Can I work for an Italian company on the digital nomad visa?

A common misconception about Italy's Digital Nomad Visa is that applicants are strictly forbidden from working with Italian companies. Many digital nomad visas globally function as geo-arbitrage tools reserved strictly for foreign income. Italy's framework has a genuine nuance built into its decree that most guides miss entirely.

The short answer: yes, you can work for an Italian company, but it depends entirely on which of the two visa sub-categories you fall under.

Here's how the Italian government distinguishes between digital nomads and remote workers, and what that split actually means for your client base.

📊 Reading the digital nomad vs. remote worker matrix

The table above splits Italy's visa into its two legal sub-categories and compares them across four dimensions: employment type, employer or client location rules, quota exposure, and whether a nulla osta is required.

The Nomade Digitale row covers freelancers and self-employed applicants. Their clients need to be strictly outside Italy, and like the remote worker track, this category is exempt from annual quotas and doesn't require a nulla osta. The Lavoratore da Remoto row covers employees and collaborators, and here's the split that catches people out: their employer or contracting company can be registered in Italy or abroad. Both rows land in the same place on quotas and work authorization, exempt either way, but they diverge sharply on where your paycheck is allowed to come from.

🎓 1. The Nomade Digitale: freelancers and the self-employed

If you're applying as a Nomade Digitale, freelancer, consultant, or independent contractor, you're engaging in self-employment under Italian law, lavoro autonomo. This category is generally intended for professionals servicing a portfolio of clients located outside Italy.

If your primary intent is to open an Italian VAT number and build a local Italian client base exclusively, the authorities will likely push you toward the traditional Self-Employment Visa instead. That route is subject to the restrictive decreto flussi quotas and requires complex pre-approvals the Digital Nomad Visa was specifically designed to bypass.

🏢 2. The Lavoratore da Remoto: employees and collaborators

This is where the actual flexibility exists. The Lavoratore da Remoto category applies to employees or individuals with continuous collaboration contracts, lavoro subordinato o di collaborazione.

Under the Interministerial Decree published in April 2024, for a Lavoratore da Remoto specifically, the employer or contracting company can have its registered office in Italy or abroad. That means a highly skilled non-EU citizen can be directly employed by an Italian tech company or agency and still use the Digital Nomad Visa to bypass the decreto flussi quotas and the nulla osta bottleneck entirely, something that simply isn't available on the freelancer side of this visa.

Worth being precise about what this does and doesn't change. The income requirement itself, roughly €28,000 a year, still applies regardless of where your employer sits. What shifts is the source: other guides in this series describe the income needing to come from non-Italian sources, and that description holds well for the Nomade Digitale track. For the Lavoratore da Remoto track, the qualifying factor is that you're performing highly qualified work remotely using technological tools, not physically embedded in an Italian office, rather than strictly where the money originates. An Italian company can be the one paying you and you can still qualify, as long as the work itself is genuinely remote.

Why this matters

Historically, Italian companies wanting to hire non-EU talent had to fight through the decreto flussi lottery like everyone else. Under this framework, if an Italian company hires you as a remote employee, meaning you perform your duties through technological tools rather than showing up to a physical office, you qualify for this quota-free visa track.

One caveat applies regardless of which side of the border your employer sits on. If you're a Lavoratore da Remoto, your employer has to sign a specific legal declaration, a binding affidavit accompanied by valid ID, confirming they haven't been convicted of relevant offenses in the past five years. An Italian employer signing this affidavit faces the exact same requirement a foreign employer does. There's no lighter version of the paperwork just because the company happens to be down the street rather than overseas.

🖇️ Helpful links from the Gnosis content team

• Italy's Lavoratore da Remoto 2026: the complete blueprint for securing your Italian visa.
• What is the Minimum Income for the Italy Digital Nomad Visa?: the full income breakdown across both visa tracks.

📚 Official Sources & Data Verification (2026)

All details regarding Italian client regulations and employer headquarter requirements are verified against the April 2024 Interministerial Decree and 2026 consular guidelines:

• The Employer Location Rule: According to Italian consular definitions, a "lavoratore da remoto" (remote worker) can perform subordinate or collaborative work for an employer whose registered office (Sede legale) is located either in Italy or abroad.
• The Employer Affidavit: Employees must submit a declaration signed by their employer, along with a copy of a valid ID, attesting to the absence of criminal convictions against the employer in the last 5 years.
• Quota Exemption: Both digital nomads and remote workers are exempt from the requirement to obtain a provisional work authorization (nulla osta), allowing Italian companies to hire highly skilled remote workers without facing the annual decreto flussi quotas.

Frequently asked questions

Do I still need the €28,000 minimum income if my employer is in Italy? 

Yes. Regardless of where your employer is based, you still need to demonstrate annual income meeting the roughly €28,000 threshold. The employer's location changes which sub-category you fall under, not whether the income floor applies.

Does my Italian employer need to apply for a nulla osta? 

No. The core advantage of the Lavoratore da Remoto visa is that it exempts both the applicant and the employer from needing the nulla osta, the provisional work authorization normally required through the Questura, regardless of whether that employer is based in Italy or abroad.

Can I switch from a foreign company to an Italian company after I arrive? 

Your residence permit is tied to the conditions under which it was issued. Switching from a foreign employer to an Italian one, or moving from employee status to freelancer status, means you need to keep meeting the highly skilled worker criteria and the minimum income threshold to renew your permit under the new arrangement.