Residence permits as of 1.1.2013

In 2012, 120 thousand residence permits were released for family reunification, 67 thousand for work purposes, 31 thousand for studying purposes, and 30 thousand for other purposes amongst which 4 thousand for refugees or subsidiary protection, 2 thousand for humanitarian reasons, 4 thousand for unaccompanied minors and 563 for victims of trafficking. Excluding Romanians and more generally all EU citizens that do not need such permit from the count, the figure is of 3,8 million as of January the 1st , 2013, among whom the majority (2,1 million) of long term residents

The current low attractiveness of the Italian labour market is confirmed by the halving of permits released for work purposes compared to 2011. Already in 2011, the figure of two thirds with respect to 2010 when approximately 350 thousands were released. A decrease is also observable, though more contained, in the issuance of family reunion permits that arrived close to 200 thousand units in 2010. For those remaining in Italy, their presence is stabilizing, with a share of long term residence permits that reaches 55% in 2012 with respect to 52% in 2011 and 46% in 2010. Considering only the ten main countries of origin, the greatest relationships between entry for family reunion and for work purposes are those for Albania (3,4) and Morocco (2,5), present in Italy for more time and henceforth settled down; as to the lowest, for Bangladesh (0,8), Egypt (1,0) and India (1,1).

For what regards family reunion, 55 thousand (46%) concerned the partner, 43 thousand (36%) for children and 21 thousand (18%) for other members. For working permits, 2 thousand (3%) were released for high-skilled workers or researchers and 10 thousand (15%) for seasonal jobs.