Italy issued more non-EU residence permits in 2025

Italy issued 426,956 first residence permits to non-EU citizens in 2025, up 47.2% from 290,119 in 2024, according to Istat’s annual report published on October 22. The institute said the total was the highest in 15 years apart from the 2022 peak, when arrivals connected to the war in Ukraine drove an exceptional rise. These are new permits issued during the year, not the number of non-EU residents already living in Italy.

Family reunification was the largest stated reason, with 168,733 new permits, or 39.5% of the total, 61.2% more than in 2024. Nearly 48% of family permits went to minors, and Istat said more than 23% of those minors were born in Italy. Study permits exceeded 35,000, a 76% increase and 8.3% of new permits. The institute linked the rise partly to universities’ efforts to attract international students, including scholarships, tuition exemptions and more courses taught in English.

Permits for asylum and other forms of protection reached 135,831, up 30.5%. These administrative permit counts should not be confused with asylum applications. Istat’s detailed report, citing Eurostat for first applications, gives 128,655 applications in 2025, down 14.9% from 151,120 a year earlier. Territorial protection commissions examined 104,560 first-instance cases during 2025 and rejected 70% of the cases they reviewed; that decision count is a separate measure from applications filed.

Work-related permits rose 45.9% to just under 59,000, but represented 13.8% of all new permits and remained well below the 165,000 planned work-entry quota for 2025. Istat reported that 83.2% of these permits went to men. The quota is a planned ceiling for admissions under the applicable rules, not evidence that the places were filled or that every permit corresponds to a distinct job filled.

Morocco led the national-origin ranking with 44,549 new permits, followed by Bangladesh at 39,807, Albania at 31,777, Egypt at 32,235 and India at 30,227. Lombardy issued 98,128 permits, 23% of the national total; Emilia-Romagna followed with 38,789, or 9.1%. The sharpest regional increases among those highlighted by Istat were Lombardy at 61.6%, Veneto at 57.4% and Campania at 55.8%.

The report also counted 4,030,016 valid residence permits held by non-EU citizens on December 31, 2025, up 5.8% from a year earlier. This is a year-end stock and should be read separately from the 426,956 newly issued permits, an annual flow. Istat reported just over 178,000 acquisitions of Italian citizenship by non-EU citizens during 2025. Together, the figures describe different stages of migration and legal status rather than a single population total.