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Table A5. Overview of legislation toward refugees in Italy.
Italy has a complex system for assistance to asylum seekers and has signed international agreements for the protection of refugees (Figueroa, 2016)
2002: Art. 32 of Law #189 mandated the Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees: Indicated direct participation by local
authorities (municipalities) on a voluntary basis; established activation and management of reception projects across the country; and coordinated
by the Central Service, a technical body managed by the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI). Interior Ministry carries out
monitoring, support, and information activities addressed to the same territorial projects (MSF, 2016).
Main law regulating the field of asylum and migration in Italy is the Consolidation Act on Immigration, partially modified in 2002
(EMN, 2012).
2009: The Security Package established issues relating to migration since 2009; entailed changes to the length of detention and imprisonment of
irregular immigrants; funding for return of aliens; a 200 Euro fee for citizenship applications; an 80–200 Euro fee for stay permits (first issue
and renewal); and stricter family reunification regulations
2009: The Second Security Act (Law 94/2009) denoted as criminal offense being without proper permit of stay in the country and increased the
maximum period that migrants can be detained in Centers for Identification and Expulsion (OSF, 2012)
2010: The Integration Agreement regulates the “point-based permit of stay,” which has to be signed by all adult foreigners applying for a residence
permit in Italy and is valid for 2 years (EMN, 2012)
February 12, 2011: The DPCM declared “the state of emergency on the national territory due to the exceptional influx of citizens coming from North
African countries” and gave civil protection to its management through the ordinance #3933 (MSF, 2016)
December 2011: The EU Blue Card (https://www.apply.eu) is a residence permit for highly qualified foreign workers and is designed to make Europe
more attractive for professionals from other countries. All EU member states participate in the system, except the United Kingdom,
Denmark, and Ireland
2014: Three-quarters of appeals resulted in the recognition of some form of international or humanitarian protection
September 30, 2015: The Legislative Decree #142 recognizes asylum seekers’ rights to protection at least until the first tier of the jurisdictional
appeal is completed
2015: Under the SPRAR, the Interior Ministry established an increase in ordinary places for first reception to the amount of 15,550
by the end of 2016, as well as secondary reception to the amount of 32,000 in the 1 month of 2016, and at least 40,000 in 2017
st
(MSF, 2016)
April 1–30, 2016: The number of arrivals in Italy was approximately 9150 people, according to the European Union (FRA, 2016)
Note: EMN: European migration network, OSF: Open Science Foundations, DPCM: Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers, SPRAR:
System for the Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees, FRA: Agency for Fundamental Rights

Table A6. Overview of legislation toward refugees in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom implemented several acts related to asylum and immigration, which are detailed by the ICAR, such as the ones detailed
below (Ward, 2004)
1993: Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act was incorporated into law, which included the creation of more categories of applicants that could appeal
for failed asylum applications, the permission to detain asylum seekers, while their claims were under consideration and the introduction of
fingerprinting of asylum seekers
1996: Asylum and Immigration Act introduced a list of countries to be safe and their nations to have little risk of persecution, as well as established
that housing and welfare benefits were restricted to applicants at the port of entry
1999: Immigration and asylum act introduced several guidelines to extend possibilities of claiming asylum by undocumented immigrants, established
penalties for transporting undocumented immigrants to the country, and introduced the NASS to coordinate support for asylum seekers
2002: Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act implemented changes to asylum law and processes, which included the intention to better track asylum
seekers in the national system and integrate refugees into the country
2004: Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act established several provisions, including: People entering the United Kingdom
without proper documents are subject to fine or prison for up to 2 years; people who traffic individuals for forced or coerced labor are subjected
to fine or prison for up to 14 years; withdrawal of asylum support for unsuccessful asylum seekers who do not leave the United Kingdom
voluntarily; connection of asylum seekers with local authorities to access housing; implementation of integration loans for refugees; regulation
of the appeal system for refused asylum seekers; and electronic monitoring can be requested for people subject to immigration control
2012: Home office introduced temporary concession allowing Syrians already in the United Kingdom to apply for an extension to their visa or switch
into a different visa category without having to leave the country (Gower and Cromarty, 2016)
January 29, 2014: the Syrian VPR Program was implemented. Even though the United Kingdom accepted asylum applications from Syrian refugees,
the country focused on providing humanitarian aid to countries neighboring Syria, but not to offer resettlement to refugees (Feikert-Ahalt, 2016)
VPR initially prioritized most vulnerable Syrian refugees (sexual violence survivors, elderly, victims of torture, and disabled people). This program is
separate but consistent with UNHCR’s Syrian refugee resettlement program (HO/UK, 2017)
There was a call to extend the scheme, but the government approach remained to prioritize spending aid in countries neighboring Syria, rather than
offering large-scale resettlement
September 2015: VPR was extended to receive up to 20,000 refugees
Note: VPR: Vulnerable Person Resettlement, ICAR: Information Centre about Asylum And Refugees, NASS: National Asylum Support Service, HO/
UK: Home Office/United Kingdom

42 International Journal of Population Studies | 2018, Volume 4, Issue 1