“I was a Foreigner”, the letter to Minister Piantedosi for the residence permits of workers at risk of irregularity and exploitation”

ROMA – Countryside I was a Foreignertogether with thirty other organisations, writes to Minister Piantedosi to “facilitate the issuance of the residence permit while waiting for employment to workers who, having entered with the flow decree, are at risk of irregularity and exploitation” I was a Foreigner campaignin view of the new ones click day of next week, together with over 30 associations and unions, today sent a letter to ask the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi to facilitate the issuing of the residence permit for waiting for employment to workers who, despite having entered Italy through the flows decree, they were then not hired by the employer or, even worse, they fell into real scams, losing the possibility of obtaining documents and remaining legally in Italy: these are tens of thousands of people forced into a situation of legal irregularity and extreme social precariousness for reasons not attributable to them, but to which the legal system does not offer adequate answers or protections.

The critical issues of recent regulatory changes. “Come Active Citizenship – says Laura Liberto, national coordinator of Justice for rights – Cittadinanzattiva. – we adhere to and strongly support the appeal promoted by the Ero Straniero campaign. A reasonable and practicable proposal, which, if accepted, would make it possible to protect thousands of people, destined, otherwise and in spite of themselves, to be relegated to a condition of irregularity and social exclusion and to end up victims of labor exploitation”. The recent regulatory changes, which have partly simplified the access procedure, present critical issues on which it is urgent to intervene: for example, the possibility of carrying out work with only the authorization has further endorsed distorting and worrying dynamics, if not real illicit conduct.

What the numbers in the dossier tell us. The numbers emerged from the analysis of admission data published in dossier “The lottery of entry for work in Italy: the real numbers of the flow decree” of the I was a foreigner campaign are impressive: in relation to the flow decree for the year 2022, out of a total of 55,013 authorizations issued, only 17,951 residence contracts were signed, 32.63%; the majority of workers, therefore, are first employed by companies with only the authorization but, once this employment ends, they are not hired and consequently do not obtain a residence permit, becoming irregular.

Who joined the Campaign. The I was a Foreigner campaign – promoted by A Buon Diritto Onlus, ActionAid, ASGI, Federation of Italian Evangelical Churches, Oxfam, Arci, CNCA, CILD, Fondazione Casa della carità “Angelo Abriani” – gathered support for the appeal to Minister Piantedosi among third sector organisations, employers’ associations, trade unions: Scalabrinian Agency for Development Cooperation, Amnesty International Italia, Assindatcolf, Associazione Domina Roma Nord, National Association of Democratic Jurists, Associazione Senzaconfine, Baobab Experience, Casa dei Diritti Sociali Odv, CGIL, Cies Onlus, Cittadinanzattiva, Commission Migrantes and GPCI Comboni Missionaries Italy, Community of Sant’Egidio, Italian Council for Refugees, Danish Refugees Council Italy, Migrantes Foundation, Forum to change the order of things, IRC Italy, Le Carbet, Libellula Italia Aps, Italians Without Citizenship Movement, Nonna Roma, Re. Co. Sol., Refugees Welcome, Europasilo National Network, Italian Society of Migration Medicine, Circular Spaces.