High stakes and hidden traps. Migration industry, risks of deception, and legal status precarity in the lottery of the Decreto flussi

This paper investigates the emergence of a migration industry in Italy, with a particular focus on the role of private intermediaries in managing work visa and residence permit procedures. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and digital observations of social networks achieved within WP2, it examines the implementation of labor migration policies governed by annual quotas, known as the decreto flussi. The study also sheds light on the involvement of non-state commercial actors who capitalise on bureaucratic and administrative processes for financial gain. It highlights how the structural characteristics of this system—namely its complexity, selectivity, uncertainty, and temporality—create conditions that enable deception, fraud, exploitation, and the precarious legal status of migrants.

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