The Traineeship for Foreign Nationals

The traineeship consists of a training period that enables the acquisition of technical and professional skills through direct experience in a company.

The regulations governing the internship are established by the individual regions, which may autonomously decide to implement the national directives indicated by the Permanent State-Regions Conference.

Three parties are involved: the trainee, the company, and the promoter. All of them must sign a training project that, in fact, constitutes the activation of the traineeship.

The legislation also provides for the possibility of this form of traineeship for foreign citizens.

Traineeship for Foreign EU Citizens

For EU citizens, there is no special procedure for activating the traineeship, as they are treated in the same way as Italian citizens and, consequently, national, and regional regulations are applied.

Traineeships for non-EU citizens

The situation is different for non-EU citizens, depending on whether they are already on national territory (e.g. with a residence permit for study) or they are still in their country of origin.

– Foreign Non-EU citizens legally residing in Italy: if the citizen is already legally residing in the national territory, the procedure is the same as that used for Italian citizens: the only requirement is to check the actual regularity and validity of the Residence permit.

– Non-EU foreign nationals residing in the country of origin: the possibility of an internship for non-EU foreign nationals who are still in their country of origin is expressly provided for by the Consolidation Act on Immigration. The duration of traineeships can be a minimum of 3 months up to a maximum of 12 months, including extensions.

Unlike other types of entry, a work permit is not required, and training projects must be approved in advance by the Regions.

The trainee must apply for an entry visa for study/training, issued directly by the consular authorities, always within the limits of a number determined annually, as established by the Interministerial Decree of 9 July 2020.

The internship must be activated within 15 days of the application for the Residence permit, with the latter being converted, at the end of the internship period, into a Residence permit for work, if the employer decides to regularly employ the trainee: this conversion is strictly within the limits of the quotas established annually by the Flows Decree.