ABSTRACTDuring the 1980s, Italy radically changed its position in the international migration system, from supplier of labour to user of foreign labour. But the nature of Italian immigration is different from that which has marked the post‐war process of European development: new immigration flows are no longer an instrument of quantitative rebalancing of labour markets, but instead acquire a function of qualitative rebalancing in sectors where there appears to be a lack of labour supply in particular jobs and qualifications. This paper combines the information available from official sources with those obtainable by the numerous special surveys which have been carried on the phenomenon in the last few years. This framework allows us to underline — even with the limitations due to still‐backward documentation — the characteristics of present immigration, by now firmly rooted in the country but still far from reaching a stable and definitive arra