Italy`s nationalist government approved a bill in the upper house of parliament on Thursday that aims to reduce the number of migrants who can claim some form of asylum and curb integration efforts.
Italy‘s nationalist government approved a bill in the upper house of parliament on Thursday that aims to reduce the number of migrants who can claim some form of asylum and curb integration efforts.

The bill, which still needs the approval of the lower house to become law, was drawn up after a shipwreck off southern Italy in February that killed more than 90 migrants.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said the legislation, which includes tougher jail terms for human smugglers, is intended to dissuade people from putting their trust in traffickers and trying to reach Italy illegally.

Critics say the bill is repressive and will do nothing to halt the flow of migrants seeking a better life in Europe, but will instead force ever more newcomers into illegality.

Among the most contested measures is a decision to eliminate “special protection” residency permits that authorities can offer migrants who don’t qualify for asylum, but who face humanitarian risks back home, or have family ties in Italy.

The government said the system was being abused, noting

that in 2022 authorities had handed out 10,506 special protection permits against 7,494 permits offering refugee status and 7,039 that granted a separate form of international protection.

The bill also halts state-funded Italian language courses and eliminates legal advice services for migrants hosted in official reception centres.

Italy has seen a recent surge in arrivals by boat migrants, with 34,715 people reaching the country from Jan. 1- April 19, against 8,669 in the same period last year, alarming Meloni, who took office in 2022 promising to reduce migrant flows.

Earlier this week, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida said Italians were at risk of “ethnic replacement”, drawing criticism from centre-left parties who accused him of promoting white supremacy �` a charge he has rejected.

Opposition senators urged the government to do more to help migrants be absorbed into the workplace, saying Italy needed hundreds of thousands of new workers as the population declines.

“Why if you are enemies of illegal immigration are you doing all you can to push people into illegality,” said Ivan Scalfarotto, a senator with the centrist Italia Viva party. V.4804

I recently renewed my passport at Home Affairs in a bank branch and was very impressed with the service and quick turnaround time. The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and major banks first launched the option to do Smart ID card and passport applications via select bank branches in 2016. It has slowly grown to around 30 locations, including branches from Absa, Discovery Bank, FNB, Investec, Nedbank, and Standard Bank. My passport was set to expire in October 2024, and because many countries require that your passport be valid for six months from a travel date, a renewal was due. V.5324
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DA MP says this is up 20 000 from the 74 000 six months previously Department of Home Affairs visa backlog is up by 20 000 in 6 months The Democratic Alliance (DA) can reveal that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) Visa backlog has increased from 74 000 in August 2023 to 92 000 as of 16 February 2024. This is an increase of just under 20 000 in about 6 months. Download the Parliamentary question and answer here. The increase goes against what the Minister told the Home Affairs Parliamentary Committee in March 2023. V.5325
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The European Union (EU) will limit visas for people from Ethiopia. This is because the Ethiopian government hasn`t been helping take back citizens who stay in the EU illegally. The EU Council announced this in a statement on Monday. Ethiopians won`t get visas for multiple entries anymore. Also, Ethiopians with diplomatic and service passports won`t have their visa fees waived. V.5326
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CRIMINAL convictions more than two decades ago came to haunt a man who was offered a job as a senior data discovery and enrichment expert, but after his prospective employer got wind of the convictions, retracted the job offer. But the Gqeberha Labour Court came to his rescue and found that the man should be given a second chance, given that his convictions occurred 20 years ago and had meanwhile been expunged. V.5327
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Nigeria’s economy, which ranked as Africa’s largest in 2022, is set to slip to fourth place this year and Egypt, which held the top position in 2023, is projected to fall to second behind South Africa after a series of currency devaluations, International Monetary Fund forecasts show. The IMF’s World Economic Outlook estimates Nigeria’s gross domestic product at $253 billion based on current prices this year, lagging energy-rich Algeria at $267 billion, Egypt at $348 billion and South Africa at $373 billion. V.5328
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There are fears that more people will be separated by the introduction of a minimum salary level for those wanting UK family visas. Families living in the UK and abroad have raised concerns about what new rules will mean for them as they try to reunite with foreign spouses. In December, the Home Office, which says migration to the UK is too high, announced a package of measures to reduce net migration, following a spike in arrival numbers. V.5318
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An Ethiopian asylum seeker, who does not speak English, claims he was duped by a senior immigration official into paying an admission of guilt fine when he thought he was paying for bail.Two Western Cape High Court judges have condemned the official`s `deplorable` behaviour, set aside the fine, and ordered the immigration official be taken off the case. Tsegaye Esyas claims Annelise van Dyk treated him like an animal which led to him attempt suicide while in police cells. V.5320
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EREMY MAGGS: I want to stay with crime now. Individuals with a criminal record may be faced with significant challenges when seeking employment, I think that’s a given. Here in South Africa, employers may legally exclude an applicant from consideration for a position if having a clean criminal record is what is termed an inherent requirement of the job. That phrase, inherent requirement, is important, but what exactly does that mean, and when can an applicant be lawfully excluded for having a criminal record? V.5321
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As a South African who has adopted a nomadic work lifestyle alongside my wife, Ingrid Lotze, I’ve been an interested observer of South Africa’s snail-pace digital nomad visa (DNV) development process. Despite the optimism surrounding its introduction, the visa seems to miss several crucial marks for digital nomads like us. V.5322
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DA MP says hours lost continue to result in persons being unable to collect their ID documents due to unmanageable queues The DA has been inundated with complaints that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) systems are offline, resulting in long queues and delayed processing of documents. Through questions posed to the Minister, the DA can now reveal that the DHA has lost over 77 years’ worth of working hours due to system downtime and load-shedding from 2019 to date. Concerningly, this data only relates to hours lost for the application of smart IDs, meaning decades more of working hours could have been additionally lost in other spheres such as passport or visa applications. V.5314
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