DOOLEY Observed: Italy makes immigrants speak Italian for work visa

Thomas Jefferson said in 1802: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies."

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."-- Thomas Jefferson

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If you can't start a fire, perhaps your wood is wet ....

When you elect clowns, expect a circus ..............

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Italy makes immigrants speak Italian for work visa

FLORENCE, Italy – Svetlana Cojochru feels insulted. The Moldovan has lived here seven years as a nanny to Italian kids and caregiver to the elderly, but in order to stay she's had to prove her language skills by writing a postcard to an imaginary friend and answering a fictional job ad.

"I feel like a guest," said Cojochru. She had just emerged from Beato Angelico middle school where she took a language test to comply with a new law requiring basic Italian proficiency for permanent residency permits following five years of legal residence.

Italy is the latest Western European country turning the screws on an expanding immigrant population by demanding language skills in exchange for work permits, or in some cases, citizenship. While enacted last year in the name of integration, these requirements also reflect anxiety that foreigners might dilute fiercely-prized national identity or even, especially in Britain's case, pose terror risks.