On the first day of the opening of the migration desks in Turin, on January 27, the requests for residency permits for nearly a thousand foreigners requesting asylum were processed.

At the headquarters in Corso Verona, long queues had formed over the last few weeks, with some people even taking to queuing at night. The desks at the Corso Verona office processed 565 requests on the first day of opening. A police station in Via Dorè worked through 421 requests, stated the police headquarters in Turin.

Since the beginning of 2025, the Turin migration office stated it issued over four thousand residency permits, compared to the 2,800 in the previous year during the same time period.

Read AlsoItalian by birth, foreigner by law

Reducing the queues

The police headquarters that run the issuing of permits and the migration desks have been trying to speed up the processes in order to reduce the long queues that have been forming in the north-western city.

This includes, explained a statement from the police station, opening new service points, and introducing technical modifications so that applicants can activate an 'easy booking' system, allowing them to make a reservation for an appointment at a migration desk via a dedicated app.

Italian trade unions, including CGIL, CISL and UIL had criticized the long queues that were forming in Turin and have been monitoring the situation ever since. They labeled the situation "inhumane." On January 27, the combined unions organized a meeting, approximately 100 people attended.

Volunteer organizations have also been offering assistance to migrants queuing, distributing warm tea and blankets.

Read AlsoForeign business owners on the rise in Italy

Criticism for Italian Interior Ministry and Turin Municipality

"The situation continues to be unbearable, the institutions are bouncing responsibilities between each other," states the Secretary of the Union CISL for Turin Canavese, Paolo Ferrero.

"They are not handling it well. Only after we followed up did they finally find a new location for the migration office, we hope this shameful behavior will end and that they will now create a dignified situation for these people," he said.

"There have not been any significant changes" stated Federico Bellono, Secretary General for the CGIL in Turin. "Compared to the previous weeks, where we saw hundreds of people crammed in the hope of obtaining an appointment. Those in the queue are workers who need to renew their documents to be able to keep working legally."

Bellono believes that a suggestion to begin using church property at Santo Volto church as an alternative to what he termed the "decaying facilities" in Corso Verona is a positive suggestion, however, the move is likely to take at least eight months. Bellono asked "What will be done in the meantime?"

'Only concrete proposal for change came from the Bishop'

One suggestion Bellono put forward is "to make the police station work more efficiently and decentralize activities to other police stations, but the real issue is the lack of staff, at present part of the staff are interim personnel whose contracts are just being extended."

Bellono continued, "on this issue the Ministry of the Interior bears direct responsibility, and therefore the Italian government." Bellono added that he believed Turin's municipality should also take responsibility and asked, "Why are the few things that have been done in the last few days not already done before? How is it possibile that for years, the only concrete proposal [for change] has come from the Bishop's Curia?"