 4 paid weeks per year; 2 weeks to be taken within the year (consecutively if you ask), the other 2 within the following 18 months. No payment in lieu, except at the end of the contract.
• 13th and 14th month payments (tredicesima, quattordicesima): provided by the CCNLs, not by a general law (EURES); check your agreement.
• NASpI 2026:
  • for employees who lose their job involuntarily, with at least 13 weeks of contributions in the last 4 years;
  • 75% of the average monthly salary of the last 4 years (different formula above a reference salary of €1,456.72), cap of €1,584.70 per month in 2026;
  • reduction of 3% per month from the 6th month of payment (from the 8th if you were 55 or older);
  • duration: half of the weeks contributed in the last 4 years;
  • application within 68 days of the end of the contract, on pain of losing the right.
• Unemployment benefit exported to Italy (U2): you must be fully unemployed and registered as a jobseeker for at least 4 weeks in the country you are leaving (exceptions are possible). In Italy, register with the CPI within 7 days from the moment you cease to be available to that country's employment services; it keeps paying you for at least 3 months, up to 6 depending on the paying body (Your Europe).
• Recognition of a qualification: equipollenza by the university, procedure of 90 days at most; equivalenza for a competition, application within 15 days after the final ranking (MUR, Public Administration). Foreign documents legalised (or with the Hague Convention apostille) and translated into Italian; according to the MUR, some EU countries are exempt from legalisation and, according to the university, documents in English, French or Spanish may be accepted without translation: the university or authority handling your file states what it requires.
• Recognition of a regulated profession: acknowledgement of receipt within 1 month, decision within 3 months after a complete file (European rule). Automatic recognition for doctors, general-care nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, architects and veterinarians.

Common pitfalls

• A contract without a CCNL. It is the agreement that sets your minimum wage, your bonuses and your notice period: ask which one applies and read its scale.
• Chaining fixed-term contracts. Beyond 12 months without a valid reason, or 24 months in total with the same employer for duties of the same level and category (unless the CCNLs provide otherwise, and for seasonal activities), your contract becomes a permanent contract: keep your contracts.
• Resigning and counting on the NASpI. It is aimed at involuntary loss of employment. Since 2025, if you resigned from a permanent contract in the previous 12 months, you need 13 weeks of contributions since that resignation (INPS).
• Letting the 68 days pass. After this period, the NASpI is lost.
• Confusing comparability and recognition of a qualification. For a non-regulated occupation, the employer alone assesses your qualification; for a regulated occupation, official recognition by the competent Italian authority is needed (European database of regulated professions).
• The "30 days of actual work" condition: it is obsolete: INPS circular no. 2 of 4 January 2022 states that this condition no longer applies to unemployment occurring from 1 January 2022; some old sources still cite it. What remains is the state of involuntary unemployment and 13 weeks of contributions in the previous 4 years (with, since 2025, 13 additional weeks after a resignation from a permanent contract in the previous 12 months).

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens: free access to employment, employed or self-employed (for the self-employed, sheet IT-ENTREPRISE-TOUS-001). Insurance periods from another EU country count towards the NASpI thanks to the U1 form.
• Swiss nationals: the free movement agreement in principle opens the Italian labour market to them; since 1 June 2002 the European social security coordination rules also apply to Switzerland (INPS, international aggregation), but the pages read do not describe the use of the former U1 and U2 forms for Switzerland: the INPS indicates the document to produce depending on your situation.
• British nationals (Scots included): since Brexit, a work permit or visa is in principle needed, except for those who were legally resident in Italy before 1 January 2021 (Withdrawal Agreement). Some employers ask for a British and Italian criminal record extract. Their qualifications may need to be recognised.
• Cross-border workers with Switzerland: specific tax agreement since 2024 (sheet IT-IMPOTS-TOUS-001).