Humanitarian permits update: New 2-year permits are delayed

In the past few weeks, there has been lots of questions about the Salvini Decree and how it is affecting the release of new humanitarian permits in Italy. Legal experts from ASGI, the Association for Juridical Studies on Migration, has been contacted about what’s happening.

The short answer: Right now, there is an issue with the computer systems that print permessi di soggiorno at questure (police stations) around Italy.

If the Commission told you before October 5, 2018, that you’ll receive humanitarian protection, but you haven’t yet received the physical permesso di soggiorno, you will still receive a permesso that is valid for 2 years. But you might need to wait longer than usual to get it.

How has the Salvini Decree affected humanitarian protection so far?

Although the Salvini Decree is not yet a law, it came into effect on October 5, 2018. (Note: Parliament now has until December 3, 2018, to make changes to the decree before making it a law.)

As part of the new rules, 2-year permessi di soggiorno printed after October 5, 2018, will no longer be called the “permesso di soggiorno per protezione umanitaria,” or humanitarian permit. The new permessi will have “casi speciali” printed on them and will be valid for 2 years and come with the same rights that the old humanitarian permessi came with.

Unfortunately, the questura computer systems haven’t been updated yet to be able to print the new kind of permit, which is causing a delay.

If you were approved for humanitarian protection before October 5, 2018, it’s not clear how long you will need to wait for a new permit, but it will likely be at least another month, and possibly more. 

What happens when my permesso di soggiorno with “casi speciali” printed on it expires?

When this new kind of permesso expires after 2 years, you will be able to convert it to a work permit, either for “lavoro subordinato” (being an employee) or “lavoro autonomo” (being self-employed) only if you have a stable job when you apply for conversion. A stable job means you are able to earn over the yearly minimum social security income, which for 2018 is €5.674.56 per year.

If you don’t have a job when you go to renew this permit, the Territorial Commission will evaluate your case according to the new regulation. They might issue a new permit for one year that allows you to work, but the new permit will be not convertible to other kinds of permits when it expires.

Has anything else changed for humanitarian protection holders since the Salvini Decree went into force?

The only clear change the legal team at ASGI has seen so far is that since October 5, 2018, humanitarian permits are no longer being printed.

So these are the only information available to us at the moment, but stay tuned for more update. As our main vision is to bring every important informations to your finger tips.