Farmers, chefs & domestic workers
Italy has many jobs for foreigners. Many Indians are taking up the opportunity.
By Ishani Duttagupta, TNN |
Congress president Sonia Gandhi might be Italy’s most famous export to India but the traffic in the other direction is also picking up. The queues at the Italian section of VFS Global - a company which specialises in visa related outsourcing - have been getting longer. Despite the growth in the numbers of Indians going to Italy, the procedure for granting visas by the Italian Embassy in India has become much smoother.
In fact, in the employment and family reunion visa categories, the number of applications have gone up to such an extent that VFS Global now accepts only a limited number of applications daily. “We have seen a steep increase in the number of visas being issued to Indian nationals. While there was a 30% increase overall in the number of visas issued in India in 2006 over the previous year - in 2007, for the first six months there’s been another 30% increase,” Antonio Armellini, the Italian ambassador in India, told ET.
Overall there have been 32,853 visas issued for Italy in the first half of 2007, compared to 45,209 for the whole of 2006. The increase has been the most dramatic in the employment category with 3842 visas being issued in the first six months of 2007 up from 349 in the same period in 2006. The increase in percentage terms is over 1000%.
“There have been many high profile visits between the two countries over the last couple of years including the Indian commerce minister Kamal Nath’s visit to Italy and Italian President Romano Prodi’s visit to India. The relationship is obviously moving ahead and as a result there’s a growing interest among Indians to travel to Italy on employment, business, student and tourist visas,” says Mr Armellini.
The fact that there are many Indians - mainly from the state of Punjab - who are settled in the northern Italian plains and have been engaged in agricultural activities for many years, is probably the main reason why many more immigrants from Punjab are being attracted to the region for agricultural jobs. While most of the Punjabis went to Italy as agricultural labourers, some of them have now become businessmen, dairy farmers and agriculturists. A few are traders or semi-skilled workers employed in the machine tools industry and some others work in Indian restaurants.
“The numbers may not be growing by leaps and bounds, however there’s a steady increase of around 10-15% every year in the numbers of Indian agricultural workers who enter Italy through the legal immigration channel,” adds Mr Armellini. There are around 50,000 people of Indian origin living in Italy who have been officially registered.
The Italian work permit scheme for employment visas is administered directly from Italy. Work permits have to be sponsored by an Italian company or an employer. They cannot be applied for directly by a potential employee or by an agency. “In March 2006, the Italian government by an official decree had fixed the number of foreign non-EU workers, who would be issued with employment visas at 170,000. This is an annual exercise and is based on the demand as projected by employers.
Later in the second half of 2006, another 350,000 visas were added to that numbers - which was a substantial increase, that was again based on a survey among employers. Obviously there’s a big demand for foreign workers in various sectors and the employment visas that we are now issuing in India are all based on the government projections of demand,” adds Mr Annis. Another government decree in February 2007, has also authorised seasonal, contractual employment on a short term basis for 80,000 non-EU foreign workers.
The jobs available in Italy include part-time jobs in industries such as tourism and agriculture. There are jobs on offer in the summer and winter tourist industries including ski resorts and in the hospitality industry. Besides, there are jobs available with the camping companies too during the peak tourism season. For Indians in the semi-skilled category, agricultural work such as strawberry picking and grape harvesting are very attractive. Besides there are jobs available with English language schools and in childcare and elder care.
“Through this procedure we are making an attempt to create a fast track for companies that have sizeable working relationships in Italy. We have sent out letters to about 700 companies asking them to send us a list of their senior executives who need to travel to Italy often. Based on their feedback, we are issuing multiple entry, long term visas to the executives. While, this system will ensure that visas get issued in even 24 hours in some cases, we have so far received feedback from only a 100 companies.
Sometimes, the travel agents and tour operators - specially in the Punjab region are the conduits who facilitate illegal immigration to Italy,” adds Mr Armellini. The visa application process has also been made more transparent and convenient through the outsourcing arrangement with VFS Global, says Mr Armellini.
The embassy now plans to hold a seminar on migration - Destination Italy: The Right Way - in Chandigarh on August 11 to provide detailed information on immigration laws and Schengen visa procedure, in view of the substantial increase in numbers of visas issued by the consular network in India. The seminar will also address the problem of fraudulent visa applications and convey a message in the Punjab region that obtaining visas through the legal channel is the only way to enter Italy without being blacklisted, arrested, expelled on arrival and without having to pay huge amounts of money to illegal intermediaries.
In fact, in the employment and family reunion visa categories, the number of applications have gone up to such an extent that VFS Global now accepts only a limited number of applications daily. “We have seen a steep increase in the number of visas being issued to Indian nationals. While there was a 30% increase overall in the number of visas issued in India in 2006 over the previous year - in 2007, for the first six months there’s been another 30% increase,” Antonio Armellini, the Italian ambassador in India, told ET.
Overall there have been 32,853 visas issued for Italy in the first half of 2007, compared to 45,209 for the whole of 2006. The increase has been the most dramatic in the employment category with 3842 visas being issued in the first six months of 2007 up from 349 in the same period in 2006. The increase in percentage terms is over 1000%.
“There have been many high profile visits between the two countries over the last couple of years including the Indian commerce minister Kamal Nath’s visit to Italy and Italian President Romano Prodi’s visit to India. The relationship is obviously moving ahead and as a result there’s a growing interest among Indians to travel to Italy on employment, business, student and tourist visas,” says Mr Armellini.
The fact that there are many Indians - mainly from the state of Punjab - who are settled in the northern Italian plains and have been engaged in agricultural activities for many years, is probably the main reason why many more immigrants from Punjab are being attracted to the region for agricultural jobs. While most of the Punjabis went to Italy as agricultural labourers, some of them have now become businessmen, dairy farmers and agriculturists. A few are traders or semi-skilled workers employed in the machine tools industry and some others work in Indian restaurants.
“The numbers may not be growing by leaps and bounds, however there’s a steady increase of around 10-15% every year in the numbers of Indian agricultural workers who enter Italy through the legal immigration channel,” adds Mr Armellini. There are around 50,000 people of Indian origin living in Italy who have been officially registered.
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In the employment visa category, there has been an increase in the number of Indian farmers in Italy seeking to bring in argicultural labour from India. “There are also cases of Indian families sponsoring domestic workers from India,” says Mr Gabriele Annis, first secretary, political and consular at the Italian Embassy.The Italian work permit scheme for employment visas is administered directly from Italy. Work permits have to be sponsored by an Italian company or an employer. They cannot be applied for directly by a potential employee or by an agency. “In March 2006, the Italian government by an official decree had fixed the number of foreign non-EU workers, who would be issued with employment visas at 170,000. This is an annual exercise and is based on the demand as projected by employers.
Later in the second half of 2006, another 350,000 visas were added to that numbers - which was a substantial increase, that was again based on a survey among employers. Obviously there’s a big demand for foreign workers in various sectors and the employment visas that we are now issuing in India are all based on the government projections of demand,” adds Mr Annis. Another government decree in February 2007, has also authorised seasonal, contractual employment on a short term basis for 80,000 non-EU foreign workers.
The jobs available in Italy include part-time jobs in industries such as tourism and agriculture. There are jobs on offer in the summer and winter tourist industries including ski resorts and in the hospitality industry. Besides, there are jobs available with the camping companies too during the peak tourism season. For Indians in the semi-skilled category, agricultural work such as strawberry picking and grape harvesting are very attractive. Besides there are jobs available with English language schools and in childcare and elder care.
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For employment visas, the papers are issued from Italy to the employers after necessary verification procedure. The Italian embassy and consular posts in India clear such applicants very quickly based on the documents sent by their employers. Recently, the embassy in India has also launched a fast track scheme for business visas for companies which do a lot of business in Italy and need to send their staff members often. “Through this procedure we are making an attempt to create a fast track for companies that have sizeable working relationships in Italy. We have sent out letters to about 700 companies asking them to send us a list of their senior executives who need to travel to Italy often. Based on their feedback, we are issuing multiple entry, long term visas to the executives. While, this system will ensure that visas get issued in even 24 hours in some cases, we have so far received feedback from only a 100 companies.
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That we feel is a pity,” says Mr Armellini. Meanwhile, the Italian Embassy in India is also very concerned over the surge in applications being submitted with forged documents. “Various documents including letter of invitation are being forged and we are taking steps to be extra careful about checking them at our end. Besides, we would also like to create a list of bonafide and reputed travel agents and register them through a database. Sometimes, the travel agents and tour operators - specially in the Punjab region are the conduits who facilitate illegal immigration to Italy,” adds Mr Armellini. The visa application process has also been made more transparent and convenient through the outsourcing arrangement with VFS Global, says Mr Armellini.
The embassy now plans to hold a seminar on migration - Destination Italy: The Right Way - in Chandigarh on August 11 to provide detailed information on immigration laws and Schengen visa procedure, in view of the substantial increase in numbers of visas issued by the consular network in India. The seminar will also address the problem of fraudulent visa applications and convey a message in the Punjab region that obtaining visas through the legal channel is the only way to enter Italy without being blacklisted, arrested, expelled on arrival and without having to pay huge amounts of money to illegal intermediaries.
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