I might be wrong, but I thought that what they issue in Italy is just confirmation that you can be useful to the country’s economy. And quotas are taken into account when issuing visas, not permits. Or is that not the case?
Quotas for self-employment (lavoro autonomo) are a whole other story. They allocate 500 spots a year; rumor has it that before COVID, in the fattest years there were about 2,500 — and even then they weren’t always filled completely. About 90–95% of people who go this route need the quota; exceptions exist only for a small, specific list of professions.
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Thanks, that makes it clearer. So for a typical freelancer (libero professionista) the quota is almost always mandatory, and the chance of running into that 500‑place limit is quite real?
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Yes, a quota is required for a self-employed professional almost always — exceptions are only for a specific, small list of professions, and ordinary freelancing isn’t included. I’ve come across assistants who say otherwise, claiming you can go through outside the quotas — in my experience that’s a way to push people into buying immigration services. I don’t believe it.
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I have an unregulated profession — IT consultant — and I applied under the quotas. I used to think they don’t even try with regulated professions, and that all unregulated ones go through the chamber of commerce instead of a separate regulatory authority. From my experience: 10 days after submitting I received an email requesting additional documents, and 7 days later they issued a D visa.
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A construction engineer in Italy is a regulated profession — professione regolamentata, Ordine degli Ingegneri. For regulated professions there really is a list of quota exemptions, but you first need qualification recognition through the ministry. I helped with the paperwork — it took the person four months just to get their diploma recognized; before that there’s no point even talking about the visa.
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A lawyer is a regulated profession — you need to be registered with the Bar association (Ordine degli Avvocati), and you can’t register as self-employed (lavoro autonomo) there to work for other countries without an Italian license. I found this out when I was looking for a specialist for my cases — it turned out they can’t officially handle cases if they’re not listed with the Italian Ordine (Ordine degli Avvocati), even if they formally work for a foreign client. You can find a list of regulated professions, but it’s not straightforward — in my experience it’s better to check directly with the relevant Ordine; they answered my question quickly.
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Accounting services, by the way, are also a tricky matter — dottori commercialisti are a “professional order”, i.e. a regulated profession. But there’s a nuance: some accounting tasks can be provided even without being registered in the albo; I found this out for one person. However, core work with taxes and annual financial statements is still off-limits without professional status.
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For unregulated IT professions a partita IVA (VAT number) is mandatory — it’s the equivalent of a sole proprietorship (ИП). Camera di Commercio (Chamber of Commerce) is a different matter: a libero professionista (self‑employed professional) in IT doesn’t fall under it; it’s only for commercial activities involving goods. When I looked into this, I was told that IT consulting without selling goods is treated as a professional service and Camera di Commercio is not needed.
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