Residence permits for Italy: introduction of the digital signature of the residence contract

Months after the amendments to Article 22 of Legislative Decree 286/98, which introduced the mechanism of digitally signing the residence contract by the employer who has requested a work authorization (nulla osta) for the entry of a non-EU worker, the option has finally been implemented by the Ministry of the Interior.

On the ALI Services Portal – through which applications for work authorization and family reunification are submitted and managed – the updated procedure has been published.

Once the nulla osta is issued, the worker must go to the competent Italian Consulate in their country of residence abroad to apply for a national visa.

After the national visa has been issued, the employer will automatically receive, at the PEC (certified email) address provided when submitting the nulla osta application, a communication informing them of the visa issuance and the procedural steps through which they must notify the Single Immigration Desk (SUI) of the date of the foreign worker’s entry into Italy.

When the worker has actually entered the national territory with the visa, the employer must log into the reserved area of the ALI Services Portal, select the relevant application (which will appear under the status “Registration of the foreigner”), and enter the required information regarding the entry point/border, date of entry into the national territory, and the visa number issued to the foreign worker. All this must then be transmitted through the ALI Services Portal to the competent SUI.

At the same time as completing this step, the employer should also receive via PEC the tax code assigned to the foreign worker, as well as another PEC with the residence contract attached, to be signed digitally.

The residence contract, digitally signed by the employer and the foreign worker (who may also use a handwritten signature), must then be uploaded and transmitted to the SUI through the ALI Services Portal.

The same procedure, in cases provided for by law, will apply for the signing of the Integration Agreement by the foreign worker.

Upon completion of the procedure, the SUI will send, again via PEC, to the employer Forms 1 and 2 for the residence permit application, which the worker must use at Post Offices to submit the residence permit application kit, and which must subsequently be presented to the competent Police Headquarters (Questura) for fingerprinting.

The regulatory changes, now implemented, are expected to make the process of applying for residence permits for non-EU workers more streamlined and faster, avoiding the previously mandatory in-person signing of the residence contract at the Single Immigration Desks, thereby saving time for both employers and workers.

In the coming weeks and months, it will be possible to assess how this new system functions and whether it has indeed brought benefits to the parties involved.

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The content of this article is intended to provide general information on the topic. For doubts or specific cases, it is advisable to seek specialized legal advice tailored to your particular situation.