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the Migration Officer

experience
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the Migration Officer experience 104 105

The Role of Unioncamere Veneto 46 Unioncamere has served a fundamental organisational and administrative
role during the project’s activities.
One of the most important actions was the selection and training of three
Italian Migration Officers who, based in Unioncamere Offices, supported
local authorities in the management of the effects of enlargement on migra-
tion flows, as is illustrated in the description of activities in the following
paragraphs.
The Regional Union of the Chambers of Commerce of Veneto (Unioncamere Unioncamere Veneto will continue its activities for the inclusion of migrants
Veneto) is the association of the Chambers of Commerce Industry Crafts in the enlarged Europe through initiatives aimed at creating a new produc-
and Agriculture of the region. Its aim is to support and promote the econo- tive intelligence in new Member States.
my and to coordinate the relations with the Veneto Region and local institu- Recently Unioncamere Veneto has presented a project within the pro-
tions. gramme Interreg III B CADSES – Measure 1.4 “Spatial Impact of
Unioncamere has been involved for a long time in activities aimed at pro- Immigration”; the objective is to support European Union immigration and
viding cross-border institutions with the means to manage the impact of social security policies through the promotion of actions that encourage
migration; the effort is to consider both administrative effects and the need cooperation between private and public sectors, by means of training and
for social and economic inclusion of workers from New Member States. The support for companies (compatible with delocalisation of Veneto produc-
reinforcement of the economy, improved social cohesion and a growing feel- tion) in order to increase possibilities for immigrants to return to their home
ing of security in a multicultural context are fundamental topics in the eco- countries where they can start or join productive activities.
nomic scenario of the Veneto Region.
It is vital for Member States, for their administrations and companies, as
drivers of the economy, to maintain and develop society so that new-com- notes
46 This and the following paragraphs are by Flavia Di Noto and Riccardo Sommariva
ers feel welcome, and to allow a spirit of mutual comprehension and assis-
tance to emerge, where expectations of both residents and immigrants are
well defined.
Through the Migrest Project, Unioncamere has set the following goals:
> to give public administrations of cross-border regions effective solutions
and tools in order to manage the socio-economic impact produced by
the European Union’s Enlargement;
> to improve public administrations’ knowledge about Enlargement
towards Eastern Europe, its content, its impact on growing migration flows
and consequent opportunities and risks;
> to develop proper strategies and professional competencies to manage
migration flows caused by Enlargement;
> to stimulate institutional and administrative transnational cooperation
through network management of the socio-economic impact of
Enlargement.
A specific objective of the Project was the creation of a new professional figure:
the Migration Officer, working in cross-border areas, supporting local authorities
in the management of the effects of Enlargement on migration flows.
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the Migration Officer experience 106
The Activities of Migration Officers
The activities of the Migrest project started in December 2002, with the first
workshop. The issues’ complexity and their socio-economic context – which
had to be taken into consideration, forced partners to create some man-
agement preconditions for a coherent development of the project itself.
In fact, the contextualisation of the project’s activities within the Venetian
social and political framework was necessary for a major involvement of the
territorial institutions who were already dealing with immigration issues.
To that end, a set of preliminary actions, related to the Migration Officer’s
activities, were carried out in order to allow a complete fulfilment of the
planned activities, especially for the definition of information, training and
counselling sections.
Therefore, the Migration Officer’s activities were planned to cover the follow-
ing operative sectors,
Management Creation of a Technical Management Committee, a coordination
Activities and propelling body of the project’s activities.
Activities developed in the Technical Management Committee.
In order to carry out an effective coordination of the project’s activities,
Italian Migration Officers suggested to the leading partner, the creation of a
specific working group called Technical Management Committee. The sug-
gestion was accepted. The Committee – composed of the Project Manager,
Migration Officers, representatives of Unioncamere Veneto and Venice
International University – worked together, in order to achieve general agree-
ments on the organisational choices and to solve emerging problems with-
in the project’s activities. From September 2003 to October 2004, 14
coordination meetings were organised. Migration Officers gave their impor-
tant contribution in:
> organising the planned workshops;
> identifying the nature, relevance and contents of the training modules
they would subsequently attend;
> planning the participation of Italian and Greek Migration Officers
to workshops and training courses in order to foster mutual knowledge
107
and cooperation between the two countries, especially as far
as regulations and practical experiences on the matter are concerned.
This initiative, also shared with Greek Migration Officers, increased
the positive feedbacks of the project, through strong partnership building
and an innovative approach;
> planning and realising the website;
> designing the Final Guide.
Coordination of partners’ activities and role definition.
During the project’s activities, Migration Officers defined the general frame-
work of roles and tasks of each project’s partners, by designing specific
information charts in which the partner’s skills and resources were outlined.
To that end, and to consolidate the relationships between partners, several
bilateral meetings with business associations were organised (meetings with
CESMEAN were held on July 20th and September 9th, while the meeting
with C.R.A.C.A. was held on September 13th 2004).
Setting the conditions for the project’s continuity after its conclusion.
In order to guarantee the continuity of the existing activities and the achieved
results, Migration Officers identified a funding budget line concerning immi-
gration issues: a new project called MIGRALINK was submitted within the
INTERREG III B CADSES Measure 1.4 “Spatial Impact of Immigration”
Programme framework. The new project was designed to carry on partners
and Migration Officers’ activities at regional and transnational levels, and in
particular, to develop and promote ideas and suggestions directed to the
existing regional immigration management systems, by comparing the expe-
riences carried out in the region and in foreign partner countries.
The Project’s To optimise the resources used in the project, Migration Officers verified the
context compatibility between the project’s action plan and the territory’s needs.
They participated in several meetings, events and conferences with the most
representative organisations in Veneto. Moreover, they contacted cross-bor-
der institutions dealing with migration issues, and, where it was proven to be
necessary, they also involved non-partner organisations.
The initiatives carried out by Migration Officers are reported hereafter.
Participation in the Regional Council on Immigration and presentation
of relevant comments on the Regional Law regulating immigration.
Migration Officers participated in meetings organised by Veneto Region’s
Regional Council on Immigration in March 2004. In these meetings, impor-
tant regional dispositions, which would strongly influence the regional immi-
gration management, were presented and discussed. These dispositions are:
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the Migration Officer experience 108
the “Elaboration Proposal for the 2004 Regional Law on Immigration”, the
“2004-2006 Triennial Plan on initiatives and interventions concerning immi-
gration”, and the attached “Report on the implementation of the former
2001-2003 plan” and finally, the “2004 Annual Programme on initiatives
and interventions concerning immigration”.
Meetings represented an excellent opportunity to spread, at regional level,
the aims and objectives of Migrest project. They were also important to define
the legislative framework of the project itself, and to identify the best ways to
put the project in relation with the existing regional policies on the matter.
Cooperation with the Rete Informativa per l’Immigrazione of Veneto Region.
Migration Officers suggested a specific cooperation with the Region’s immi-
gration information network, according to each subject’s role and compe-
tences.
In fact, this organisation, given its competences on immigration issues by
Veneto Region, can evaluate the effectiveness of migrants’ integrating poli-
cies and, subsequently, it can also be a positive reference point for Migration
Officers involved in local authorities’ assistance on best practices definition.
Migration Officers contacted the regional network and organised a meeting
inviting the project’s Technical Management Committee, some representa-
tives of Veneto Region and the network’s staff, to verify the possible conver-
gences between the network and the project.
The meeting took place in May 2004.
The activities were in fact considered complementary; then, Migration
Officers verified that there could be some operational interaction between
the regional information network and the project’s activities.
According to the project’s intentions, a close collaboration was developed
through the creation of partnerships between the project’s foreign partners
and the equivalent regional institutional actors.
Considering the importance of the immigration information network, – which
already represents a best practice in immigration issues management and
it is also an administrative and management reference point – the diffusion
of different regional experiences, through the Migration Officers’ network, is
an important factor. Adapting them to the different contexts, they can repre-
sent excellent starting points for concerned foreign institutions.
Therefore, managing the network becomes one of the major activities of
Migration Officers. In fact, the network also represents an operational tool
allowing the exchange of information and the monitoring of migrations flows
between cross-border authorities. Moreover, the network is also a vast virtu-
al community of cross-border operators.
109
Several other meetings involving the network and Migration Officers were
organised to support cooperation between regional officers, to favour data,
information and experience exchanges and finally, to promote coordination
and complementarity between their respective actions.
Cross-border Creation of a network of local and foreign subjects dealing
operational with immigration issues.
network To favour the cooperation on migration issues between public and private
partners, an operational network supporting the project’s activities was cre-
ated. The network’s objective is to develop positive partnerships between
subjects dealing with migration issues, both in Veneto and in Migrest foreign
partners’ countries. Due to the great number and the complexity of such
partnerships, it is necessary to extend the participation to other subjects
who aren’t directly involved in the project, but that might play an important
role in partnership building.To that end, Migration Officers believed in the
importance of strengthening the relationships between Veneto and Poland’s
institutions, and especially with the project’s Polish partner and the provin-
cial and regional labour institutions of the new Member State. Therefore, a
delegation visited Poland on June 21st and 22nd 2004. During this visit,
Migration Officers met representatives of local institutions with whom they
carried out several initiatives to favour an extended integration. More pre-
cisely, during the meeting with the representatives of the Regional Labour
Office, they were asked to directly cooperate with Migration Officers in order
to develop a close relationship between Veneto’s competent authorities on
immigrations matters.
The common objectives are to offer immigrants precise information, to
develop a close cooperation with Veneto’s authorities and to design togeth-
er, at local level, administrative tools to manage migration flows coming form
accessing countries.
Realising the importance and usefulness of the Polish Labour Office,
Migration Officers offered their complete availability and cooperation, ensur-
ing its direct involvement within the project.
The cooperation, which is strategically useful to meet the project’s goals,
was included in a local network system, focused on one of the project’s part-
ner, Lublin’s University Marii Curie Sklodowskiej.
The University played a fundamental role in the development of local part-
nerships that are functional to the close cooperation with Migration Officers
and Veneto’s involved actors.
Following this perspective and in order to favour the relationships between
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the Migration Officer experience 110
public and private subjects dealing with cross-border migration issues,
Migration Officers worked thoroughly to develop a local network able to sup-
port international actions.
To that end, during the first training course, several subjects were involved in
the project’s activities: Venice’s Prefecture, Venetolavoro, Veneto Region,
Employment Services of the Province of Venice, Veneto’s SMEs Association,
the European Employment Services – EURES, University of Ca’ Foscari in
Venice, and Consorzio per la ricerca e la formazione di Venezia – COSES.
Studies Knowledge acquisition
and Research Migrest workshops were a great opportunity to collect information and to get
Activities to know about the application of some procedures in Italy and Greece.
In particular, thanks to the data collected by the Excelsior information sys-
tem (a project funded by the Italian Employment Ministry and the European
Social Fund, coordinated by Unioncamere in cooperation with national
Chambers of Commerce), an analysis on employment needs and on the
most requested skilled figures in Veneto was realised. Moreover, though sev-
eral information sources and data, obtained from the Home Affairs Ministry,
the Police Headquarters (especially on stay permits), Regions and Provinces
(on newly employed and unemployed people), INPS – the National Social
Security Institution (on paid employees), INAIL – the National Labour
Insurance Institution (on insured workers) and finally, ISTAT – the National
Statistics Institution (on professional profiles of residents), it was possible
to extend the knowledge to national and regional immigration issues.
Furthermore, Migration Officers realised an accurate selection of best prac-
tices which appeared to be extremely relevant for a thorough analysis on the
project’s themes during training modules and workshops in Italy and
abroad.
Collection of relevant materials to create a virtual and paper library
on the project’s themes.
During the project’s development, Migration Officers also worked on the cre-
ation of a library containing useful instruments to improve the knowledge of
the existing complex relations between immigration and public authorities,
especially as far as regional roles and functions of such processes are con-
cerned.
Within the wide range of editorial publications and studies on migration
issues, few information and analysis concern the regional dimension of
migration policies. In particular, information and news about new regional
policies related to the Enlargement are very difficult to find.
111
Therefore, a library gathering newspapers, articles, periodicals, specific jour-
nals, regional, national and EU legislation on the matter has been realised.
In the library, one can find some periodicals such as “Il Permesso di
Soggiorno” and “Gli Stranieri” published by Cooperativa Sociale Sinnos of
Rome, as well as “Rivista trimestrale Centro Studi Emigrazione” and “Diritto,
Immigrazione e Cittadinanza” edited by F. Angeli.
Paper materials can be found in the Unioncamere Veneto’s headquarters
while the Library is also available on electronic format on Migrest’s website.
Information Information and Communication Plan Design
and Diffusion Information and diffusion of the achieved results is very important for the
Activities project’s full success and to spread the information on services and func-
tions offered in one-to-one shops.
To organise and manage and effective information service, Migration Officers
designed an information and communication plan, which was submitted to
the approval of Veneto Region, who is responsible for this type of activity.
Participation in conferences and exhibitions
In order to publicise the project’s activities, Migration Officers participated
in some conferences and exhibitions during which, information materials on
the project were distributed and public authorities were personally informed
on Migrest activities. Migration Officers participated in:
> “European Exhibition on Public Communication and Services to the
Citizen and Business” (COMPA, 2004);
> “Solidarity and Social Economy Fair” (CIVITAS 2004 and 2005);
> Workshop on “Immigration and European Integration: social and cultural
profiles” (September 27th 2004);
> Conference on Mediterranean Dialogue “Adriatic Area in Enlarged
Europe” (November 19th 2004).
Training Training programmes and courses design
Activities One of Migrest’s priorities was to spread the information and analysis to
public institutions in the partners’ countries. Through the operational
Network, the diffusion allowed to share knowledge and best practices.
The direct instrument of such initiatives was the design and realisation of
specific training courses, addressing staff from the Enlargement countries
willing to enter cross-border countries’ labour market.
In order to prepare such activities, on July 21st and 22nd 2004, Migration
Officers visited Poland to meet with the Polish partner at Lublin’s Marie Curie
University. The University’s top level institutional and administrative repre-
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the Migration Officer experience 112
sentatives participated in the meetings, during which, cooperation needs
and opportunities of the Polish partner and the other project partners were
investigated.
Specifically, Lublin’s UMCS University representatives pointed out the interest
and the needs to provide students with economic and administrative train-
ing, especially for those who wish to enter Veneto’s labour market. This choice
aims at increasing students’ skills and knowledge and at satisfying Veneto’s
labour market’s requests by giving Polish workers more skilled abilities.
Migration Officers, – finding it possible to match Veneto’s labour needs with
improved professionalism of Polish migrants (that could be obtained with
brief training periods in Venetian enterprises subsequently applied in the
country of origin) – proposed to design and to carry out specific second
level training courses, addressing staff in public and private administrations
(responding to the project’s dispositions), and then, transferring the knowl-
edge directly to concerned workers, who would become indirect and final
training beneficiaries.
The organisation of training courses was carried out in cooperation with
Greek Migration Officers, who participated in the fifth workshop on October
21st and 22nd 2004. On this occasion, in fact, possible co-organised activ-
ities were taken into consideration, especially by including in the training
programme, some interesting aspects for Italian and Greek beneficiaries.
Moreover, with was also important to organise in Romania, a local network
of social, economic and institutional actors to co-manage migration flows
issues, upon the suggestions that emerged from the collaboration experi-
ence in Veneto.
In order to extend the project to other countries, Italian Migration officers
suggested their Greek colleagues to organise training activities in Romania,
on the model of the training carried out in Poland, in order to support the
concerned institutions through the project partners and by using the expe-
riences and best practices developed within Migrest Project. Greek Migration
Officers responded positively to the suggestion and organised such training
courses.
These activities were carried out between February and April 2005 and rep-
resented a good opportunity to supply public institutions, private subjects
and enterprises in partner countries with training courses covering juridical,
administrative, social and economic aspects. The activities represented the
ideal means to spread the knowledge, in Enlargement countries, about
Veneto’s cooperation model and already tested best practices applied in
cross-border areas.
113
Counselling Among other things, the project aimed at stimulating cross-border cooperation
Activities and improving access to information. To do so, a one-to-one shop, located
in Unioncamere Veneto’s premises was created. In this specific office,
Migration Officers offer advice and counselling. The one-to-one shop gives:
General service information to local and regional authorities and to enter-
prises on foreign workers’ stay permit procedures and socio-economic and
employment issues.
Personalised information services and advice on internationalisation, delo-
calisation and foreign markets investments to inform Accessing countries on
employment opportunities in Veneto and the related procedures to assist
enterprises needing specialised foreign manpower.
Training services to support Accessing countries’ local authorities and insti-
tutions to increase employment in cross-border areas.
The one-to-one shop is located in Unioncamere Veneto’s premises at the fol-
lowing address: Unioncamere Veneto, Via delle Industrie 19/D, 30175
Venezia Marghera, Tel+39 041 0999311; Fax +39 0410999303.
Users can reach the one-to-one shop by telephone on Tuesdays and
Thursdays, from 9.30 am to 12.30 am, by fax or email by filling in the id
chart on the website. It is also possible to set a personal appointment with
Migration Officers.
The novelty represented by the one-to-one shop and the delays in the infor-
mation and dissemination programme and also the needs emerged during
the organisation of the above mentioned activities, delayed the information
requests, which came up only recently; therefore counselling activities are
quite recent. Up to now, counselling and advice is referred to general infor-
mation on employment, stay and working permits for Accessing countries’
citizens, project contracts and their related employment regulations and
other similar questions.
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the Migration Officer experience 114
Migration Officers’ Operative Proposals
Training Among the activities developed within Migrest Project, second level training
courses programmes addressing Member States’ public officers involved in immigration
in Poland issues were organised. In particular, training courses were organised in
cooperation with the Polish partner.
Upon Migration Officers’ experience and on the basis of training needs
pointed out by the Polish partner, the training courses were subdivided into
thematic modules.
Training topics were adapted on the specific needs of Polish migration oper-
ators, in order to offer basic training and knowledge concerning the new
aspects of immigration that followed Enlargement.
Particular attention was given to Polish public authorities interested in the
project and willing to develop specific management skills on immigration
and emigration issues; in fact, with the Enlargement, Poland, which became
EU’s external border, is affected by both immigration and emigration with dif-
ferent and peculiar consequences on social and economic contexts.
Therefore, the focus of training was calibrated in order to give adequate
institutional feedback to both aspects of the same issue.
Training was also a great opportunity to begin working on a wider partner-
ship between the regions of Lublin and Veneto.
To that end, Migration Officers extended the participation to graduated or
post-graduated students of Lublin’s University. Through this experience,
these students could increase their probabilities to become skilled refer-
ence points for their region’s economical growth.
Training of skilled local staff, who could be subsequently invited to take part in
a practical training period in Veneto’s enterprises, is a innovative experience
and it is already contributing to the economical development of the area, since
it could support the delocalisation of Veneto’s enterprises, which could take
advantage of the knowledge and professionalism of skilled workers, spe-
cialised in the knowledge of Tri-Veneto entrepreneurial background. The objec-
tives’ definition, carried out by Migration Officers, implied the involvement of
business associations, partners of Migrest project, whose staff was involved in
the training and gave its contribution by sharing experiences and knowledge.
the migration officer experience 115
This project’s phase also was a good opportunity to develop direct relation-
ships between Poland and Veneto’s business partners.
Therefore, besides supplying the logistics, Lublin University was asked to
participate in the organisation of training programmes, by setting up a net-
work of people interested in an active participation – according to the above
mentioned criteria – forming up the group of attendees, who also included
public officers, entrepreneurs, professors and students of the University.
People who attended the courses could give their contribution to the spread
and diffusion of knowledge, by extending what they learnt in the courses to final
beneficiaries, interested in emigrating in Veneto or willing to be part of new
local entrepreneurial initiatives; it is important to point out the relevance of sec-
ond level training, addressing policy managers and not final beneficiaries. This
allowed a general improvement and strengthening of training programmes.
The reference role of Lublin’s University could be enhanced with the subse-
quent diffusion of management models learnt in the training sessions,
since, as stated earlier, the courses also addressed University’s professors
and post-graduated students. In fact, the exchanges carried out in training
sessions in which, Veneto’s experiences were diffused, could foster realistic
and differentiated local relationships.
Training also contributed to create solid reference points for all Migrest proj-
ect partners, leading to new institutional and business partnerships.
Training was an important relationship-building moment, involving the two
regions and their business and economic actors: the peculiar setting of
Lublin’s region, bordering Byelorussia and Ukraine and the courses’ modal-
ities and contents constituted fundamental aspects. Furthermore, for each
topic’s relevance and for the innovative character of training courses, it was
very important to involve other subjects from local institutions dealing with
migration and economic themes.
Training involved also representatives of Lublin Region and Municipality,
local authorities and institutions such as business associations, (hand-
craftsmanship, SMEs), employment offices, immigration offices, chambers
of commerce and government’s representatives in the region (Voivode), who
constituted at least 50% of courses attendees. Therefore, the courses’ par-
ticipants were formed by the University’s staff and students, while the other
half was reserved for the above mentioned categories.
The complexity of migration issues and their related employment questions
required a gradual but systematic preliminary analysis which implied a gen-
eral introductory study phase concerning the local, national and European
character of the subject.
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the Migration Officer experience 116
Training concerned the following topics:
> General aspects of national and regional economical framework;
> Basic information on immigration and immigration management;
> National and EU juridical and administrative aspects;
> Role and relevance of SMEs;
> Internationalisation, delocalisation, training and employment.
Training programmes were subdivided into two modules, each of one lasting
three hours. Each module was structured to allow a gradual knowledge and
analysis of each covered topic.
Training involved two groups of 10 participants who alternatively attended
the courses for 4 weeks, from March to April 2005.
The complexity of the themes, the difficulties of each country’s economical
and administrative different aspects and linguistic problems forced the
teaching staff to design and realise teaching materials beforehand, while a
concrete organisational support was also given to them on the spot.
Teaching staff was composed of Italian and Greek Migration Officers, repre-
sentatives of Veneto Region working in the EC Programmes, Industry and
Immigration Departments, representatives of Unioncamere Veneto,
Confederazione Artigiana C.R.A.C.A. and from Venice International
University.
Veneto Region gave specific attendance certificates that could be used sub-
sequently in Veneto and Poland to certify skills and knowledge.
The certification could favour employment of Polish personnel in Veneto’s
enterprises since it certifies specific extra-professional skills, useful to
employment inclusion; in turn, enterprises can also use known and skilled
professionals in their business expansion in Poland.
It is important to underline the relevance of training methodologies and pro-
cedures, replicable in different Member States, both for their innovation and
development potentialities in terms of institutional, business and social
relationships building.
MIGRALINK On January 14th 2005, Unioncamere, as leading partner, submitted a project
Project proposal to the European Commission. The project is titled Migralink, Azioni
di integrazione dei migranti nell’Europa allargata e sviluppo di politiche per
il ritorno di una nuova intelligenza produttiva (Migrants Integration Actions
in Enlarged Europe and Policies for new Inwards Productive Intelligence). The
project proposal was submitted within the framework of Interreg III B CAD-
SES Programme, under the measure 1.4 “Spatial Impact of Immigration”.
The new project proposal responds to the need of guaranteeing the conti-
the migration officer experience 117
nuity of Migrest’s implemented actions. Therefore, it was important to find
an EC funding programme for activities linked to immigration issues. If the
project will be approved, Unioncamere and Migration Officers will be able to
go on with the information and training processes on immigration issues
they started in the Migrest project.
Partneship is composed of: Venetolavoro, Venice’s Chamber of Commerce,
Styrian Economic Chamber (Austria), Catholic University of Lublin (Poland),
Italian-Slovakian Chamber of Commerce (Republic of Slovakia), HYDEA
Consulting Ltd (Hungary), Chamber of Commerce Brasov (Romania) and the
Ministry of Labour (Slovenia).
The project’s duration is planned to be of 33 months, starting from March
15th 2005 until December 15th 2007.
The project aims at improving the existing services for migrants in partner
countries. The objective is to offer immigrants a realistic possibility of going
back to their countries of origin and to start up a new business or find a job.
The project develops a preliminary analysis on the actual situation and a sub-
sequent network including institutions and organisations involved in the proj-
ect, in order to support cross-border cooperation and to favour the diffusion of
knowledge and economic and business opportunities in partner countries.
The principal objectives of the project are:
> To update and strengthen the existing services for immigrants;
> To support local development in the poorest areas of new Member
States, by favouring the return of emigrants and the start-up of new
business in their countries of origin;
> To establish a network of partners’ countries in order to foster
information exchange and to improve services for migrants. Networks will
support local and national institutions dealing with immigration issues.
The project activities include:
> Transferring best practices and implementing training to trainers in order
to improve services for migrants in new Member States, by supplying
updated information and knowledge on past experiences in Veneto
and Austria;
> Developing new strategies and services to support migrants
in the creation of new business activities in their countries of origin upon
a thorough analysis on inwards immigration in the countries of origin;
> Creating a transnational network of organisations and public institutions
able to stimulate commercial relationships between these countries’
enterprises, through cooperation agreements.
Activities will be promoted through a wide scale publicising campaign in the
migrest inglese 16-05-2005 14:54 Pagina 118

the Migration Officer experience 118 the migration officer experience 119

concerned countries. The existing network of national and local competent will be informed on the date of their personalised appointment at the Police
institutions will be the means to foster constant dialogue between involved Headquarters. At the appointment, immigrants will hand in the documenta-
institutions. tion for their permit renewal – previously checked by local authorities’ staff-
The main objective is to contribute to the development of regional economy directly to the Immigration Office.
and to increase security and social cohesion in a context which is charac- The network system is based on computerised and shared information. It
terised by cultural diversity. will also offer users precise and coherent information, in accordance with
The project promotes cooperation between transnational public and private the existing regulations and realistic opportunities in the province of Venice.
sectors and aims at favouring inwards immigration of migrants, back to their As already stated, the system will allow the possibility of setting specific and
home countries. Through training and counselling activities, the principle personalised appointments at the Police Headquarters at the same moment
objective is to help immigrants returning in their home countries and to start immigrants need to present their stay permit renewal documentation in
new businesses or to find employment (compatibly with Veneto’s delo- order to:
calised enterprises). > Spread information concerning the active information counters
The project supports European Union’s policies on immigration and social for immigrants on the provincial territory;
security, contributes to the economic and social cohesion objectives and > Inform public authorities on regulation in force on the matter;
involves new Member States and candidate countries, favouring integration > Avoid long waiting time at the Police Headquarters;
processes. > Establish a service organisation system which allows a rapid
and constant diffusion of coherent behaviours.
S.T.A.R.S. S.T.A.R.S. project, the Territorial System for Foreigners’ Residentiary Assistance,
Project created to simplify bureaucratic procedures for stay permits renewals and
developed by the Province of Venice’s Employment and Professional Training
Department and the Immigration Office of the Police Headquarters, is
strongly linked to the issues managed by Migrest project.
The project, supervised by Migration Officers, aims at fostering the exchange
of knowledge and competences and therefore, to ensure users’ satisfaction
by improving public administrative staff’s effectiveness in processing stay
permits renewals. This action will reduce waiting time in the Police offices
and will indirectly improve social climate.
On the basis of the regulation in force, Police Headquarters have exclusive
competence for issuing stay permits and for carrying out preventive and suc-
cessive verifications, controls and sanctions. Within the provincial territory
and during the preliminary phases of stay permit issuing, the Police will work
with the support of a permanent and structured relation scheme, ensuring
immigrants larger access to the services offered by project partners.
Therefore, it will be possible for local authorities – or for any other support-
ing association – to check the documents submitted by immigrants for their
stay permit renewal, through online connection systems with the Police
Headquarters Immigration Office.
Once verification is made, local authorities will fill in an electronic pre-writ-
ten form, allowing automatic data input in the system. Therefore, immigrants
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the Migration Officer experience 120
Migration Officers
in the European Enlargement
Migrest project designes a new professional figure: the Migration Officer. This
figure is considered of fundamental importance for the project itself.
Migrest focuses indeed on Migration Officers since their selection, training and
subsequent activities are planned and concern Italian and foreign partners.
The Migration Officer definition – a skilled and independent advisor working
to support project partners – is one of Migrest peculiar aspects, which con-
tributes to the project’s innovative character.
The relevance of the integrated actions carried out by subjects dealing with
immigration issues is, in its concrete application, an important contribution
to solve many problems linked to immigration.
Through out the territory of Veneto region, many actors – from private associ-
ations to economic actors and public and institutional subjects, are already
widely involved in administrative and social issues linked to immigration.
There are many actors, with different functions and competences, dealing
with immigration.
Although economic and business actors have specific and autonomous
operational functions, they must interact constantly with public subjects;
entrepreneurs and their related associations often have to face common
experiences, directly or indirectly linked with immigration’s complex issues:
the great quantity of changing events, variables, regulations, trends and sit-
uations can lead to uncertain knowledge or lack of precise and definite
information, that can be a real obstacle for enterprises: foreigners’ admis-
sion modalities, public contributions for companies working with foreign
enterprises, quotas system for foreigners’ admission, practical training peri-
ods in enterprises, immigrants’ ethnic composition, migration trends, etc. are
some of the questions that require specific and precise answers.
The co-presence of public and private interventions, and in some cases,
family businesses interventions, as well as the plurality of objectives and
interventions make the general framework difficult to understand.
Migrest project intervenes in such scenario: its objective is to support cross-
border institutions in dealing with the consequences of Enlargement. For
historical and economic reasons, new Member States already experience,
121
and will even more in the future, important emigration flows of a large part
of their younger population and a gradual and progressive consolidation of
consistent migration stocks from neighbouring countries.
This is a complete new scenario for the European Union, who deals with
such issues by implementing projects like Migrest. It is also a real challenge
for European countries as well as for New Members States.
In such complex but interesting context, Migrest implements its activities
with the ambition of developing innovative actions able to combine region-
al cooperation processes with new experiences extended to actors in New
Members States.
It is important to point out the double motivation that Migrest pursues: deal-
ing with major and more coherent efforts to improve coordination and mutual
knowledge of the regional actors’ specific activities and, upon these regional
experiences, coping with the need of fundamental knowledge and skills, insti-
tutions in new Members States must have to face Enlargement issues.
Enlargement has a natural influence on overall migration’s dynamics in the
entire Europe; terms and reasons of internal – between Member States –
and external migration can vary.
New Member States represent now the external borders of the European
Union, and their institutions need to face new and challenging issues. These
territories are dealing with two phenomenons: on the one side, emigration
flows of a consistent part of their population towards European countries
with higher levels of well-being. On the other hand, new and unexpected
immigration pressure – silent at the beginning, but now emerging – from
their Eastern borders.
In this delicate stage, facing specific and peculiar difficulties, Migrest
deploys its efforts to change problems into opportunities, implementing
major and fruitful internal relationships in the regional territory, in order to
extend positive effects to foreign partners, especially in the region of Lublin.
To fulfil this ambitious goal, the project relies on a fundamental profession-
al figure: the Migration Officer. Migration Officers operate within a special
“office”, a one-to-one shop, and deal with complex but essential issues for
the project partners. In this context, the specific and professional coun-
selling activities of Migration Officers address each single partner, in a spe-
cific and personalised way, progressively supplying a consistent patrimony of
knowledge and innovative procedures, adapting to the emerging problems
related to Enlargement.
As a second level advisor, the Migration Officer works with institutional oper-
ators instead of addressing directly citizens, to respond to the above stated
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the Migration Officer experience 122 123

objectives. The innovation of Migrest project is evident, if we consider that it Finally, upon the Ombudsman example, – initially, this figure appeared and
doesn’t intervene on existing services – those carried out by several subjects developed itself in one single European country, and then was extended to
active in the entire territory within immigration’s integration and support the entire EU – the Migration Officer could also face further and interesting
activities – instead, it deals with new issues that social actors have to man- developments, that would extend, at international level, the positive experi-
age, after the Enlargement took place. ment created and implemented in Veneto.
Under such perspective, it is important to enhance the professional figure of
the Migration Officer, meaning that it should be more influential and acces-
sible in regard to all the operators working in the regional territory.
Italian Migration Officers carried out a series of initiatives – that were illus-
trated in some chapters of the guide –, leading to the creation of one-to-one
shops, seen not only as an information counter where problems can be
faced and solved, but also as progressive and thorough analysis of issues
that project partners, within the regional changing scenario of immigration,
have to deal with.
In addition, a specific library was created, all the requests and related
advices were collected, and an extended network of people and institutions
was set up, leading to a further development of fulfilled initiatives. All these
aspects constitute the basis for a progressive structural definition of the
Migration Officer’s professional figure.
The operative experience carried out within the Migrest project by Migration
Officers, confirmed indeed the importance of the figure’s functions: the initial
and hazardous working hypothesis, designed on a very optimistic basis, came
up to be a useful instrument for the support of complex migration issues.
Migration Officers also fulfil an important and specific information linking
activity, co-participating in the existing and operational problems that
regional actors must deal with.
Finally, it is important to underline the affinity between the Migration Officer
and the EU institutional Ombudsman’s function: they both represent an inde-
pendent, skilled and autonomous figure, able to understand and perceive the
issues that public authorities, enterprises and social actors have to face.
This function is certainly innovating but it is also fundamental, especially in
a domain as transversal, complex and constantly evolving as the one of
immigration.
The role and function of Migration Officers is closely linked to the needs of
immigration management. The actual sectorial approach already showed its
limits, whereas an integrated public and private approach could give posi-
tive feedbacks. In such perspective, – taking into account the usual gap
between entrepreneurial and institutional systems – there is room for a
structured and permanent figure represented by the Migration Officer.