Italy Immigration Policy

The number of immigrants has increased at a fast pace in the last few years in Europe because of the political instability in several countries in North Africa and the Middle East. One of the countries with easy access to Europe and the European Union is Italy which has seen a major influx of foreigners asking for asylum in the last years. As a result, Italy has started creating various policies that deal with the immigration crisis in the best way possible.

It is useful to know that Italy has a proactive approach when it comes to immigration policies, its programs respecting the EU’s policy with respect to immigration.

Below, our immigration lawyers in Italy take you through Italy’s main immigration policy. We can help you immigrate and apply for a residence permit in Italy.

Italy’s position on immigration

Most of Italy’s immigration policies are based on the integration of immigrants within the local society. The most important policies on immigration in Italy refer to the following aspects:

  1. allowing immigrants to participate in society the same way as Italian nationals;
  2. finding ways of communicating with the immigrants’ home countries in an attempt of establishing their position;
  3. respecting international conventions with respect to the statuses of refugees and asylum seekers;
  4. relying on cultural activities which bring immigrants and nationals closer in the case of migrants from European countries;
  5. offering equal positions to EU and non-EU immigrants coming to Italy based on employment visas.

Not only the Immigration Law is taken into consideration when creating the Italy immigration policy, but more national laws are integrated in a way in which it helps both nationals and foreign citizens integrate.

Our immigration lawyers in Italy can help foreign citizens interested in moving here to obtain various types of visas, including Italian citizenship.

Immigration policy measures in Italy

As a European Union member state, Italy respects the legislation in this matter and tries to integrate immigrants, no matter their countries of origin, religionand cultures which are the most problematic issues Italian policymakers have to deal with.

Considering in 2016, no less than 180,000 immigrants ended up on Italian shores, the government has started creating policies that help them deal with the situation. Italy has been one of the most supportive EU countries in terms of programs equipping and training countries with a large number of emigrants, such as Libya.

In 2017, Italy adopted Law 46/2017 which provides for new immigration and border control measures for asylum seekers. Nevertheless, Italy remains one of the countries which provides for the fastest processing procedures when it comes to issuing refugee visas.

If you find yourself in the position of applying for a visa for Italy, our lawyers can guide you.

You can read about Italy’s immigration policies in the scheme below:

The Consolidated Immigration Act in Italy

One of the most important Italy immigration policies is the Consolidated Immigration Act which provides for new criteria for assessing the risks presented by persons refusing to have their fingerprints taken repeatedly. The new Italy immigration policy also eliminated appeals with first instance courts upon the rejection of asylum applications, such appeals being sent directly to the Supreme Court.

Asylum procedures were simplified by allowing the applicant to be videotaped instead of appearing before the court and thus speeding up the procedure.

Our immigration lawyers in Italy can provide more information on the Consolidated Immigration Law. This is the main law that covers the residence permit in Italy.

Italy’s immigration policy on the welfare of immigrants

One of the most important aspects of Italy’s immigration policy refers to the welfare of immigrants. For this purpose, the legislators have allocated funds for integration policies, funds used for language courses, intercultural activities, housing, and education.

Another important part of the first immigration policy created by Italy refers to the accessibility to permanent residence and even naturalization for immigrants.

Before the Consolidated Immigration Law was enabled, Italy’s immigration policy had proven successful as between 2012 and 2015, the number of asylum detainees dropped from almost 8,000 to 5,200.

Other immigration numbers indicate:

  • according to the United National High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Italy hosted 93,715 refugees in 2014;
  • out the 93,715 refugees, 63,655 were first-time asylum applicants in 2014;
  • in 2017, there were 3.7 migrants per 1,000 Italian nationals;
  • in 2018, the Italian population increased by 0.16%, reaching a total number of 62,246,674 individuals.

For complete information on Italy’s immigration policy, please contact our immigration lawyers. You can also obtain our support when applying for Italian citizenship.