Migration Status in Labour and Social Security Law. Between Inclusion and Exclusion in Italy

This account of Italian migration law demonstrates how strict conditions in immigration law create irregular migration, which in turn leads to repeated ad hoc regularizations at the behest of employers. Italian migration law sets up legal hurdles that are out of synch with Italian labour market structures, depriving workers of secure migration status. Migration law also exacerbates divisions in existing labour law between those privileged insiders working under standard contracts of employment and others whose work relations are more precarious. The Italian courts have become the venue to challenge legal exclusion, in particular ensuring access to social rights. Moreover, some regional legislatures have adopted legislation to extend social rights to migrants, even with irregular status, as part of a resistance to migrant exclusion at the state level.