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Italy Faces Shortage of Doctors and Nurses and Accelerates Attraction of Foreigners, Including Brazilians, with New Quotas for Visas (2026–2028) and Temporary Diploma Flexibility.
Italy is experiencing a historic labor shortage in healthcare. Public and private hospitals report overloaded shifts, mass retirements, and longer waiting times for consultations and surgeries. This situation has driven the hiring of foreign professionals, including from Brazil, and the adoption of emergency measures to accelerate legal entries and fill critical positions.
For 2025, the country combines more work visas, a temporary rule that allows professionals to work while their diplomas are fully recognized, and salary adjustments resulting from recent agreements in the public service.
Even so, those interested in the announcements need to know the updated rules and the real bottlenecks in the labor migration process.
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Shortage of Healthcare Professionals in Italy in 2025: Data and Context
Reports of strikes and pressure on the public system (SSN) have intensified over the past year, with unions demanding replacement of staff and better conditions. International coverage itself highlights underfunding and population aging, a combination that increases demand and expands the deficit of doctors and nurses.
Demographics weigh heavily; the country fell to 58.93 million inhabitants in 2024, with more deaths than births — the so-called “demographic winter.” This backdrop pushes the government to seek foreign labor for essential areas, including healthcare.
In hospitals, regional management and private clinics are trying to attract non-European professionals, especially for emergency care, internal medicine, geriatrics, and long-term care (RSAs), sectors where the impact of aging is most pronounced.
Work Visa in Italy 2026–2028
To address the issue, the Italian government approved a new Decreto Flussi for 2026–2028, with nearly 500,000 work visas for non-Europeans planned for the three-year period (164,850 in 2026). The measure continues the cycle 2023–2025 (≈452,000), focusing on sectors with chronic labor shortages. Attention: healthcare is, in general, not seasonal, with a requirement for a contract and verification of local unavailability.
In practice, the process includes pre-registrations, “click day” dates, and steps with different agencies. And here’s the weak point: the conversion of quotas into jobs and residency has been low. Independent monitoring estimated that only 13% (2023) and 7.8% (2024) of quotas resulted in stable permits and employment. In other words, a quota does not guarantee a position.
Even with adjustments from the Ministry of Labor and redistribution of quotas, the success rate remains irregular. For those planning to apply, document planning and legal assistance increase the chances of a smooth application process.
Diploma Recognition in Italy
To alleviate the personnel shortage, the rule allowing temporary practice of healthcare professions with foreign titles while full recognition is processed has been extended — an exceptional measure that now applies until December 31, 2027. Important: this does not eliminate the definitive recognition, it only accelerates practice under specific conditions.
The legal basis refers to Article 15 of DL 34/2023 and subsequent extensions (Milleproroghe/Decreto Flussi). Specialized organizations and media confirm the extension of the deadline and remind that it is a transitory measure linked to the emergency of human resources in healthcare.
In the regular process, the Ministry of Health remains responsible for recognizing qualifications for registration in the Ordine and full professional practice. The temporary route is a legal shortcut to accelerate hiring, but the equivalence dossier remains essential in the medium term.
Salary of Doctors and Nurses in Italy
After the latest collective agreements, SSN doctors present salary ranges averaging € 60,000 to € 85,000/year gross, around R$ 382,000 to R$ 541,000/year. On a monthly basis, many contracts exist in the range of € 5,000 to € 7,000 gross/month, equivalent to R$ 31,800 to R$ 44,600/month, with the potential to exceed these levels in leadership positions, shifts, and in the private sector.
For nurses, consolidated salary sources indicate national average gross salaries close to € 50,000/year, about R$ 318,000/year, while advertisements in RSAs and hospitals show offers between € 1,800 and € 2,100 gross/month, approximately R$ 11,500 to R$ 13,400/month, with the possibility of additional benefits.
As for benefits, there are positions that include temporary housing (“alloggio incluso”) or housing assistance, more common in RSAs and areas with greater professional shortages. Airfare is available, but is not standard and occurs on an occasional basis.
Italian Citizenship by Descent in 2025
The citizenship reform of 2025 (DL 36/2025 converted into Law 74/2025) changed the iure sanguinis rule for those born outside Italy, as automatic transmission was limited to two generations (child or grandchild of an Italian born in Italy), with exceptions stipulated by law.
Another relevant change is that for foreigners whose parent or grandparent is (or was) an Italian citizen by birth, the required legal residency period for granting of citizenship has been reduced from 3 to 2 years, a pathway that may appeal to Brazilian descendants migrating with contract and residency. Do not confuse: it is not “automatic by working for 2 years”; it is a naturalization path with 2 years of legal residency.
The change was international news and seeks to ease the burden on consulates and combat fraud, but it also generated criticism for restricting access for distant descendants. For cases ongoing before the cut-off date, transition rules apply.
And what about you, do you think the Italian package, salary in euros, temporary housing, and accelerated rules, offsets the risks of bureaucracy and new citizenship demands? Let us know in the comments if you would consider building a career in Italian healthcare.
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