Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Antonio Alessandro has said visa applications accompanied by fake documents and the illegal practice of paying a hefty amount of money to middlemen are among the reasons that create problems in making smooth migration from Bangladesh to Italy.
"We are determined and committed. The embassy and our authorities back in Rome are committed to making the migration from Bangladesh to Italy increasingly safer and orderly," he said in an interview with three media outlets, including UNB at the embassy on Thursday.
The ambassador encouraged everyone to entrust only reliable partners, and migrants and workers should make sure where they are going to work, what kind of job, under which conditions, and in which city in Italy.
"This is very important," he emphasised.
The Bangladeshi community living in Italy, the largest in the EU, is a strong pull factor in this regard. It contributes significantly to Italy's well-being and is also an important source of remittances for Bangladesh, with 1.2 billion euros transferred in 2022.
Explaining reasons why the visa process gets delayed, Ambassador Alessandro said they estimate that a problematic and irregular document accompanies one in five applications.
"There is a practice of paying middlemen a very high amount of money to organise the transfer to Italy. This is an illegal practice, actually, both in Italy and in Bangladesh," he said.
Responding to a question from UNB, the ambassador said that in many cases, migrants pay this money, and they do not even know where the money is going, what kind of work they are going to do, or for which company they are going to be employed.
"So this practice must stop. And this is the main reason for our slow process and the main reason why our migration from Bangladesh to Italy is having problems," said the Italian envoy.
He said work visas are one category, and there are other categories of visas—tourist visas, business visas, study visas, and family visas—and all these categories are growing in large numbers.
He said the Bangladeshi community in Italy is becoming larger and more integrated, which attracts many people for family reunions, business tourism, or family visits.
"All this is putting significant pressure on our embassy, and that explains the delay because work visa is important, but these other categories are also important, and our visa office has to work for all categories. So, I recognize that there are delays, and of course, we apologize to the public for this delay," said the envoy.
He, however, said applicants should be careful when they entrust their money to someone to organise their migration. They should only refer to official agencies and refuse to pay this large amount of money to middlemen and brokers.
"Our official agency for visa processing is VFS Global. They are the only ones authorised to collect documents for visa applications. There has been a lot of talking, for example, about the difficulty of getting an appointment that is not VFS's fault, Alessandro said, adding that they have put a ceiling on the number of applications that they can accept every day.
"Otherwise, we cannot process it. And that's why it's difficult to get an appointment because there is a ceiling. And, of course, many people cannot enter into this within this ceiling," he added.
Under normal circumstances, the Italian visa system works with the passport, and the applicant leaves the passport through VFS Global. Then, VFS Global brings this application and the passport to the Embassy.
"Now we are not keeping the passport anymore. This is a waiver that our headquarters has authorised for Bangladesh. So, applicants for working visas now only leave a photocopy of the passport. They keep their passports with them so that they can travel and use them for other purposes. We are considering what to do with the passports that we have at the embassy," he said.
The ambassador said the embassy is determined to clean the backlog and give an answer to all applicants.
"I also want to say that entry to Italy as a working migrant implies four steps. One is the sponsorship by a company. Second, one is the working permit, visa by the embassy, and finally, the entry at the border and the immigration control at the border," he said.
Ambassador Alessandro said that people who have completed the two steps of sponsorship and working permit cannot be sure that they will go to Italy.
"In fact, many of them are rejected because the sponsorship is fake, the working permit is counterfeited, and many other reasons. So until the completion of four steps, they are not sure of being admitted to Italy," he said.
The ambassador said Bangladesh community in Italy is increasingly well integrated. "I am happy to say and recognise that cases of exploration are limited and that your community has successfully integrated."
He stressed that the Bangladeshi community in Italy is a proper community because, after a while, people can bring along their families and establish themselves permanently.
"All this makes this community successful. Many entrepreneurs and young generations were born in Italy. So it's a very successful community, and we should continue to promote this and make sure that the illegality stays away."
The ambassador said the network of criminals exists and that they should counter them and avoid illegal migration flows.
Backlog of 20,000 passports
When asked about the passport backlog, he said it's difficult to give an answer on when they will be able to clean the entire backlog. "It's difficult because it depends on the problems that we find in each application."
There are at least 20,000 passports in the embassy, but probably more because many applicants are waiting for an appointment outside the embassy.
The ambassador said they have taken some measures, one of which is to acquire new space, which will be larger and more functional for the visa office and the same for VFS Global. "VFS also moved to a new facility, a new visa application centre, much larger and more functional and comfortable for applicants."
The second measure is that they recently recruited two local staff members, and some additional staff from the headquarters will be added, Alessandro said, adding that "It will take some time, but we hope to receive more human resources in the days to come."
He said they recently had a delegation from the headquarters assess the situation and study options for helping the embassy deal with this backlog.
