Italy to reform work visa scheme over fears of mafia infiltration
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday announced plans to reform Italy's work visa system for non-EU workers, saying it was being exploited by organised crime groups to smuggle in illegal migrants.
Instead, the government would work towards a system where arrivals will need an employment contract, she told a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from her office.
"We are faced with a mechanism of fraud and circumvention of regular entry systems - with the heavy interference of organised crime - which we must stop and correct," she said.
READ ALSO: How and why is Italy planning to reform its work visa?
Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, made the announcement just days before European Parliament elections.
Since taking office in October 2022, she has introduced measures to try to reduce irregular migration into Italy while expanding the number of legal work visas in response to business demand.
But she said analysis of the current system had uncovered "alarming" data.
In some regions, particularly Campania in the south, the number of applications for visas was "totally disproportionate" to the number of potential employers.
READ ALSO: Italy sees high demand for non-EU work permits as applications open
And "only a minimal percentage" of those who obtained a work visa actually signed an employment contract, she said.
This figure was three percent in Campania, from where 157,000 visa applications were made for seasonal work last year, more than half the total of 282,000.
"Regular immigrant flows for work reasons are used as another channel for irregular migration," she said.
The largest proportion of non-European Union workers who had entered Italy in recent years were from Bangladesh, she said.
In that country, "diplomatic authorities speak of a phenomenon of buying and selling work visas", she added, citing a figure of 15,000 euros each.
Meloni said she had lodged a complaint earlier on Tuesday with the national anti-mafia and anti-terrorism prosecutor, but that the government would also act to change the system.
"We will modify the features that led to these distortions" and move ahead on the principle that "you enter legally if you have an employment contract", she said in a video posted online after the meeting.
Meloni's government set a quota of allowing in 136,000 non-EU workers in 2023, 151,000 in 2024 and 165,000 in 2025. In 2018 and 2019, the number was just under 31,000 a year.
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Instead, the government would work towards a system where arrivals will need an employment contract, she told a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from her office.
"We are faced with a mechanism of fraud and circumvention of regular entry systems - with the heavy interference of organised crime - which we must stop and correct," she said.
READ ALSO: How and why is Italy planning to reform its work visa?
Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, made the announcement just days before European Parliament elections.
Since taking office in October 2022, she has introduced measures to try to reduce irregular migration into Italy while expanding the number of legal work visas in response to business demand.
But she said analysis of the current system had uncovered "alarming" data.
In some regions, particularly Campania in the south, the number of applications for visas was "totally disproportionate" to the number of potential employers.
READ ALSO: Italy sees high demand for non-EU work permits as applications open
And "only a minimal percentage" of those who obtained a work visa actually signed an employment contract, she said.
This figure was three percent in Campania, from where 157,000 visa applications were made for seasonal work last year, more than half the total of 282,000.
"Regular immigrant flows for work reasons are used as another channel for irregular migration," she said.
The largest proportion of non-European Union workers who had entered Italy in recent years were from Bangladesh, she said.
In that country, "diplomatic authorities speak of a phenomenon of buying and selling work visas", she added, citing a figure of 15,000 euros each.
Meloni said she had lodged a complaint earlier on Tuesday with the national anti-mafia and anti-terrorism prosecutor, but that the government would also act to change the system.
"We will modify the features that led to these distortions" and move ahead on the principle that "you enter legally if you have an employment contract", she said in a video posted online after the meeting.
Meloni's government set a quota of allowing in 136,000 non-EU workers in 2023, 151,000 in 2024 and 165,000 in 2025. In 2018 and 2019, the number was just under 31,000 a year.
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