Italy govt okays legal entry of 4.52 lakh foreign workers in 3 years

Government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has given preliminary approval to a new programming document for the legal entry of 452,000 foreign workers in the period 2023-2025.

"For the three-year period 2023-2025, the government envisages a total of 452,000 entries, compared to an identified need of 833,000" with 136,000 entries in 2023, 151,000 in 2024 and 165,000 in 2025, a statement said on Thursday.

The provision also extends the categories of worker and production sectors implicated by the so-called 'flows decree' to include electricians and plumbers, bus drivers and workers in the fishing sector.

It also reinstates a specific quota for domestic caregivers and social-medical workers, as well as increasing the number of legal entries allowed for seasonal workers in the agricultural and tourism sectors in 2022 to be used against applications made on 'click day' on March 27 for admission to Italy under an earlier decree. (ANSA).