17 October 2016 – The Philippine Embassy in Rome, through its Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), organized an orientation on Italian labor and immigration laws with resource persons from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies (MLSP) of Italy and its in-house technical agency, the Italia Lavoro on October 13.

A panel of speakers led by Mr. Stefano Ricci, Head of the Migration Policies Division, Directorate General for Immigration of the MLSP, graced the occasion. A select group of 18 Embassy personnel and representatives of the Filipino community participated in the orientation.

Mr. Dario Sbrocca, a technical expert from the Italia Lavoro, gave an overview of the Italian legislation regulating non-EU migrant workers in Italy with the discussion focusing on the four types of residence permits issued to non-seasonal workers, seasonal workers, those entering Italy for family unification purposes and self-employment (business).

The other speaker, Annarita Guidi, also from the Italia Lavoro, presented the web portal of the MLSP that provides information on immigration and integration programs and policies of Italy. The MLSP encourages Filipino groups and individuals to access the web portal. It is also open to partnerships with migrant organizations interested to maintain a web page in its online facility.

Philippine Ambassador to Rome Domingo P. Nolasco, in his welcome remarks, stressed that the activity was an important component of the Embassy’s work for the 169,000-strong Filipino community in Italy and the impending implementation of the Agreement on Bilateral Cooperation on Labor Migration signed recently by the Philippines and Italy.

Ambassador Nolasco also emphasized that, with the strong interest generated by the activity from the representatives of the Filipino community, a similar orientation-seminar would be held for Filipino groups and individuals in Italy to keep them updated of the immigration and integration policies of the Italian government. END