In May, as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Italian government announced the regularisation of the status of migrants workers in the agriculture, fishing, care and domestic work sectors. Supporters of the regularisation argue that it improves the poor working and living conditions of migrant workers, which have become even more precarious during the pandemic.

The proposed measures immediately triggered condemnations from centre-right opposition parties, criticism inside the governmental coalition, as well as a debate among practitioners from the migrant reception and integration sector. 

One of the disputed aspects of the amendments concerns the 'sectoral' approach and the number of people allowed to regularise their status. Initially, two parties of the coalition government – the Democratic Party and Italia Viva – envisaged a larger regularisation since around 600 000 irregular migrants live in the country. They however encountered strong opposition from the Five Stars Movement, the main party in the coalition, who pushed for limiting access to regularisation for migrant workers that have previously worked in the agriculture, fishing, care and domestic work sectors.

These limitations, in turn, have been largely criticised since they discriminate among the workers in different sectors. Due to this, it is estimated that the regularisation would only involve about 200 000 migrants. Yet, many more are irregularly employed in other sectors such as in construction; they are neither less numerous nor better protected. In response, the Radical Party and several associations involved in the national campaign 'Ero straniero' proposed amendments which were however rejected. 

As a result, several concerns were expressed about the profit risks that employees and employers may face if the regularisation process fails. To address these risks, the GREI250, a reflection group on regularisation and inclusion, proposed in turn several amendments. In addition to overcoming the 'sectoral approach', the group suggests:

1. to erase the time constraint according to which the regularisation is reserved to third-country nationals that have been in Italy without a valid residence permit since October 2019;
2. to ensure applications are examined by the National Labour Inspectorate within a 60-day period.

Several actors have also questioned the procedures envisaged by the decree. According to the decree, migrants can request to regularise their status through two different procedures. The first procedure allows third-country nationals who have been in Italy without a valid residence permit since October 2019 to apply for a six-month residence permit in order to to look for a job. Matteo Villa, a researcher at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), questioned this approach, noting that irregular migrants might be apprehensive about revealing their status to obtain merely a six-month permit to find employment. In the second track, employers are allowed to apply to regularise their foreign and Italian workers by putting in place proper employment contracts. However, according to the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI), the latter would not be effective without the adoption of additional incentives, substantial interventions or supporting measures.

As of 1 July, 32 000 requests for regularisations have been submitted, with 91% of the examined requests filed by domestic workers.