How much can you work on a student permit in Italy?

Art. 14 c. 4 DPR 394/1999 allows employed work of up to 20 hours a week on a permesso per studio. The hours can be spread across 52 weeks, but the annual cap is 1040 hours, and the right lasts only as long as the permesso itself.

The chats argue about the cap. In December 2025 some members wrote that the wording allows working more than 20 hours a week for a few months as long as the year stays within 1040 hours; others described a case where working beyond 20 hours and trying to convert on a ricevuta ended in an order to leave the country. Some employers, the chats note, hire students only for 20 hours a week.

Full-time work is possible only after conversion. Under art. 6 c. 1 of the Testo Unico the study permesso is converted into a work permit outside the Decreto flussi quotas and strictly before it expires: for employment after signing the contratto di soggiorno, for self-employment after the certificate on the art. 26 requirements. A signed contract does not change the permesso by itself - the chats were warning about this back in 2024.

Conversion is the most common part of the topic: about 30 of the 38 questions from 2022-2026. In July-September 2026 people asked whether a nulla osta is needed when moving from the job-search permesso, whether a seasonal contract can be used to convert and from what moment full-time work is allowed. Members' experience is that conversion needs a prefettura nulla osta, which in turn needs an idoneità alloggiativa, and the process takes months.