Without waiting for the signing of a bilateral agreement, the Italians for the first time allocated a quota of jobs to Ukraine.
"Ukraine for the first time made it to this list," noted the Ukrainian embassy in Italy in an interview with the Segodnya newspaper. "Previously, Italy granted quotas to countries with which it had signed bilateral agreements. Ukraine has not yet signed such an agreement, but the Italian side decided to include us in the list as well. Most likely, in order to legalize the labor migrants who are already in the country."
According to unofficial data, about 200,000 Ukrainians work in the country, but only a very small part of our compatriots are legally employed. Previously, each legalization request was considered individually. Now, 1,800 people are guaranteed to be able to work officially in Italy. In order for a Ukrainian to obtain one of the allocated 1,800 permits, his Italian employer had to register on the website of his country's Ministry of the Interior by the end of January and fill out a form there. If the request is granted, it is forwarded to the country from which the foreign worker is supposed to come. Therefore, those illegal immigrants of ours who are already in Italy will have to return to Ukraine for the document.
However, there is another chance for our compatriots to legalize – if they work as caregivers and domestic workers. They were not included in the quotas. "This is a special category of workers that Italy is very interested in. They will be issued legal permits as needed. Applications for domestic workers will start being processed on February 2," embassy officials say.
As the Segodnya newspaper notes, Ukraine received an average number of quotas. For example, Tunisia also received about 2,000 jobs, while Morocco and Egypt were allocated 4,500 each.
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