Always dreamed of moving to Italy? With its sun-soaked coastline and laidback lifestyle, the Mediterranean country is an alluring place to become an expat. But moving there permanently can mean mountains of paperwork and months of unexplained delays.

Each year, the Italian government offers a glimmer of hope when it announces how many work permits it will grant to non-EU citizens. The 2023 quota, published in the government’s Official Gazette last week, is 82,705. This is significantly higher than in previous years, with less than 67,000 permits issued in 2022.