Italy aiming to open an amnesty scheme soon. Illegal immigrants in Italy have now bright chances to get legalized through work permits. Teresa Bellanova, the Minister of Agriculture, from Renziana, in the Senate hall, asked for the regularization of illegal immigrants. It raises the alarm about the agricultural work emergency brought to its knees by the coronavirus, which means that 270-350 thousand workers are missing.
She further says, “According to estimates, there are 600,000 seasonal workers in agriculture who are often exploited and work in Italy for the crime that we call hiring , which means mafia to me. Either it is the State that takes charge of these people’s lives or is it organized crime “.
In Italy, the agricultural sector has 346 thousand male and female workers from 155 different countries for employment, with 30 million working days representing 26.2% of the total work needed in the countryside. For now, a draft law in 18 articles is circulating among the ministries of Agriculture, Labor, Interior, Economy, and Justice, which explicitly talks about their regularization through a “declaration of the emergence of employment relations”. Article 1 would say that”to make up for the shortage of workers in the agriculture, livestock, fishing, and aquaculture sectors”, those who want to put “foreign nationals present on the national territory in irregular conditions” under an employment contract ” can apply to the one-stop-shop for immigration. The “no more than one-year” contract generates, after a series of checks, a residence permit, which can be renewed through new employment relationships. Fo which sector does Italy need people
- Agriculture
- livestock
- fishing
- aquaculture
Due to the shortage of staff in the above-mentioned sectors, the government is envisaging a hypothesis of regularization, in the long term, of workers, irregularly present in Italy.
How to apply? Who is responsible for provisional regularization?
Article 1 of the draft text of the regularization law during the COVID-19 emergency, published in Corriere Della Sera, provides for the emergence of fixed-term employment relationships for irregular workers present in Italy without a residence permit. To proceed with the establishment of an employment relationship with workers in irregular conditions, the Italian, EU, or residence permit holder employer must submit an electronic application to the One-Stop Shop for Immigration, i.e. to the immigration sector of the Prefecture. How does it work? The employer must submit the following online to a one-stop immigration shop:
- the name of the worker and the passport number,
- the duration of the contract, not exceeding one year,
- the agreed remuneration, not less than that provided by the CCNL,
- the payment of the lump sum contribution (amount not yet foreseen), for each worker, paid by the same employer.
After the submission of the telematic application by the employer, the one-stop shop for immigration, in collaboration with the Police Headquarters and the Labor Inspectorate, checks all the requirements and in the case of a favorable opinion from everyone. The Sportello summons the employer and the worker to sign the residence contract. During the signing of the contract, they will provide for the mandatory communication of employment of the worker, also requesting a residence permit for subordinate work, equal to the duration of the contract, except for the presentation of the payment of the flat-rate contribution foreseen by the decree. If the application is rejected, due to factors dependent on the employer, the worker has the right to a residence permit until 30 September 2020 for pending employment, renewable until 31 December 2020, with a new contract of work. In conclusion, it is a one-year mini-sanitation for workers in agriculture.