This concerns specific categories of workers who, due to the nature of their services, can enter Italy outside of the annual quotas set by the government through flow decrees or, in special cases, without indication of quotas.

Among the anticipated professional figures are:

a) executives or highly specialized personnel; b) exchange or native language university lecturers; c) university professors and researchers; d) translators and interpreters; e) family collaborators with at least one year of domestic work experience abroad; f) individuals authorized to stay for professional training purposes, carrying out temporary training periods; g) workers employed by organizations or companies operating in Italian territory; i) employees regularly paid by employers, individuals or legal entities, residing or based abroad; l) workers employed in circuses or traveling shows abroad; m) artistic and technical personnel for operatic, theatrical, concert, or ballet performances; n) dancers, artists, and musicians to be employed in entertainment venues; o) artists to be employed by musical, theatrical, or film entities or radio or television companies; p) foreigners destined to engage in any type of professional sports activity; r) individuals who, according to international agreements, conduct research activities or occasional work in Italy within youth exchange programs.

Executives or highly specialized personnel from companies based or with branches in Italy or from representative offices of foreign companies with their main business activities in a WTO member state, or executives of main offices in Italy of Italian companies or companies from another EU member state; this concerns the detachment of executives and highly specialized personnel, with at least six months of experience in the sector, from companies with headquarters or a branch or at least a representative office in Italy (in the latter case, the foreign company must have its main headquarters in another WTO member country).

Highly specialized workers are those performing tasks qualified as highly specialized by the national collective labor agreement applied to the seconding company and, before the temporary secondment date (when a foreign employer temporarily places a worker at the disposal of another entity for a specific work activity), have been employed for at least six months in the same sector (art. 40, para. 5, DPR 394/1999).

The duration of detachment must be defined and predetermined and proportionate to the actual needs of the company (sender). In any case, the detachment cannot exceed, including any extensions, a total duration of five years. At the end of the detachment, the foreign worker can be hired on a fixed-term or permanent basis by the Italian hosting company (art. 40 DPR 394/1999). During the detachment, foreign workers must be ensured an economic and regulatory treatment not lower than that provided by law and collective agreements for Italian workers with similar tasks (Legislative Decree No. 72/2000).

Family collaborators with at least one year of full-time domestic work experience abroad with Italian or EU citizens residing abroad who move to Italy for the continuation of domestic work.

The employer must be necessarily an Italian citizen or a citizen of an EU Member State residing abroad who moves to Italy (art. 40, para. 8, DPR 394/1999).

Entry outside the quota is allowed for the continuation of domestic work in Italy. The nominative request for a work permit under Article 27, letter e, of Legislative Decree No. 286/98 must be made by the employer to the Single Immigration Desk by completing the appropriate form. The employment contract signed abroad must be authenticated by the Italian diplomatic or consular representation in the foreign country where the employment relationship took place.

Professional nurses employed in public and private healthcare facilities (letter added by Article 22, paragraph 1, of Law No. 189 of July 30, 2002). The workers envisaged by this letter are exclusively nurses with the specific title recognized by the Ministry of Health, obtained in Italy or in an EU state. Legitimate entities to apply for authorization are:

Healthcare facilities, both public and private, are authorized to hire nurses; Employment agencies; Cooperatives are authorized to submit the request for authorization if they directly manage the entire healthcare facility or a department or service thereof. The Ministry of Labour, with note No. 3253 of September 7, 2006, clarified that professional nurses without Italian citizenship can be hired with an indefinite employment contract by private facilities and with a fixed-term employment contract by public facilities (as access to public employment is constitutionally reserved for Italian citizens).

The procedure to follow in these cases is similar to that followed for the entry of general subordinate workers, with the employer submitting the request for a work permit to the Single Immigration Desk and subsequent checks by the Police Headquarters and Provincial Labour Directorate until the authorization for work and the NullaOsta are issued/denied.