Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Immigration Policies in Italy: Their Impact on the Lives of First-Generation Moroccan and Egyptian Migrants

  • Published:
Journal of International Migration and Integration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper analyzes the impact of Italian immigration policies on migrants’ lives. Policies and changes in policies can affect migrants’ capabilities to stabilize themselves in the host country, in terms of legal residence and secure labor conditions, as well as their chances of becoming part of the host society. We argue that, together with border controls, these are crucial ways through which immigration policies may have the postulated effects on the lives of migrants. We use data from 59 in-depth interviews conducted with first-generation Moroccan and Egyptian migrants living in two Italian cities, Turin and Rome, in the period 2011–2013. The results show that Italian immigration policies do not successfully control migration inflow, but effectively hinder the stability of migrants’ legal status and the status transition from temporary residence to permanent residence and subsequent Italian citizenship. In this way, Italian immigration policies largely affect migrants’ capabilities to be part of the host country; this gets in the way of integration, social cohesion, and future migration projects.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Circulars should be considered as texts issued by Ministries; their main aim is to explain how to implement a law or as internal norms (Mezger and Gonzalez-Ferrer 2013; Nascimbene 1988). These legal texts are often internal ministerial documents, therefore not accessible to the public.

  2. According to the Convention, receiving countries should promote social and economic integration of migrant workers through basic human and work rights (social benefits, strikes, association, membership in labor associations) and family reunification.

  3. The interview source is reported according to the following coding system: “M” and “E” represent Moroccans and Egyptians, followed by a specification of the gender of the interviewee (m = male, f = female) and by the year of arrival in Italy. Thus, Em1989 refers to an Egyptian male who arrived in 1989.

References

  • Ambrosini, M. (2005). Sociologia delle migrazioni [Sociology of migration]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ambrosini, M. (2013). Immigration in Italy: between economic acceptance and political rejection. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 14(1), 175–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbagli, M., Colombo, A., & Sciortino, G. (2004). I Sommersi e i sanati. Le Regolarizzazioni degli immigrati in Italia [The regularisations of immigrants in Italy]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bascherini, G. (2007). Immigrazione e diritti fondamentali [Immigration and fundamental rights]. Napoli: Jovene

  • Bauböck, R. (Ed.) (2006). Migration and citizenship: legal status, rights and political participation. IMISCOE Report Series. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press

  • Castles, S. (1995). How nation-states respond to immigration and ethnic diversity. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 21(3), 293–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S. (2004a). The factors that make and unmake migration policies. International Migration Review, 38(3), 852–884.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S. (2004b). Why migration policies fail. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27(2), 205–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cento Bull, A. (2010). Addressing contradictory needs: the Lega Nord and Italian immigration policy. Patterns of Prejudice, 44(5), 411–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cesareo, V., & Blangiardo, G. C. (2009). Indici di integrazione. Un’indagine empirica sulla realtà migratoria italiana, [Integration indexes. An empirical survey on the Italian migration context]. Milano: Franco Angeli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cingolani, P., & Ricucci, R. (2013). Transmediterranei. Le collettività di origine nordafricana in Piemonte, tra continuità e cambiamento [Transmediterraneans. North African communities in Piedmont, between continuity and change]. FIERI Research Report. Turin: FIERI.

  • Colombo, A., & Sciortino, G. (2004a). Alcuni problemi di lungo periodo delle politiche migratorie italiane [Some long-term problems of Italian migration policies]. Le Istituzioni del Federalismo, 5, 763–788.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colombo, A., & Sciortino, G. (2004b). Gli Immigrati in Italia [Immigrants in Italy]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cornelius, W. A. (2005). Controlling ‘unwanted’ immigration: lessons from the United States, 1993–2004. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(4), 775–794.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornelius, W. A., & Rosenblum, M. R. (2005). Immigration and politics. Annual Review of Political Science, 8, 99–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cvajner, M., & Sciortino, G. (2010). A tale of networks and policies: prolegomena to an analysis of irregular migration careers and their development paths. Population, Space and Place, 16(3), 213–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Czaika, M., & de Haas, H. (2013). The effectiveness of immigration policies. Population and Development Review, 39(3), 487–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Haas, H., & Vezzoli, S. (2011). Leaving matters: the nature, evolution and effects of emigration policies. DEMIG Project Paper No. 4. Oxford: IMI.

  • Della Porta, D. (2000). Immigration and protest: new challenges for Italian democracy. South European Society and Politics, 5(3), 108–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Einaudi, L. (2007). Le Politiche dell’immigrazione in Italia dall’unità ad oggi [Immigration policies in Italy from the unification to nowadays]. Roma–Bari: Editori Laterza

  • Eurostat online dataset. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Accessed December 1, 2015.

  • Finotelli, C., & Sciortino, G. (2013). Through the gates of the fortress: European visa policies and the limits of immigration control. Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 14(1), 80–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geddes, A. (2008). Il Rombo dei Cannoni? Immigration and the centre-right in Italy. Journal of European Public Policy, 15(3), 349–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilligan, C. (2015). The public and the politics of immigration controls. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, doi:10.1080/1369183X.2015.1021584

  • ISMU. (2011). XVII Rapporto sulle migrazioni in Italia [XVII Report on migration in Italy]. Milano: Franco Angeli.

    Google Scholar 

  • Istat online dataset. http://demo.istat.it. Accessed March 2, 2015.

  • Italian Ministry of Interior. http://www.interno.gov.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/it/sezioni/ministero/dipartimenti/dip_politiche_personale/statistiche/scheda_15929.html. Accessed December 10, 2015.

  • Joppke, C. (1998). Why liberal states accept unwanted immigration. World Politics, 50(2), 266–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koopmans, R., & Statham, P. (1999). Challenging the liberal nation-state? Postnationalism, multiculturalism and the collective claims making of migrants and ethnic minorities in Britain and Germany. American Journal of Sociology, 105(3), 652–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., D. Jorge, & Pren, K. A. (2014) Border enforcement and return migration by documented and undocumented Mexicans. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, doi:10.1080/1369183X.2014.986079

  • Mezger, C., & Gonzalez-Ferrer, A. (2013). The ImPol Database: a new tool to measure immigration policies in France, Italy and Spain since the 1960s. MAFE Working Paper No. 34. Paris: INED.

  • Morris, L. (2001). The ambiguous terrain of rights: civic stratification in Italy’s emergent immigration regime. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 25(3), 497–516.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moya, J. C. (2005). Immigrants and associations: a global and historical perspective. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(5), 833–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nascimbene, B. (1988). Lo Straniero nel diritto italiano [The foreigner in the Italian law]. Milano: Giuffré Editore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Natter, K. (2014). Fifty years of Maghreb emigration: how states shaped Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian emigration. DEMIG Project Paper No. 21. Oxford: IMI.

  • Pastore, F. (2004). A community out of balance: nationality law and migration politics in the history of post-unification Italy. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 9(1), 27–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastore, F., & Villosio, C. (2011). Nevertheless attracting. Italy and immigration in times of crisis. LABOR Working Paper No. 106. Turin: LABOR.

  • Piore, M. J. (1979). Birds of passage: migrant labour and industrial societies. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Reyneri, E. (1998). The role of the underground economy in irregular migration to Italy: cause or effect? Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 24(2), 313–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reyneri, E. (2001). Migrants’ involvement in irregular employment in the Mediterranean countries of the European Union. Geneva: International Labor Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruhs, M. (2008). Economic research and labour immigration policy. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 24(3), 403–426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saraceno, C., Sartor, N., & Sciortino, G. (2013). Stranieri e disuguali. Le disuguaglianze nei diritti e nelle condizioni di vita degli immigrati [Foreigners and unequal. Inequalities in the rights and living conditions of immigrants]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuster, L. (2005). The continuing mobility of migrants in Italy: shifting between places and statuses. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(4), 757–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrover, M., & Vermeulen, F. (2005). Immigrant organisations. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(5), 823–832.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sciortino, G. (2002). Islamofobia all’italiana [Italian Islamophobia]. Polis XVI, 1, 103–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solé, C. (2004). Immigration policies in southern Europe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30(6), 1209–1221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Triandafyllidou, A. (2003). Immigration policy implementation in Italy: organisational culture, identity processes and labour market control. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(2), 257–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tursi, A. (2004). Il Lavoro degli immigrati nella legge Bossi-Fini: diritto comparato e politiche comunitarie [Immigrant labor in the Bossi-Fini law: comparative law and EU policies]. Italian Journal of Social Policy, 1(3), 91–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel, D. (2000). Migration control in Germany and the United States. International Migration Review, 34(2), 390–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zincone, G. (1992). Da sudditi a cittadini [From vassals to citizens]. Bologna: Il Mulino.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zincone, G. (1998). Illegality, enlightenment and ambiguity: a hot Italian recipe. South European Society and Politics, 3(3), 45–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zincone, G. (2006a). The making of policies: immigration and immigrants in Italy. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 32(3), 347–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zincone, G. (Ed.) (2006b). Familismo legale. Come (non) diventare Italiani [Legal familism. How to (not) become Italian]. Rome-Bari: Laterza

  • Zincone, G., & Caponio, T. (2004). Immigrant and immigration policy-making: the case of Italy. IMISCOE Working Paper Country Report. Amsterdam: IMISCOE

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that greatly improved the manuscript. We also thank FIERI for granting access to the data used in this paper and to give the possibility to replicate the survey in Rome. We would like to thank Sapienza University of Rome for funding this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department Statistical Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena, 295-00161, Rome, Italy

    Angela Paparusso

  2. Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), P.O Box 11650, The Hague, 2502, AR, The Netherlands

    Tineke Fokkema

  3. Department of Methods and Models for Economics, Territory and Finance, Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano, 9-00161, Rome, Italy

    Elena Ambrosetti

Authors
  1. Angela Paparusso
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tineke Fokkema
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Elena Ambrosetti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angela Paparusso.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 2 Immigration policy reforms in Italy, 1912–2013
Full size table

Appendix 2

Table 3 Amnesty
Full size table

Appendix 3

Table 4 Entry of labor migrants
Full size table

Appendix 4

Table 5 Residence permit for labor migrants
Full size table

Appendix 5

Table 6 Entry through family reunification
Full size table

Appendix 6

Table 7 Italian citizenship
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Paparusso, A., Fokkema, T. & Ambrosetti, E. Immigration Policies in Italy: Their Impact on the Lives of First-Generation Moroccan and Egyptian Migrants. Int. Migration & Integration 18, 499–546 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-016-0485-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-016-0485-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation