Trade unions have asked the Italian government to urgently reconsider the implementation of the newly introduced tax on Permits of Stay.
CGIL, CISL and UIL urged the government to intervene immediately on what they described as “unacceptable” tax.
The new tax entered into force on 30th January 2012. The amount of tax being paid varies depending on the validity period of the permit.
Each immigrant applying for either the first Permit of Stay or for renewal of a permit valid for a period ranging from three months to one year must pay 80 Euros.
An immigrant applying for either the first Permit of Stay or for renewal of a permit valid for a period ranging from one year to a maximum of two years must pay 100 Euros.
At the same time, each person applying for the EC long-term residence permit (Carta di Soggiorno) must pay 200 Euros.
The new taxes are added to the fees immigrants already pay for the first permits or for renewal of their permits (27,50 Euros for the electronic Permit of Stay; 14,62 Euros for the revenue stamp; and 30,00 Euros for the postal fee). This means that if for instance, you’d like to apply for renewal of your permit so as to be issued one valid for two years, you must pay the new tax which in this case is 100 Euros; 27,50 Euros for the electronic Permit of Stay; 14,62 Euros for the revenue stamp; and 30,00 Euros for the postal fee.
The new tax is not applicable to: Permits of Stay for minor children, including those arriving in the country for family reunification; those coming to Italy for medical treatment and those accompanying them; those applying for asylum; and those applying for the Permit of Stay for political asylum, humanitarian protection and subsidiary protection.
Immigrants applying to update their valid Permits of Stay as well as those applying to convert their valid permits into other types of permits are also exempted from paying the new tax.
The trade unions have organized sit-ins against the tax on permits before the Prefectures throughout the country on 10th February 2012.
Home Affairs Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said on many occasions that they were developing a new rule to govern the implementation of the newly introduced tax on Permits of Stay.
She said that the new rule will take into consideration the difficulties immigrant families may have in paying the tax.
The trade unions said that they were now waiting for the minister to move from words to action.
The tax on permits must be reconsidered because the burden it places on immigrant families and the way the money generated from it is to be spent are not acceptable, the trade unions said.
Half of the money generated from the new tax will be used to finance deportation of irregular immigrants while the other half will be used by the Ministry of Home Affairs to maintain public security, to fund Immigrations Offices at the Prefectures and to implement the “Integration agreement” (accordo di integrazione).
The trade unions have also asked the government to urgently extend the validity period of job search permits.
By Stephen Ogongo Ongong'a
