Italy to admit 500,000 non-EU workers in 3 years amid migration challenges

ROME — Italy will issue nearly 500,000 new work visas for non-EU nationals from 2026 to 2028, a cabinet statement said on Monday, as part of a strategy to expand legal immigration channels in response to labor shortages.

A total of 164,850 people will be allowed in next year, aiming to reach a cumulative total of 497,550 new entries by 2028.

It is the second such move Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has made since she took office nearly three years ago as the head of a right-wing coalition. The government had already decided to issue over 450,000 permits to migrants between 2023 and 2025.

Alongside rules to allow in new workers, Meloni has taken a tough stance against illegal arrivals, moving to speed up repatriations and curbing the activities of charities rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

"The quotas were determined taking into account the needs expressed by the social partners and the actual applications for work permits submitted in previous years, with the aim of (creating) a program that responds to the needs of businesses and is also realistic," the statement said.

An aging population and a sagging birthrate highlight the need to attract foreign workers in the eurozone's third-largest economy. There were some 281,000 more deaths than births in 2024 and the population fell by 37,000 to 58.93 million, continuing a decade-long trend.

Agricultural lobby Coldiretti welcomed the government's plan, saying it represented an important step to guarantee the availability of workers in the fields and the country's food production.

"The government will continue with determination to allow legal migration channels, benefiting important sectors of our economy," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told daily La Stampa on Sunday.

To counter the ongoing depopulation and maintain current levels of inhabitants, Italy would need to take in at least 10 million immigrants by 2050, according to research by the Osservatorio sui Conti Pubblici think tank.

Sunken boat

In another development, a migrant boat sank between Tunisia and Italy, leaving one woman dead, though the Italian coastguard managed to rescue 87 survivors, the Red Cross told AFP on Monday.

After setting out from La Louza in Tunisia, the fishing boat sank in the middle of the night when it was approximately 72 kilometers from Italy's Lampedusa island, according to Italian media.

Tunisian fishermen in the area alerted Italian authorities, they said, adding that at least five or six migrants were believed to be still missing.

The rescued migrants, all from sub-Saharan Africa, were transported to a reception center in Lampedusa for care, according to the Italian Red Cross, which runs the center.

It said the coastguard had recovered the body of a drowned woman.

As of Monday, 29,903 migrants have landed on Italian shores this year, including 5,146 unaccompanied minors, according to Italy's interior ministry.

That was slightly higher than last year during the same period, but less than half of 2023, when 65,519 migrants arrived from January until the end of June.

Last year, the International Organization for Migration recorded 2,452 people who died while crossing the Mediterranean in the hopes of reaching Europe.

Agencies Via Xinhua