Illustration courtesy of Tile Hill Wood School
Italy has passed a new law that requires immigrants to offer proof of proficiency in the Italian language and to have a basic understanding of Italian culture. Wow! Can you imagine that happening in the U.S.? Here are the details as set out by Baker and McKenzie in their website:
On June 10, 2010, the Italian Government enacted a new decree… that introduces substantial new developments for what concerns immigration permits. Once fully enforced, these new provisions will apply to all non-EU citizens who enter Italy for the first time with a stay permit having a duration of at least 1 year or more. Purpose of the new law is to guarantee that foreigners, who will be living in Italy for a long period of time, integrate in the community where they live and conditions the renewal of the stay permit to a series of new obligations that must be fulfilled by the foreigner.
The main aspects of this new law may be summarized as follows:
a) upon presenting an application for a stay permit, for whatever reason this may be (work; study; humanitarian reasons, etc.), the foreigner will be required to execute an agreement according to which he/she undertakes, in the following 2 years, to acquire sufficient knowledge of the Italian language (lev. A2) as well as Italian civic culture and lifestyle.
b) in order to help the foreigner acquire the knowledge mentioned above, the Italian Republic will sponsor adequate projects and in any case will hold courses of civic culture free of charge.
c) upon execution of the agreement mentioned above in a, the foreigner will be granted 16 credits. If he/she does not participate in the courses of Italian civic culture, mentioned above in b, he/she automatically looses 15 credits.
d) credits may be increased (to a maximum of 30 credits) if the foreigner participates in courses or acquires certificates, diplomas or degrees. Instead, credits may be lost if the foreigner incurs in criminal sanctions or even serious breach of administrative and tax laws.
e) the Immigration Office (Sportello Unico per l’Immigrazione), via the documentation that must be provided by the foreigner him/herself, will verify if he/she has acquired the 30 credits necessary to sustain a test, organized by the Immigration Office, to ascertain knowledge of the Italian language and Italian culture.
f) if the foreigner acquires 30 credits and passes the test mentioned above, his/her stay permit is renewed. An extension of one year, for the fulfillment of obligations deriving from the agreement, may be granted in the event that the foreigner has not acquired 30 credits at the end of the first 2-year period. Instead, with 0 or less credits, the foreigner will not receive renewal of his/her stay permit and will be forced to leave the country.
Leave it to Italy to make the process incredibly complicated. Credits? Pluses and minuses? Why not just give the exam and then issue a card proving successful completion? I know why! It would require only a testing room at the Questura, instead of numerous teachers, classes, etc. I can’t help but think that Italy herself is in love with all the layers of bureaucracy that make the rest of us wring our hands. Surely it could have been designed more simply.
Two things strike me particularly about this law: The first is that it applies only to non-EU immigrants. I suspect it had to be written that way to appease Brussels, but it does rather favor those immigrants coming from the new eastern members of the Union (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) over those from the Middle East and Africa, to say nothing of those coming from the U.S., Canada and South America. Fair? Not really, but then perhaps that isn’t the point.
The second is that while the government will sponsor courses in civic culture, it is up to the immigrant to keep track of all those pesky credits and present himself at the Immigration Office in a timely fashion – another example of people being given responsibility for their own record-keeping (as discussed in this old post). Come to think of it, maybe this is a good introduction for the new arrival to this do-it-yourself feature of Italian life.
What would happen if a similar law were passed in the U.S? Well, first of all, such a law never would be passed because it would be deemed discriminatory. But if through some strange course of events it were, what a hue and cry there would be! There are whole pockets of immigrant populations scattered about the country who have maintained a strong ‘foreign’ cultural identity. The Captain’s own grandmother lived in Illinois for 60 years and never learned to speak English. No one came after her waving a language law.
What it boils down to for an immigrant is the conflict between assimilation into a new culture, and maintaining one’s own, often very different, cultural identity. Personally I think it’s an excellent idea to learn the language, geography and history of the country to which one moves. I’m just not sure passing a law to make it mandatory (for some) is the best way to go about getting it done. And I’m quite unclear on what the actual motivation behind this particular Italian law might be, though I have some suspicions, based on no clear evidence at all.
An Ex-Expatriate 
Some good points made here, an interesting new law to watch that could have interesting consequences.
LOTS of interesting things to watch going on in Italy these days. A restless time.
1)
whats wrong with having to integrate by learning a language – if you don’t speak the language you are “ignorant” and can be a substantial cost n a country (translators for Hoispital Medical care for example) – in any country, those that don’t speak the language usually end up at the lower end of the payscale and simply don’t educate or advance themselves (visit England and the problems where mothers don’t learn English and the effect on their children at school – the children tend to bring back the level of education) – go to any slum in any country and you will find the immigrants without the local language – and in some cases they even create the slum without any intention of doing so
2)
Law doesn’t apply to EU members because there is a thing called the “EU” market – strange you don’ understand that basic concept (or maybe you chose not to)! in the US you have the “US” market and if you read up, there are many barriers to the entering the US!
1) That’s pretty much exactly what I said… it’s an excellent idea to learn the language of the country where you live. I didn’t know specifically about the effects on children, but it’s not too surprising (although my husband’s mother suffered no ill effects in the US from not learning English until age 6). We are in agreement on this point. I find the layers of bureaucracy to make it happen rather complex. 2) Of course I understand the EU market, and I believe I mention Brussels (i.e. the EU) in my post as the probable reason for exemption. In the US we have one recognized official language; the EU has countries with many languages. Would it not be better if immigrants within the EU also learned the language of the new home country? I think so.
The bureaucratic tangle the Italian government will be in, trying to administer that scheme, is hilarious. As for the basic concept, I think it’s draconian, xenophobic, racist, and ridiculous.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s unique to Italy. I’m surprised by your apparently genuine reaction, “Wow! Can you imagine that happening in the U.S.?” Not only can I imagine it, but it’s already happening. First of all, there’s all the controversy about bilingual education – some school systems refusing to offer it, requiring that all students study in English only. Then there’s the anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation – notably but not only in Arizona. It’s a bad time to be an immigrant in the U.S.
I made a mistake. I meant to say that the English were the most reluctant to learn the language. (I think you understood wht I meant) I do understand that some might want to cling to their nationality, but the expats in our village claim to be there because they want to be, and then don’t make much of an effort to fit it. My grandfather came to Australia from Finland with no English. He never lost his accent, he didn’t want to, but he did learn English. You are excluded from so much if you can’t communicate. He remained a Finn until the day he died, but he was happy(I think) in Australia.
We have had a Permesso di Soggiorno granted for a few weeks, in fact one expired the day after it was issued. I think this new regulation is ridiculous in the extreme. I can understand a country wanting people to speak the local language – I can’t understand why you would want to be there and NOT speak at least some Italian. The law should apply to all or none. In our village there are quite a few expats. The ones who seem least reluctant to learn Italian are the English, who make of the majority of the foreigners in the village and it seems they officially don’t have to try.
So it would seem (about the British, I mean). Why EU residents are exempt I really don’t know, although I’d be willing to bet it has something to do with EU laws. In fact I can understand why some immigrants wouldn’t want to learn the language – perhaps not all are thrilled to be there and want to cling to whatever vestiges of their own comfortable culture that they can. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out in the months and years ahead… how on earth will it be enforced?
Well. The first two words that come to mind are discrimination and indoctrination in all their pejorative glory. It saddens me that such a vibrant culture feels such an urgent need to protect itself from the languages and ways (and therefore any understanding) of other cultures. Certainly the system devised is bureaucracy at its worst.
And these demands come from a state where the most exalted example of leadership is Berlusconi?
Oh my dear, let’s not begin on il B – we’d be here all night. In some ways I admire Italy for wanting to keep its cultural memory strong. The only thing that is making the Italian population grow now is the influx of immigrants – and the country is placed in such a way that it is inundated from both the south and the east. I’m sure the reason for the law is to keep the culture vibrant… and Italian! It’s not that Italians don’t want to understand other cultures – they want to understand them when they visit them; they don’t necessarily want the other cultures thrust upon themselves. It’s a complex problem, which has been tackled in a maddeningly Italian fashion with this new law.
How fascinating – and somehow a tad frightening…
Thankfully with the www. firmly in place, the cultural stew should continue to brew.
Frightening? Not sure I understand why… irritating for many, to be sure, and an excellent way to weed out certain immigrants, or rather, immigrants from certain places. Hard to imagine the Italian cultural stew (lovely image) ever having as many ingredients as does the American… but I guess it probably could. Probably does and I just don’t know it.
Mamma mia. Non dica cosi!!! Io sono un ‘immigrant’ in italia, ma questa legga e propio fuori!!! Loro vogliono soldi, solo il soldi. Mai e abbstanza per loro … ma comunque. Che vita.
Thanks for the post and great information. I’ll wait and see how this affects my permisso di. s. when I have to renew it this year. Not sure why they granted me a permesso for only 14months. It’s a beautifully strange place Italy.
Salute.
Well I hope you don’t have to enroll in all sorts of classes – clearly your Italian is way above par. Wouldn’t it be great if people could share and swap points? We used to get permessi for strange lengths of time – usually because the weren’t ready until about 2 months after the old ones expired. Finally we lived in Italy long enough to get a 5-year permesso – what a relief! Good luck with yours…