Circular to the Prefects · prot. n. 0045722 del 21/09/2026
Unofficial translation of the SOS Patto summary. The original decision or document is available in Italian only.
Subject
Circular of the Ministry of the Interior on the new applicant's document under Article 4 of Legislative Decree 142/2015, as replaced by Article 10 of Decree-Law 100/2026: the personal document issued when the application is registered certifies applicant status and allows the holder to be identified, and the previous residence permit for asylum application may not be required. Failure to produce the latter cannot, in itself, constitute an obstacle to access to services, benefits and administrative procedures; offices must adapt practices and IT procedures still based on the previous rules, without prejudice to any further requirements provided for by the sector legislation.
Circular of the Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration — Central Directorate for Civil Services for Immigration and Asylum, addressed to the Prefects, to the Government Commissioners of Trento and Bolzano and to the President of the Aosta Valley Region, and for information to the Department of Public Security. The Prefectures of Varese, Pisa and Alessandria reproduced it in the same terms in circulars to the bodies of their territory, collected in this entry.
Article 10 of Decree-Law 100/2026 entirely replaced Article 4 of Legislative Decree 142/2015: when the application is registered, the Questura or the Border Police Office issues a personal document bearing the unique identity code, the photograph and the personal details declared during fingerprinting. The document “certifies that the application for international protection has been registered and allows the holder to be identified” under Presidential Decree 445/2000. For the Ministry, the new rules “supersede” the system of the residence permit for asylum application, and the new documentation “is valid as documentation certifying the status of applicant for international protection, without the person concerned being required to hold the previous residence permit”.
The circular starts from the difficulties reported by holders of the new documentation, due to the “lack of awareness of the new regulatory framework” on the part of Municipalities, local health authorities and other bodies. It concludes that failure to produce the previous permit “cannot, in itself, constitute an obstacle to access to the services, benefits and administrative procedures to which the applicant is entitled”, if the person concerned holds the document under the new Article 4 of Legislative Decree 142/2015. Any further requirements of the sector legislation remain unaffected. Administrative and IT procedures still based on the previous rules must be adapted, so as to avoid “undue obstacles or delays”.
Three Prefectures reproduced the circular, with no change to the principle, addressing it to the bodies that provide services and benefits in their territory. Where the body relying on the old permit is located in one of these provinces, it is worth citing the prefectural circular as well, since it names that body expressly:
The PDFs of the three prefectural circulars are among the attachments at the end of this entry.
It is the direct source of the principle that the Prefectures then reproduced and that, on the side of the Questure, had already been anticipated by the note of the Questura of Bologna of 13 July 2026. It can be relied on against any service provider that makes services or benefits conditional on production of the old residence permit, even where the competent Prefecture has not yet issued guidance.
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