Hiring a Japanese Chef in Milan: Decreto Flussi and Working Holiday

Milan has a Japanese community of over 2,000 registered residents, and it has been growing. Hiring from Japan, though, runs on a national quota calendar set in Rome, so a Milan restaurant has to plan months ahead. This guide covers the Milan specifics and how to plan around Italy's quota system. The procedure itself is explained in our Italy guide.

1. Milan in numbers

• The City of Milan's population register counted 2,124 residents with Japanese citizenship in 2025, up from 1,821 in 2018 and 2,058 in 2024.
• Japan's foreign ministry counted 12,067 Japanese nationals in Italy as a whole on 1 October 2025. The two sources are compiled differently, but on these figures Milan alone accounts for a sizeable share of the Japanese community in Italy.
• Japan's agriculture ministry found the number of Japanese restaurants in Italy fell by about 300 between 2023 and 2025.

A growing Japanese community and a shrinking number of Japanese restaurants nationally is a useful combination for a Milan employer. There are more Japanese speakers in the city than a few years ago, and experienced staff may be available from restaurants that closed elsewhere.

2. What the Decreto Flussi means for a Milan kitchen

A restaurant hiring a cook from outside the EU normally works within the annual quotas set by the Decreto Flussi. The current decree (DPCM of 2 October 2025) covers 2026 to 2028. Three provisions matter to a Japanese restaurant:

• Restaurants are an eligible sector. Article 6(1) admits non-seasonal employed workers in listed sectors, which include "servizi di alloggio e ristorazione" (accommodation and food services) and tourism services.
• The quota is national. Non-seasonal employment has 76,200 places a year for 2026, 2027 and 2028. A Milan restaurant competes for those places with employers across Italy and across all eligible sectors.
• Japan has a reserved share. Article 6(2)(a) lists countries that cooperate with Italy on migration, including Giappone (Japan), with 25,000 places a year reserved for their nationals within the non-seasonal quota. The 25,000 is shared among all the listed countries.

The reserved share improves the odds for a Japanese cook, but it is not a guarantee. Treat a quota application as something that can fail for reasons unrelated to your candidate, and have a fallback.

3. Working backwards from click day

Applications are submitted online on fixed dates ("click days"), from 9:00. For the 2026 quotas, the Ministry of Labour announced:

The 2026 click days have passed. If you want a cook from Japan under the 2027 quota, the planning has to start in the autumn: identify the candidate, agree terms, and prepare the documents so that the application is ready well before click day. Check the Ministry of Labour's announcements for the 2027 dates, which had not been confirmed in the sources we reviewed.

Before requesting clearance (nulla osta) for a worker abroad, the employer must also check through the job centre (Centro per l'impiego) that no suitable worker is already available in Italy. For a Milan business, that is the job centre for the province where the employer is resident or has its registered office. The employer sends the Ministry of Labour's form, stating the job, requirements, hours, contract type and pay or collective agreement. The check counts as negative if the job centre reports no available workers within 8 calendar days, if the worker it sends is not suitable, or if that worker fails to attend the interview without good reason after at least 20 working days from the request. The employer attaches a self-certification of the outcome to the clearance application. Build these weeks into your timeline before click day.

4. The new working holiday route

Italy and Japan brought a working holiday agreement into force on 1 April 2026. According to Italy's Ministry of Labour:

• It is open to Italian and Japanese citizens aged 18 to 30.
• Participants can stay up to one year.
• They can work for no more than six months in total, as a supplement to the holiday purpose, and do not need a work authorisation for it.

Japan's foreign ministry lists 500 places a year for the Italian programme. For a Milan restaurant this is a quick legal way to bring a young Japanese cook into the kitchen, and it sits outside the quota calendar entirely. The six month work limit is the catch. Plan it as a trial period, and if the cook is someone you want long term, start preparing the next quota application while they are still with you.

5. Hiring locally in Milan

With over 2,000 Japanese residents, Milan is big enough that a local search can produce candidates who already hold the right to work. Before committing to the quota route:

• Advertise in Japanese as well as Italian.
• Check each candidate's permit and what it allows. Not every residence permit authorises employment.
• Consider front of house as well as kitchen roles. Bilingual floor staff help a Japanese restaurant just as much as an extra cook.

We did not find an official Milan figure for cooks' pay to quote here. Check the national collective agreement that applies to your business for the minimum rate for each grade.

6. A Milan hiring plan

1. Run a local search first, in Japanese and Italian.
2. For short term help, consider a working holiday participant (up to six months' work).
3. For a long term hire from Japan, prepare for the next non-seasonal click day, using the share reserved for cooperating countries.
4. Send the job centre request well before click day and keep the self-certification ready.
5. Have a fallback plan if the quota application is not successful.

To reach Japanese cooks already in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, you can post a job on WashokuJob.

General information gathered from official sources in September 2026, not legal or immigration advice. Quotas and dates are set by decree and ministry announcements; confirm with the prefecture, the Ministry of Labour or a qualified adviser before acting.