Generally speaking, in Italy there is an annual quota established by the Government that allows to a determinate number of foreign citizens to come and work in Italy. Some categories of people can enter Italy without following this rule.

The following categories included in art 27 letter a) of the Legislative Decree nr. 286/1998 are allowed to apply for a work permit for subordinate positions out of the quotas laid down by the Government:

Executives or highly qualified employees Executives or highly qualified employees of companies with main or secondary offices in Italy, or representation of foreign companies having their main place of business in the territory of a member State of the World Trade Organization, or foreign executives of Italian companies or of companies from another Member State of the European Union (art. 27 of the Legislative Decree nr. 286/1998, letter a).

The “Regolamento di attuazione” of Immigration Law art. 40 defines the following cathegories of people:

The executive or the highly qualified employee with specific knowledges (Art 27 letter a of the Legislative Decree nr. 286/1998) who will be seconded to Italy must be highly specialized in his/her professional domain of activity and must have at least six months of experience in such sector before the date of the secondment (GATS agreement operative in Italy by the Law 29 Dicembre 1994 n. 747 following the Uruguay Round acts decidet in Marrakech on April 15th 1994 ). Temporary intra-company transfer, linked to the real Company needs, cannot be longer than five years included the annual renewals. At the end of the assignment, the Company in Italy can directly employ the specialized person with an open-ended or fixed term contract.

In 1994 Italy validated and made operative with the Law 29 dicembre 1994, n. 747 actconcerningthe results of Uruguay Round negotiations (Marrakech April 15th 1994).

With those negotiates European Union took some obligations with other Countries even regarding the free circolation of people.

In particular, temporary transfer of some cathegories of people cannot follow under the economic needs tests.

The dispensation regards Executives and people with particular and precise specializations and qualifications:

Persons working within a juridical person who possess uncommon knowledge essential to the establishment’s service, research equipment, techniques or management In assessing such knowledge, account will be taken not only of knowledge specific to the establishment, but also of whether the person has a high level of qualification referring to a type of work or trade requiring specific technical knowledge, including membership of an accredited profession.

For sure fall under these categories Executives or Supervisors but also First Leves employees should be included when the National Collective Agreement indicates that belong to this level:

Workers with high professional content role even with executive direction tasks that, supervise the productive units or the organization function with operational autonomy in the responsibilities tasks linked to them (The Tertiary Collective Agreement CCNL, Distribution and Services ).

Detached employees (Art 27 letter a) can also obtain a Visa for Autonomous Work out of the annual quota.

Giovanni Papperini