Sunday, November 07, 2010

In proses bill renewing Permits of Stay at City Council

The Cabinet of Ministers today approved a new security package with a proposal to transfer the renewal of Permits of Stay from the Provincial Police Headquarters (Questure) to the City Council offices.

The Bill assigns the government the duty of redefining procedures for renewal of permits by involving the City Councils.

Home Affairs Minister Roberto Maroni said that every year 500,000 new Permits of Stay are issued. He said the issuing of the first permits should continue to be the duty of the Provincial Police Headquarters (Questure) because the checks carried out by the police are indispensable.

Mr. Maroni said they’d like to speed up the process of renewing permits by making it possible for immigrants to renew their permits in their local City Council offices.

The Bill also proposes forced removal of European Union citizens who don’t meet the required conditions for living in Italy. At the moment EU citizens can only remain in Italy for more than three months if they have jobs, are studying or have sufficient means of support with no recourse to public funds. Anyone who doesn’t meet these conditions can be asked to leave the country. Enforced removal is only carried out if the EU citizen is a threat to public security.

Under the Bill, EU citizens who don’t meet the required conditions for living in Italy will initially be asked to leave voluntarily. But if they fail to do so and are caught in the national territory, they will be forcefully removed.

The Parliament will have to debate and approve the Bill before it can be implemented.