01.02.2026.
Source: RTS
Photo: RTS

One problem, two solutions – Spain is massively issuing work permits to migrants, Italy has a different approach

Due to a chronic shortage of workers, Spain and Italy are turning to foreign labor, but have taken different measures. Immigration is not a matter of choice, it is urgently needed and everyone knows it, says Radoš Đurović, Director of the Asylum Protection Center.
The Spanish government has approved a plan under which 500,000 foreign migrants residing in the country without the necessary documents will receive permits to live and work there — a move that runs counter to strict immigration policies in other parts of Europe. According to the plan, foreign migrants will be able to work in any sector, anywhere in the country.

Radoš Đurović, Director of the Asylum Protection Center, said on RTS Morning Program that Spain has long pursued such a stance on migration and has implemented measures to bring in as many people as possible, because Spain chronically lacks labor.

“Somewhere between 250,000 and 300,000 workers annually. Other countries, like Germany, need more than 368,000 people each year for the German economy to function at this pace. Immigration is not a matter of choice, it is urgently needed and everyone knows it. However, here there is another attitude, which attracts populist points in many Western European countries,” Đurović emphasized.

“Migrants in Spain are not only from Latin America”

Regarding data that the structure of migrants is different and that most come from South America, sharing the same language and being culturally closer to Spain compared to those arriving from the East, Đurović said that Spain indeed receives the largest number of people from Latin America, but one should not forget that a portion of migrants arrive from North Africa via the Canary Islands or directly across Gibraltar.

“About 10 percent of all are people from Africa. However, what is definitely a characteristic of Spain, but also of some other Mediterranean countries, is the mentality of Spaniards, a different culture, much warmer, more interaction, easy language learning, Spanish is quite easy to learn, which allows migrants to quickly integrate into society and become more or less an integral part of it,” Đurović explained.

Planned entries in Italy

Italy has adopted a different system — without mass regularization, but with planned entries of workers for jobs. The government has approved the arrival of more than 500,000 workers from non-EU countries, in response to the demands of the economy and the chronic shortage of labor, reports the RTS correspondent.

Key sectors of the Italian economy, such as agriculture, construction, and tourism, have long faced serious labor shortages.

As Italy’s population ages and more young Italians leave abroad in search of better opportunities, the country is turning to foreign labor to sustain its economy.

Nevertheless, Italy still struggles with a major crisis of illegal immigration, which often leads to increased crime, since people who entered the country illegally are unable to find work.

Serbia: More foreign workers, fewer illegal migrants

As for Serbia, Đurović noted, the main focus is on the influx of foreign workers, now numbering more than 100,000 — the highest so far.

“By 2050 we will have difficulties functioning as a system unless there is an influx of foreign labor. I fear that is an inevitability in the future,” Đurović stressed.
However, when it comes to people who are refugees or those irregularly passing through Serbia, that number is significantly smaller, at least the visible one.

“We have fewer camps and maybe up to 1,000 people at any given time in the country, and during January about 600 people, according to our estimates, entered the country irregularly via the migrant route,” Đurović said.

Link: https://www.rts.rs/lat/vesti/svet/5878583/migranti-radnici-spanija-italija-djurovic.html