Italy to apply more favorable regime on labor market for Romanian and Bulgarian workers

Italy is to open its labor market to a greater extent for Romanian and Bulgaria workers since January 1, 2007 than in the case of the states integrated in the European Union (EU) in May 2004, according to the Department for Labor Abroad (DMS) with the Ministry of Labor, Social Solidarity and Family (MMSSF) in Romania.

The Government in Rome decided that, starting with January 1, 2007, Italy would appeal to a transitory regime, established through the Treaty of Accession, for Romanian and Bulgarian laborers. But the applied transitory measures will give green light to people wishing to work in certain sectors – those of management and highly qualified personnel, agriculture, travel industry-hotels, household activities (housekeeping and care taking), constructions, mechanical, sectors with seasonal activities.

Those who are going to sign a labor contract in these sectors will not need other documents than a hiring letter issued by the respective employer in view of automatically getting a stay permit similar to laborers from the other Community member states.

As well, professionals are going to have free access on the labor market and for the other sectors Italian authorities will adopt simplified measures for monitoring Romanians and Bulgarians’ access on this market.

DMS stressed that the number of Romanian citizens legally in Italy on January 1, 2006 stood at 297,570, according to the Italian National Statistics Institute and from this point of view Romanians are ranking third, following the Albanians and Morocco citizens.

In line with data published in 2006 Statistics Annual Caritas/Migrantes, on December 31, 2005, the number of valid labor stay permits for Romanian citizens stood at 191,033, whereas 67,207 were issued for family integration purposes. ROMPRES