Italy Issued a Record 427,000 New Residence Permits in 2025 – Up 47 Percent

Meloni came to power promising to curb immigration. Her own statistics office has just reported the biggest wave of new legal residence permits in fifteen years.

According to Istat, Italy issued 426,956 new residence permits to non-EU citizens in 2025, up 47.2 percent from 290,119 in 2024 – the highest figure in fifteen years apart from 2022, when refugees from Ukraine arrived. Family permits rose 61.2 percent to 168,733 and study permits by 76 percent. Work permits grew 45.9 percent, yet at roughly 59,000 they were still far below the government’s quota of about 165,000.

“Crescono i permessi di soggiorno e diminuiscono le domande di asilo”

“Residence permits rise and asylum applications fall”

— Istat, title of its report on non-EU citizens in Italy, 22 October 2026

Fewer asylum claims, more protection permits

At the same time asylum applications fell 15.1 percent to 128,665, and around 70 percent of first claims were rejected. Permits for asylum and other forms of protection, often granted on older cases, still rose 30.5 percent to 135,831. The biggest groups of new permits went to citizens of Morocco, Bangladesh, Egypt, Albania and India.

By the end of 2025 more than four million non-EU citizens held a valid permit in Italy, and about 178,000 foreigners became Italian citizens during the year. On X, the account BasilTheGreat shared the figures.