Immigration Italy to relax rules for illegal immigrants

[Maciamo]

Whereas Benelux countries, France and Spain are getting tougher on illegal immigration, Italy takes the opposite direction :

BBC News : Italy considers immigrant amnesty

The new minister in charge of immigration in Italy plans to overhaul tough policies and relax the criteria required for being a legal immigrant.

Paolo Ferrero says he intends to normalise the position of immigrants already in Italy, if they have jobs.

Italy has a growing number of illegal immigrant workers arriving in the south of the country from Africa.
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Two months ago, more than 500,000 people queued for just 180,000 permits. The numbers applying show there are far more illegal immigrants living in Italy than official statistics suggest.
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While surveys show most Italians would like to see illegal immigrants expelled, two-thirds say they are willing to legalise those who have jobs.

Half a million of illegals (with jobs ?) willing to queue to get residency permits... How many more were not in the queues ? (Children dependent on their parents were most likely not there).

The problem with this "seasonal" amnesties is that it encourages more illegal immigrants to come, as they can only hope for such residency permits to be granted in a few months or a few years' time. Very bad policy if you ask me.

On the other hand, Italy maintains restrictions on workers from the new EU states. If they want cheap labour, what they should do is allow Eastern European workers (because they are EU citizens) and limit other immigrants.