Hajar. Bologna, Italy

“Among the many problems that emerged from the Covid emergency, one that is not discussed is that relating to the closure of the offices dealing with immigration, i.e. documents and residence permits. When we talk about problems related to immigration we always think of distant people, who have arrived in Italy very recently, who do not speak Italian, yet immigrants are also those born or resident in Italy for many years, like me. I have been in Italy for 14 years, now my whole life is here, I constantly hear people saying “you are more Italian than me”, yet it is not so, I am not Italian because Italy does not recognizes that. And despite the school, the degree, the job, the activism campaigns in which I engage ( I am and ActionAid Italia activist), I still have a residence permit that expires every two years, and indeed, at this time it has also expired! After 14 years, I am anchored to a residence permit which prevents me from accessing services, to public competitions, to travel, to go to university, which forces me to more complex procedures to have a contract of employment or home. The Covid emergency did nothing but slow down even more the timing and worsen a situation which was already unacceptable”