(ANSA) - Rome, January 31 - Demand for migrant workers outstripped the quota available many times on Monday, the first of the government's 'click days' for employers to make internet applications to legally hire non-European Union staff.
The Interior Ministry said that by midday it had received 293,000 requests after it started accepting them at 8am, almost six times the quota of 52,080 set for the day.
After collecting all the requests, the government will set quotas for each Italian province, where the police will then asses them on a first-come-first-served basis before giving the employers the green-light to recruit.
The next stage is for the overseas workers selected for the jobs to go to Italian consulates in their countries to collect their visas to travel to Italy and their residence permits.
The government says the aim is to create a fair system for the legal hiring of foreign workers with quotas to ensure the country's capacity to absorb newcomers is not exceeded.
Monday's first quota of 52,080 entries is for non-seasonal workers from countries that have migration-cooperation agreements with Italy, including Albania, Moldova, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Morocco and Senegal.
But some have criticized the system, including farmers' union CIA which described it Monday as a ''desperate lottery that will not be able to satisfy companies' and families' demand for foreign workers''.
Civil rights association Equality Italia said it was ''sceptical about the procedures being used to manage an economic and social problem of such dimensions''.
''The political world seems to keep using immigrants as commodities for electoral trade,'' said Equality Italia President Aurelio Mancuso.
''A serious discussion on prime-time TV is needed on the results of this initiative and its debatable handling.
''The state broadcaster (RAI) should organize a debate with the economic and social forces involved and the immigrants themselves''.
The provinces with the highest number of requests in the first hours of the debut click day were Milan (37,000), Rome (22,500) and Brescia (18,800).
The highest number of requests was for workers from Bangladesh (48,000), followed by Morocco (44,000) and India (36,000).
Italian families with small children and elderly members in need of assistance have a big demand for domestic workers.
Italian businesses also rely heavily on migrant workers, especially the agriculture and building sectors, where they are often hired for manual jobs domestic workers increasingly avoid.
The next 'click day' takes place on Wednesday, when 30,000 entries for domestic workers will be up for grabs.
Another will be held on Thursday to allocate 15,000 residence permits to non-European Union citizens who have undergone special training courses in their countries of origin or who are already in Italy on study, work experience or seasonal-work permits.
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