Immigration

In Belgium there is a boom of assisted voluntary returns. In 2011, immigrants who have decided to return to the motherland have reached a record level of 3,400: +14% over the previous year. A phenomenon that, in addition to the severe economic crisis, is due in particular to the success [...]

925 administrative fines have been given by the Flemish government in Belgium to immigrants who attended less than 80% lessons of civic integration courses. The news comes from Geert Bourgeois, minister for Civic Integration. Actually a compulsory program called “inburgering” is required to all foreigners (non-EU contries) who decide to [...]

In Belgium, the hunt for foreign healthcare professionals is becoming a real business. In order to try to cope with staff shortages in the health sector, in fact, many recruitment agencies have begun to recruit doctors and nurses from abroad. The key countries where medical personnel have been recruited are [...]

Criminal organizations in Europe managing the human trafficking have diversified their business. No longer limited to prostitution, but also to other sectors such as catering and construction. The victims are lured to their countries of origin using sophisticated tricks. Often, criminal people present themselves as employees of employment agencies and [...]

In Belgium, the bureaucratic procedures for obtaining a work permit for highly qualified workers are unmatched in Europe. Efficiency and speed are on the agenda in this state without a government. At the point of being a real magnet for excellencies minds around the world. It is what emerges from the study by Deloitte, conducted on a biennial basis, which indicates the timing required to get permission in some European countries. While in Brussels it takes three weeks to get it, in [...]

In 2011, more than 58,000 immigrants arrived in Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. A new record that exceeds the previous one of 2008: 54,000. To be noted that the vast majority of them landed on Italian shores: 56,000, of which 28,000 from Tunisia. These are some of the figures recently [...]

Among those who have experienced, especially at an early age, migration it is more likely to suffer from a psychotic disorder. It is the result of a study conducted in the Netherlands. It is not surprising for the higher incidence of this disease among immigrants compared to the natives, but [...]

€ 826 million has been earmarked by the European Union for the integration of immigrants in all spheres of society. The fund covers the period 2007-2013 and aims to support efforts by member states in this difficult field.

A new migratory tsunami is likely to fall on the Old Continent. But this time the danger doesn’t comes from the Maghreb, but that's incredible, from Liechtenstein. With its 36 thousand inhabitants, in fact, the small state nestled between Austria and Switzerland officially joined the Schengen area. This means that [...]

While the city burns, there is always someone playing the harp. Surprisingly, however, are the immigrants in the European Union to have suffered less from the setbacks of the current economic crisis. The latest Eurostat data on remittances are clear. In 2010, foreign residents in Europe have sent to their [...]

Two months before France's presidential election, Front National continues to rise in the polls, registering its best historical result. It is an unexpected success, especially if we consider that it was only one year ago that Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder and undisputed leader of the party, retired from political [...]

Twelve months after Front National established its leadership and four months before next presidential election, Marine Le Pen may represent a real shift in the French political landscape. Not only for the wide and strong citizens' approval it obtained, confirmed by a recent TNS Sofres survey, but also because, within [...]

Few details are missing to complete the Muslim cemetery in Strasbourg. The first in the history of the French Republic, to be funded with public money: € 800 thousand invested by the local government. It will be open on February 6 and, on a land of 1 ha in the [...]

Nicolas Sarkozy is working in sight of the next election betting everything on immigration. The objective is to stop the Front National Party and its leader Marine Le Pen. This is one of the reasons why the French Secretary of the Interior Claude Guéant has announced pompously that the number [...]

From the report "Transatlantic Trends: Immigration in 2011" comes through loud and clear criticism of the citizens of Germany, Italy, UK, France and Spain, with regard to migration policies put in place by their respective Governments. However, the majority sees the central state as subject that must engage in this delicate matter. Then, for 52% migration is a complication in the contemporary social landscape, but the same percentage is highly optimistic about integration. Moreover a significant number of citizens are [...]

In 2011, in Germany the number of asylum seekers has risen by almost 11% over the previous year. On 45.741 presented requests more than 7 thousand were successfully accepted. Afghanistan remains the first country of origin, but both Syria (+76%) and Pakistan (+202%) showed a strong increase compared to 2010. [...]

The detractors of integration courses for immigrants have to think again. They are in fact "an indispensable business card for entry into the society and especially in the labor market of the host country". It declares that the vast majority of newcomers who frequented them in Germany. So much so [...]

Every light has its shadow. The German government presented last week the second “Integrationsindikatorenbericht”, a detailed report about the situation of 16 million of immigrants belonging to both the first and the second generation. According to the report, on the hand the unemployment rate among immigrants is lower than in [...]

The first generation of Muslim immigrants in Germany is aging and in need of care. To try to answer this new emergency in Berlin just opened the International Hospital of Kreuzberg, reserved only for patients with dementia who have Turkish or Arab origins. Specific feature of this structure is to [...]

115 thousand are the Germans who, in 2010, chose to come back home after staying abroad. 14.4% of 800 thousand people who, in the same year, emigrated in Germany. With a 11% increase over 2009. At the same time, emigration to foreign countries has declined (670 thousand in 2010, compared [...]

In 2010 Irish authorities rejected 98% of asylum claims. According to Eurostat only 25 applicants out of 1,600 have been granted refugees status.

9,000 migrants were refused social welfare payments in Ireland last year because they failed to meet the required residency standards.

According to government estimates, at least 100 thousand people will leave Ireland in the coming four years. A figure that transforms the island of Joyce in the country with the highest rate of migrants in Western Europe, amounting to almost 2% of the population.   

Once Ireland was regarded as an admirable tiger. Today its image has been reduced to a disgruntled PIG. Back in September 2008, Ireland became the first EU country to officially enter a recession in a public declaration and two years later there are still no signs of light at the [...]

In Ireland in 2009 about 9% of graduates with the highest votes would be transferred abroad for professional reasons. According to data released by the Higher Education Authority had they were just 5% the previous year and four times less now than in 2007. This confirm that because of the [...]

In Italy, it was published in the Official Gazette the decree setting to 48,806 the number of visas and residence permits that may be issued to foreigners for the access to university and high artistic training courses, for the academic year 2011-2012.

Milan opens the doors of its kindergartens to the children of immigrants without residence permit. This is one of the main changes contained in the municipal circular letter which establishes the criteria for the registration of children in the nursery schools for the year 2012/2013. In the text of the [...]

In Milan, in 2011, the grants of citizenship to immigrants’ children born in Italy increased by 39.1% over the previous year. For a total of 458 out of 479 entitled people. The new citizens are predominantly Philippine (163 youths), Egyptian (105), Chinese (94) and Peruvian (22). These are some of [...]

In 2011, more than 58,000 immigrants arrived in Europe through the Mediterranean Sea. A new record that exceeds the previous one of 2008: 54,000. To be noted that the vast majority of them landed on Italian shores: 56,000, of which 28,000 from Tunisia. These are some of the figures recently [...]

A guide produced by the Prefecture of Florence, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce, explains to the immigrants how doing business in full compliance with rules. The handbook answers, among others, to questions such as: Why should I work with a regular contract? What are the benefits I am [...]

The Romanian Senate adopted yesterday a proposal to modify an older Romanian law in a way that would allow adults from national minorities to get vocational training in their mother tongue. Although the Romanian Constitution gives the right to people belonging to national minorities to study in their mother tongue, [...]

4% of Romanian population is living in Italy as of the 1st of January 2010, according to the data published by the Romanian National Institute for Statistics.  That means that 880 thousand Romanian citizens were registered with the Italian municipalities. However, as many of the Romanians living and working in [...]

The Romanian Government has appointed Valentin Mocanu State Secretary to resolve the thorny issue of the Roma in relations with France. A decision, made after that last July 26 the Government of Sarkozy threatened the new EU members, during the meeting of foreign eu ministers, to block its adhesion to [...]

It is a crisis time, you know, but not for Chinese immigrants resident in Spain. In 2011 only as much as 45% of new members to the National Register of workers with VAT came right from the Celestial Empire. This explains why, especially in large Spanish cities, among the entrepreneurs [...]

From the report "Transatlantic Trends: Immigration in 2011" comes through loud and clear criticism of the citizens of Germany, Italy, UK, France and Spain, with regard to migration policies put in place by their respective Governments. However, the majority sees the central state as subject that must engage in this delicate matter. Then, for 52% migration is a complication in the contemporary social landscape, but the same percentage is highly optimistic about integration. Moreover a significant number of citizens are [...]

While the city burns, there is always someone playing the harp. Surprisingly, however, are the immigrants in the European Union to have suffered less from the setbacks of the current economic crisis. The latest Eurostat data on remittances are clear. In 2010, foreign residents in Europe have sent to their [...]

In Spain, only 27% of non-EU immigrants has owned a house. Against 85% of the native population. Almost half of the foreigners, then, is at risk of poverty. These are the figures that emerge from a study presented by EAE Business School.

39% of Spanish men usually attends a prostitute. The highest percentage of the entire EU. In this special classification follow the Swiss (19%). The lowest number is recorded, however, in Sweden, as a probable consequence of a well-established law that provides penalties also for customers. This was announced by the [...]

In the United Kingdom, since 2000, there were 74 official cases of child abuse linked to witchcraft. According to the latest official study, three quarters of the known facts occurred in London and the children were mostly of African ethnicity. The alarm is raised by the African group Unite Against [...]

Ask for help to the emergency room and be told "I do not understand". This is not the misfortune of an Italian tourist in London, but one of many medical malpractice of which are victims British citizens themselves. Strange, but true. In many hospitals of Her Majesty, in fact, health [...]

There is no link between rising immigration and rising unemployment. This is, briefly, the conclusion of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. That found  no association between higher immigration and joblessness. In fact, the Institute's researchers suggested that the opposite might be the case and that immigration acts [...]

In the United Kingdom, 2 years is the minimum time after which an immigrant discovers that he is suffering from tuberculosis. In 2010, 75% of those who suffered from this disease was foreign born. In addition to the high incidence of diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, malaria and TB among [...]

From the report "Transatlantic Trends: Immigration in 2011" comes through loud and clear criticism of the citizens of Germany, Italy, UK, France and Spain, with regard to migration policies put in place by their respective Governments. However, the majority sees the central state as subject that must engage in this delicate matter. Then, for 52% migration is a complication in the contemporary social landscape, but the same percentage is highly optimistic about integration. Moreover a significant number of citizens are [...]

It is not simple to build a democratic country. Tunisia is trying to do so after the January revolution, which caused the fall of the twenty-year Ben Ali's regime and his escape to Saudi Arabia. This is what we discuss with Hamza Chourabi, the president of the association Demokratie Tunesien, [...]

Everything started one year ago. The nth police abuse of power, the usual neglect of institutions, a country – Tunisia – governed for more than twenty years by the same person, President Ben Alì, who had established a corrupt and brutal regime. For Mohammed Bouazizi that was too much, the [...]

The Dream Act signed last Saturday by Jerry Brown, the governor of California, allows irregular foreign but deserving students to benefit from public grants. Through this Act, California takes a stand in the power play concerning immigration, which has paralyzed and divided the US over the last years. As for [...]

One shoot is enough, to rekindle the nationalism. Afërdita Dreshaj does know it well, as she posted on her facebook wall a photo together with Anja Saranovic; two girls who friendly embrace themselves, as many others do. But it is not so. Afërdita is miss Kosovo, Anja is miss Serbia; so [...]

Among the many revolutions that have taken place in 2011, one was almost ignored: for the first time in the last sixty years the illegal migration flow towards the U.S. of Mexicans came to a halt. We discuss it with Douglas Massey, Professor of Sociology at the Priceton University and [...]