ROME: Italy, whose long, accessible coastline has made it a magnet for illegal immigrants, will see about a half-million clandestines now working on the black market go public under a vast new programme.

Monday was the first deadline in the phased plan — the date by which illegals had to make formal application for legal residence status.

Between 550,000 and 600,000 requests were officially filed, according to initial figures in from the regions.

The Italian centrist UIL trade union, the country’s third largest, forecast that at least one in five of these would be thrown out, generally when a contract or promise of work appears tenuous.

The undersecretary at the interior ministry, Alfredo Montavano, said he expected the final number of legal status seekers to be around a half-million.

Of the 600,000 requests now in hand, about 360,000 concern domestic employees, household help or assistants for dependent people such as the elderly or handicapped, maintenance workers, and seasonal farm workers.

The amnesty does not discriminate against country of origin. As elsewhere in Europe, the domestic employees often come from the Philippines, Eastern European states and Latin America.

The next step will be a long one, probably through half of next year. Employees will be summoned to police headquarters with the employer, a work contract signed, and the former illegal will walk away with an Italian residence permit.

The cherished document will allow him or her to move not only around Italy but also through the entire 15-nation Schengen zone including 13 EU countries — all except Britain and Ireland — plus non-EU members Norway and Iceland.

Montavano suggested the avalanche of applications that hit as Monday’s deadline neared was due to the severity of the sanctions to be slapped on employers who continue employing illegals: a 5,000-euro fine and a prison term of three months to one year.

Surprise checks will be carried out, notably in the southern region of Brindisi where only 320 formal applications were filed, he warned.

Unions say the programme will hit hardest illegal immigrants who have no regular employment, notably those working in the restaurant sector.

Union officials say they have also been contacted by numerous worried clandestines who were recently fired from jobs by employers who did not want to be burdened with the extra costs legal status would bring, notably in paying social benefits and vacation leave.

The programme to help clandestine workers put their papers in order is expected to bring 371 million euros into the country’s social welfare coffers.

When the procedure is finished, any immigrants caught without proper visas or residence permits will be immediately expelled — not a negligible task in a country where the tide of new clandestines shows no sign of abating.

According to official figures, more than 14,000 illegals arrived on Italy’s shores in the first half of this year — an increase of more than a third on 2001.

The current programme is the fourth in a little over a decade. The earlier ones in 1990, 1995 and 1998 each saw about 200,000 people acquire legal status in Italy.—AFP