Italy's ‘Click Day' migration scheme fails businesses, critics say

Euractiv

5 days ago

ROME – A few times a year , Italy's employers switch on their computers to play what's become a high-stakes lottery called "Click Day."
It's not a game. It's one of the only legal avenues for hiring non-EU migrant workers. And within minutes from launch, the quota is usually filled.
'It rewards whoever has the fastest connection or the quickest finger on the mouse,' said Mario Roberto Carraro, vice president of Confindustria Vicenza, which represents industrial and service companies in the manufacturing-heavy Veneto region.
Introduced in 2011, Click Day – aka. Decreto Flussi – sets quotas for seasonal and non-seasonal jobs, including domestic care. The government's goal was to support sectors like agriculture and manufacturing.
But critics say employers don't get enough workers out of the process and many hopeful migrants are left out, with few options but to work illegally.
' Only 12% of people who apply through the Decreto Flussi end up receiving a residence permit, ' Giulia Gori of Ero Straniero, a civil society campaign, told Euractiv Italy. ' The remaining 88% either never make it into the country or end up irregular".
Italy's consulates – often understaffed and overwhelmed – take up to six months to process applications. By the time workers arrive, many jobs have disappeared. Without a contract, some have no grounds for a residence permit and are pushed into undeclared work.
"Migrants arrive ready to work but are left without a residence permit, without protection, and at risk of exploitation," Gori added. Delays, disfunction and criminal networks Italian employers are frustrated too, particularly those in the agriculture sector.
'It's become a sterile exercise that has nothing to do with actual labour demand,' Carraro said. He added that his region of Vicenza has largely abandoned the system because it's too rigid, too slow, and too unreliable to meet industry needs.
Romano Magrini, head of labour affairs at Coldiretti, Italy's main farming association, acknowledged that government crackdowns have curbed some abuses. But he also insisted that the system doesn't work for employers.
Coldiretti is currently in talks with the government about a process that would allow pre-approved employers to apply year-round. 'I believe the conditions are there to start testing this in 2026,' Magrini said.
Earlier this month, Click Day was expanded to admit about 500,000 workers between 2026 and 2028. For the year 2024, roughly 151,000 migrants were offered places, while employers submitted 690,000 applications.
But some are unsure if the expansion will narrow that gap. 'If the strawberries are ready in April, I need workers then – not in July,' Magrini told Euractiv. 'We should let pre-approved employers submit requests anytime, staggered across the year.'
Such a change, advocates argue, would also ease the strain on Italy's consulates, which are currently overwhelmed during short, high-pressure application windows.
Meanwhile, criminal networks have stepped in to exploit the vacuum left by the official system.
Prosecutors have uncovered organised rackets, including some linked to the Camorra, an Italian mafia group, charging migrants €2,000 to €10,000 to submit applications. In many of those cases, the promised jobs didn't exist. A political stalemate
While the government has acknowledged the the system's flaws and cracks down on abuse , Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration has extended the Click Day model through 2028.
' There ' s no technical reason for not changing it, ' Gori said. ' Everything suggests it would be more efficient to switch to a staggered system. So you start wondering if the decision is political. '
Carraro agreed. He thinks the country's worsening labour shortages can't be solved by " ideological logics or tools designed for a different era".
"What we need is a serious, constructive dialogue between government and businesses to develop a system that ' s more flexible, faster, and more effective. The future of our productive fabric depends on it."
(cs, de,mk)