|Published on: 29th July 2026|Categories: News|
The updated AIDA Country Report on Italy provides a detailed overview of legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2025. It is accompanied by an annex providing an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2024 are set out below.
(A) International protection
- State of emergency: The state of emergency that had been declared in response to migratory arrivals remained in force until April 2025. Courts rejected requests for access to the documentation that was used to justify its declaration and extensions. Following its expiry, responsibility for completing the remaining emergency-related measures was transferred to the Ministry of the Interior until April 2027.
Asylum procedure
- Key statistics: 126,635 first-time asylum applications were registered in 2025. This represented a decrease from the previous year (151,120). 104,560 first-instance decisions were issued and the overall protection rate (including special protection) was 30%.
- Access to the procedure: Reports of delayed or denied access to the asylum procedure continued in 2025. Courts ruled in favour of applicants who had been prevented from lodging asylum applications in Trieste while the Regional Administrative Court for Veneto ordered the Vicenza and Venice police headquarters to remedy serious organisational shortcomings that had resulted in prolonged delays.
- Dublin procedure: Italy sent 8,502 outgoing Dublin requests in 2025 and received 19,889 incoming requests. Transfers remained very limited. The general suspension of take back transfers that had been announced in December 2022 continued throughout 2025. However, transfers under the take charge procedure, including family reunification cases, were still undertaken.
- Safe countries of origin: In August 2025, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that EU member states could not designate a country as safe if it did not meet the required safety criteria for certain categories of people. This judgment had a direct impact on the border procedure conducted in Italy’s centres in Albania.
Reception conditions
- Access to reception: In April 2026, the Regional Administrative Court for Veneto ruled that the practice of excluding asylum applicants from reception solely on the grounds that they applied more than 90 days after entering the country was incompatible with the Reception Conditions Directive.
- Reception capacity: At the end of 2025, more than 101,000 asylum applicants were accommodated in emergency reception centres (CAS) and approximately 39,500 people were hosted within the national reception system (SAI).
- Freedom of movement: Following the entry into force of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, restrictions on the freedom of movement of applicants undergoing border procedures increasingly resulted in de facto detention.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Expansion of detention places: At the end of 2025, there were 11 pre-removal detention centres (CPRs).
- Detention conditions: Concerns persisted regarding detention conditions in CPRs, hotspots and police facilities. Reports highlighted shortcomings in access to asylum procedures, legal assistance and medical assessments, restrictions on communication and cases of de facto detention without a legal basis, particularly in hotspots.
Content of international protection
- Residence and access to social welfare: Renewal of residence permits continued to be affected by severe administrative delays and waiting times reached 18 months. Beneficiaries of protection also continued to face obstacles in accessing SAI accommodation, social welfare and integration support, despite maintaining equal access to public housing in principle. Courts continued to intervene in cases involving delays to family reunification procedures.
(B) Temporary protection
- Key developments: More than 21,000 applications for temporary protection and over 73,000 renewal applications were submitted in There were also a significant number of applications to convert temporary protection into work permits. Ukrainian asylum applications continued to be prioritised and the vast majority resulted in positive decisions. Financial support that had been provided under the Civil Protection scheme was terminated in April 2025. However, access to healthcare continued under the same conditions that were applicable to other residents.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
