Residence permits in special cases: political asylum, subsidiary protection and special protection
When a foreigner enters Italy he has the right to apply for international protection to the Italian State, as established by the European Directive 83 of 2004 implemented in Italy by Legislative Decree 251 of 2007.
The application is taken into charge by the competent Territorial Commission, which decides whether or not to grant international protection, which can take two different forms: political asylum – that is, refugee status - and subsidiary protection.
The third form of protection, humanitarian protection introduced in Italy in 1998, was abolished by the Decree on Immigration and Security proposed by Interior Minister Salvini and approved by Parliament on 28 November 2018. The decree contextually introduced a special case residence permit for certain categories of persons, later renamed special protection with the amendments to the decree approved by Parliament in December 2020.
Differences between political asylum, subsidiary protection and special protection Political asylum
Political asylum
The holder of refugee status may be granted a residence permit for political asylum. Refugee status is granted to a person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted in his or her own country in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
The Geneva Convention states in Article 1 that a refugee is "a person who, owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it".
Acts of persecution include, for example: physical or psychological violence, including sexual violence; acts directed against a sexual gender or a child; discriminatory or disproportionate judicial, administrative or police measures; criminal sanctions as a result of refusal to perform military service in a conflict where this could result in the commission of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
It is also necessary for these acts to be motivated by race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion.
Once refugee status has been recognised, the police may issue a residence permit for a period of five years, which is renewable.
This entitles the holder to:
-Employ both self-employed and subordinate workers.
-Access to the public employment.
-Access to the National Health Service.
-Access to Inps welfare benefits.
-Access to study.
-Travel document: the Italian State is obliged to provide the refugee with a document equivalent to a passport.
-Family reunification: the holder of political asylum may request the entry into Italy of his family members without having to prove the accommodation and income requirements for holders of other types of residence permits.
-Italian citizenship: the time required to be able to apply for Italian citizenship by naturalisation is reduced by half, as 5 years of residence in Italy are required instead of 10.
Subsidiary protection
Subsidiary protection is granted by the competent Territorial Commission where the person does not demonstrate that he or she has suffered personal persecution within the meaning of Article 1 of the 1951 Geneva Convention, but nevertheless demonstrates the risk of suffering serious harm should he or she return to his or her country of origin.
Serious harm means: a death sentence or execution, torture or other form of inhuman treatment, serious and individual threat to life resulting from indiscriminate violence in situations of internal or international armed conflict.
The relative residence permit is issued by the Questura and is valid for five years, it may be renewed after verification of the persistence of the causes that led to its issue.
This entitles the holder to:
-Employ both self-employed and subordinate workers.
-Access to the public employment.
-Access to the National Health Service.
-Access to Inps welfare benefits.
-Access to study.
-Travel document: the Police Headquarters should only issue a valid travel document if the holder of subsidiary protection status has valid reasons for not applying for a passport from the diplomatic authority of the country of origin. This is not always the case and it depends on which Questura: in case of abuse or reports, you should always refer to the associations that protect the rights of refugees.
-Family reunification: also in this case, the beneficiary of subsidiary protection may request the entry into Italy of his/her family members without having to prove the accommodation and income requirements for holders of other types of residence permits.
-It is possible to convert the residency permit for subsidiary protection into a residency permit for employment reasons, thus renouncing the subsidiary protection status.
Special protection
Before its repeal by the Salvini decree, the residence permit for humanitarian reasons, also known as humanitarian protection, was issued when the requirements for political asylum or subsidiary protection were not met.
For example, those who justifiably cited serious humanitarian reasons for remaining in Italy, such as health or age reasons, the risk of being in situations of serious violence or political instability, or in the midst of famine or other environmental disasters, were entitled to this permit.
The duration varied, although the practice was a concession for a maximum of two years renewable.
The Salvini Decree had introduced, however, instead of humanitarian protection, the possibility of granting a temporary residence permit for special cases, such as: permission for medical treatment, for disasters, for acts of particular civil value, for victims of domestic violence, for labor exploitation.
A very limited range of cases, also prevented the transformation of the permit for special cases into a work permit, effectively condemning to irregularity the people who were going to the deadline.
With the amendments introduced by the Conte II government in 2020, humanitarian protection was not reinstated but the new wording of special protection was changed, linked to the prohibition of expulsion and refoulement in case of risks of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and to the respect of private and family life, health protection and Italy's international obligations. This wording considerably broadens the casuistry previously specifically described; whether it will be used to the same extent as humanitarian protection was previously used, the data will tell us.
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