The charges against the group include money laundering, false invoicing and criminal association with the aim of facilitating illegal immigration.

According to the Reuters news agency, 13 alleged members of the groups were put in jail, while 24 were placed under house arrest, and seven taken into custody. 

Another 10 suspects remain free but are banned from taking part in any business activities for 12 months.

Assets totaling around 6 million euros were also seized in connection with the case, which are thought to have originated from profits related to the alleged crimes.

Also read: Italian authorities bust passport-forging ring

2,500 migrant cases linked to fraud

Prosecutors from the southern Italian city of Salerno said that the suspects had filed fraudulent visa applications for migrants, who require the sponsorship of employers to be allowed in the country.

The group is accused of filing "around 2,500" visa applications since 2020, which were "based on non-existent or falsified data," according to prosecutors.

The migrants are believed to have paid as much as 7,000 euros each for the benefit of having their bureaucratic process pushed forward by the illegal means of the group.

Also read: Migrant trafficking ring uncovered in Italy

Links to international mafia group

Salerno's Chief Prosecutor Giuseppe Borrelli said the investigation into the case had been underway for a while but was expedited after Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had reported concerns about visa fraud being committed to Italy's national anti-mafia prosecutor last month.

In June, Meloni discovered that a disproportionate amount of applications had originated from the Campania region, which includes the major city of Naples as well as Salerno.

A local branch of the mafia known as Camorra is known to have been operating in this region since the 17th century.

Hundreds of people are believed to presently be associated with the clans belonging to the Camorra, whose criminal business activities also include drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering.

The group is also believed to have direct links to smugglers and traffickers throughout Europe, Africa and South America, and has been implicated in the past with forcing women into sexual slavery.

Connections to the so-called "Islamic State" terrorist group are also under investigation internationally.

Also read: Italy's anti-mafia author Saviano on trial for 'defaming' PM

A broken system

According to migrant rights advocates, Italy's highly bureaucratic structures embedded in the country's immigration controls make visa fraud schemes more likely, with weak spots open to abuse at multiple steps along the way.

In particular, it appears that Italy's expansion of legal immigration channels in response to growing labor shortages in the country is most prone to abuse, as highlighted by this case:

The criminal groups involved in the fraud scheme are believed to have operated without drawing attention to themselves for years by simply shifting the illegal status of irregular migrants to the legal status of labor migrants.

Also read: Italian landowner faces charges of homicide following death of migrant worker

Calls for systemic reforms, however, have largely gone unanswered, as the focus of Meloni's far-right government has firmly been on introducing measures to curb irregular migrant arrival numbers rather than addressing potential abuse of the existing system.

In fact, Meloni's government has even expanded its seasonal work visa scheme for non-EU citizens since last year by nearly 150%, according to Reuters. Over 150,000 such visas are allowed to be issued for this year, with a similar number already allocated for 2025.

In 2019, the quote was at just under 31,000 visas.

The demand for such visas, including fraudulent claims, meanwhile is skyrocketing: According to Italy's interior ministry, nearly 244,000 visa requests were submitted in the first 10 days of the launch of the scheme.

Also read: Italy: 2 arrests for exploitation and violence against foreign farm workers

With Reuters