2024-04-12T18:57:54+00:00
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/ Italy intends to accept 300 migrant workers from 3 countries within the framework of a pilot project, led by the Catholic charitable group “Sant’Egidio”, but they will not receive asylum.
The “Work Corridors” project, which Sant’Egidio agreed with the Ministry of the Interior, comes in the wake of pledges by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to balance a strict approach to illegal immigration with some opportunities for legal immigrants.
Italy’s demographics are one of the world’s oldest and rapidly shrinking. The country suffers from a shortage of low-wage workers in sectors including manufacturing, hospitality and home nursing.
Companies have also sought to recruit relatively low-paid workers from poor countries outside the European Union.
“Sant’Egidio” said that “its employees will help in selecting and employing immigrants in their countries of origin after undergoing Italian language courses and vocational training for specific jobs assigned to them before their move.”
The three countries are Lebanon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ethiopia.
The initiative stems from the “Humanitarian Corridors” run by the Sant’Egidio organization with other Christian charities, which have allowed more than 7,000 refugees to enter Italy legally since 2016.
But the numbers are only a small fraction of the total number of immigrants.
Italy recorded about 158,000 illegal immigrants who arrived by sea from North Africa last year, and more than 16,000 others since the beginning of the year, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.
The Meloni administration increased the number of work visas for those coming from outside the European Union to 452,000 in the period between 2023 and 2025.
These visas usually benefit illegal immigrants already in Italy, who exploit these quotas to legitimize their situation.