The Revised Laws On Immigrants In Italy

… Did we go or did we come?
Italy’s laws baffle me, more so, for its laws on foreign nationals resident in the country, there are more questions than answers.

Many of these foreign nationals, hooked by the law to periodically renew their staying permit (‘soggiorno’), in some cases irrespective of the number of years they’ve been staying, working and paying their taxes regularly, were those who threw their arms up in praise of the change of laws to renew immigrants’ staying permit, among others, by the new Italian Government under Romano Prodi.


The previous law in renewing the staying permit calls for going out to queue in front of an office at 2 a.m waiting till 8 a.m when the office is opened for services. The authorities do not give a ‘toss’ if you should stand outside, sometimes in uncomfortable cold temperatures or if you came along with your family including infants if they also need the document.


So when the new Government brought in a new decision to renew the permit starting at the local Post Offices instead of the Police Office, known as ‘Questura’, where applications were previously processed, it was expected to be a welcome relief. Applicants have the comfort to sit at the local Post Office and wait for their turn instead of standing and waiting in a queue outside in cold temperatures, for hours from the early hours of the morning to God knows when as it was previously.


But the new law has brought in its wake a new dimension, the uncomfortable trend of waiting for 8 months or more before the applicant can have the document in hand as against the previous system which takes some 3 months under the former law. Added to that the cost involved in the processing of application has shot up by over 300% which is attributed to Post Office charges plus other processing fees.

So did we go or did we come? It’s like sitting in the same bus, the only difference is, they have changed the driver.


There is no doubt that the Italian Government is making more money on the back of foreign nationals in the country on processing of their documents. The Post Office alone would rake in over €1 million a year to add to its revenue let alone other amounts that go into the coffers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.


Where did the Italian Government get it right with the change of laws expected to give the immigrant some relief? The anguish and frustration which they face is still being carried along. I have always maintained that immigrants in Italy though appear disgusting in the eyes of many Italians are beneficial to the Italian economy, they are keeping many Italian businesses running yet they are despised, cheated and degraded with hardly anyone to defend them.


Statistics indicated that between 2006 and January 2997 immigrants constituted over 70% of the residential population increase of Italy and they did that by their number of babies delivered and the family reunification from their country of origin by bringing in their spouse, children or both.

Statistics also have it that Italy has one of the lowest birth rate in Europe which indicates, Italians in their 30’s, most of who started working in their teens (I wonder what sort of education they had then) will in the next three decades or less be strolling on the corridors of the pensioners’ offices to collect their monthly pension. Their feeble limbs after years of hard work are no longer able to run work in the factories and keep other businesses going and behind them there is not that much number for replacements. When that happens the Government is going to rely on immigrants in the country.


The long order where immigrants’ application for the staying permit (new or renewal), irrespective of which city the applicant resides, have to finish in the Italian capital, Rome, then scrutinized and ‘watered’ with some bureaucratic tendencies -to further delay the process - before being sent back to the Police Office in the city where the application was made, then appointment made by the Police to submit further documents before after some time the required document is issued is having effect on families of these immigrants.


Just imagine a migrant working man who has brought in his wife and two children to join him in Italy from his country of origin through the family reunification process. The wife would need to find a job as early as possible to help maintain the family as the children would be enrolled in school. Already she has gone through the mill in a rugged processing procedure with the children in applying for the family reunion visa at the Italian Consulate office in the home country being asked to go back and forth submitting a whole list of documents which when put together is as thick as a telephone directory.


The first step after joining the husband is to apply for the staying permit as the law demands before there could be any possibility of obtaining a job. She puts in the application, submitting all required list of documents and the process has to take 8 months or more before she can have the staying permit in hand. How is the family going to survive?

The man was previously alone, now he has three more mouths to feed, clothe them and provide their other needs. Certainly, his productivity at work will drop.


It doesn’t seem the Government has a pragmatic procedure to carry out laws or systems it puts in place on immigrants in the country. The initial starting process of the new law in applying for the staying permit at the Post Office was flawed as most officials couldn’t handle well the application process, some local Post Offices didn’t even have the Application Forms.


The Police Offices (Questura) where the applicant would finally end to carry out the final stages of the process and collect the document is messing up too. Many applicants waiting for renewal of their permit skipped appointed at the Police Office because they were not notified. The Police headquarters booked appointments to have their finger prints taken and submit their passport-size photos but nobody informed them of the appointment.


This happened to Eva, 55 from Peru, who is a domestic worker in the Province of Rome. She submitted the application for renewal of her Permit of Stay at the Post Office in January. “I knew it would take time to be summoned to the Police headquarters (Questura) but when I saw that it was taking longer than I expected, I decided to go to the Post Office for information and I was advised to check on the internet,” she said. Since she didn’t know how to use the internet, she sought the help of a friend who only discovered at the end of June she had an appointment on June 15th at the Police Office. “I was not informed at all of the appointment and I have not changed my address,” she lamented. “She went to the Police station twice before being allowed in to book another appointment at the end of August, two months after missing the first appointment.

Patty, a 29-year-old Congolese nurse who had applied for conversion of his student permit into one for work also had similar experience. He waited in vain for a letter informing him of the appointment at the Police station. On 16th July he checked on line and was surprised to find out that he was supposed to present himself at the Police station on 15th May. Also among the numerous immigrants who missed appointment as a result of the Police messing up was Nafi, 27. She arrived from Senegal in February after authorisation to work under last year’s Quota Agreement (Decreto Flussi). Nafi went to the Immigrants’ Office at the Prefectura (Sportello Unico) to under sign the Residence Contract (contratto di Soggiorno) and then submitted her application for the Permit of Stay at the Post Office. “My friends who came to Italy for work after me had been summoned to the Police Station, so I decided to call the toll free number to check the state of my application only to find out I had been summoned to the Police last May”, she said. Unfortunately there are so many similar cases.


The problem is further worsened by the Government decision that those who applied for the staying permit and been issued with a receipt at the Post Office can use the receipt to apply for a job. The situation on the ground is different as employers are not buying into that refusing to accept the receipts as valid document to employ an intending worker.


Yes indeed! Italy has its fair share of issues confronting the Government on immigrants but they should have as well realise the role these communities of foreigners are playing in their society, the money they generate into the economy and the kind of jobs most of them do which many Italians are unwilling to put a hand in, yet they are necessary for economic growth?


A more effective and less cumbersome method of renewing or applying for the staying permit is for it to be processed at the City Council Office (Comune) as is being done in some developed countries. This will remove the difficulties, for it is not comfortable being in there as an immigrant applying for these documents, even if all necessary conditions have been satisfied.