Seasonal Work Permit: The Police Headquarters Delayed 18 Months and the Court Overturned the Refusal

Seasonal Work Permit: The Police Headquarters Delayed 18 Months and the Court Overturned the Refusal Welcome to a new episode of the Immigration Law podcast. My name is Attorney Fabio Loscerbo. Today we discuss an important decision issued by the Regional Administrative Court of Puglia, Third Section, published on June 9, 2026, in case number 648 of 2026. The case concerns a foreign worker who legally entered Italy with a seasonal work authorization and the corresponding entry visa. After arriving in Italy, he signed the residence contract and promptly applied for a seasonal work residence permit. However, the Police Headquarters did not process the application within a reasonable time. The request, submitted in February 2024, was examined only in July 2025, approximately eighteen months later. At that point, the administration refused the permit, arguing that the maximum period of seasonal stay had already expired and that the worker had not applied to convert the permit into another residence status. The Court found this decision unlawful. The judges emphasized that the delay was entirely attributable to the administration and that the consequences of that delay could not be imposed on the worker. Most importantly, the Court highlighted a simple but crucial point: a person cannot be expected to convert a residence permit that was never issued in the first place. If the administration fails to issue the permit because of its own inactivity, the applicant cannot be penalized for circumstances beyond his control. For this reason, the Court annulled the refusal and held that the administration should have recognized the worker's entitlement to the seasonal residence permit that he had originally requested, taking the necessary measures to protect his legal position. This ruling is particularly significant because it reaffirms a fundamental principle of administrative law: delays by public authorities cannot be used as a reason to deny a right that already existed when the application was submitted. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Immigration Law podcast. My name is Attorney Fabio Loscerbo, and I look forward to speaking with you again in the next episode.Questo episodio include contenuti generati dall’IA.