Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
PRESENTED BY AMCHAM SWEDEN

Build your professional career with AmCham’s international mentoring program

Today’s job market values professionals ready to learn new skills and collaborate with others. Adaptability and interpersonal skills are crucial to thriving in the workplace.

Published: 17 September 2018 16:01 CEST
Build your professional career with AmCham’s international mentoring program
Photo: Hanna and Rebeka receiving their AmCham diplomas

That said, cultivating these skills and navigating the ever-changing workplace can be a challenge without clear goals and proper guidance.  This can quickly turn into an obstacle to your professional growth.

If you need advice on how to move your career forward, but don’t know how to go about it, consider the American Chamber of Commerce in Sweden’s (AmCham) mentoring program.

The program is dedicated to building a community of like-minded professionals by matching experienced mentors and ambitious mentees. It’s eight months long and comprises one workshop every month, meet and greets and one-on-one sessions to help you move your career forward.

''I wanted new perspectives, to expand my network, time to reflect, and a mentor that could help me to accelerate my development. The program fulfilled all of the above!'' says Carl Johan Renvall who works at investment firm Triton Partners.

Find out more about AmCham’s mentoring program

Who is it for?

If you are a professional with at least three years of experience looking to challenge yourself, learn new skills and take more initiative, this program is for you. You will get guidance on how to grow professionally, convert your goals into tangible actions and be mentored by professionals with over seventeen years’ experience, keen to share their wealth of expertise and challenge your perspective.

“The program has really been a start of a new way of thinking for me, a new area of interest and given me new perspectives and new goals to strive for,” says Catharina Steffensson, who is now working as Associate Director, Medical Director Nordics at Sarepta Therapeutics.

What you will practice

AmCham’s mentoring program will provide you with must-have skills and practices essential to move your career forward. After eight months, you will have built a professional network and gained confidence about your performance at work.

With inspiring lectures and workshops led by experienced executives, you will practice techniques to build your confidence and personal brand, learn how to collaborate with others and understand how to network so that you’re remembered by the right people.

By joining the program, you will create meaningful relationships and build a long-lasting community to support you along the way. And you might meet new friends too!

Are you ready to move your career forward with AmCham’s mentoring program? Click here to sign up and take the first step towards increasing your professional and personal performance. Last day for applications is October 19th.

Find out more about AmCham’s mentoring program

For members

IMMIGRATION

How can American citizens work in Italy?

Americans have to fight through a quagmire of bureaucracy to get the right to work in Italy. The Local spoke to Paolo Zagami, an immigration lawyer at Zagamilaw in Rome, to find out how others can get through the process as painlessly as possible.

Published: 27 August 2019 13:38 CEST
How can American citizens work in Italy?
Obtaining a work visa for Italy is lengthy, but possible. Photo: DepositPhotos

Americans – or anyone else from outside the European Union – are unable to just pack up and land in Italy for a slice of la dolce vita.

They require a work permit or visa, rules for which have grown tighter in recent years as the Italian authorities tighten restrictions to stem unemployment.

In fact, the difficulty of obtaining a visa, coupled with an impatience to fulfil their dream, drives many Americans to arrive in Italy without one.

READ ALSO: 'What I wish I'd known': An American's advice on getting residency in Italy


Photo: DepositPhotos

Zagami says that Americans often encounter “problems, misunderstandings and excessive delays” when applying to work in Italy.

But he warns that those who ignore the paperwork are not only breaking the law, but also putting themselves in a vulnerable position should they fall ill or need police assistance.

Know your quotas

Americans can only obtain a work permit in Italy through sponsorship from an Italian company or a foreign corporation doing business in Italy.

All paperwork must be filed by the employer. This starts with keeping an eye out for the publication of the Decreto flussi  or ‘Flow Decree’, which stipulates Italy’s entry quotas from any given country for the year and is usually published between January and April.

In 2019 Italy set a quota of 30,850 work permits for non-EU nationals, 18,000 of them for seasonal work in tourism or agriculture and 12,850 for non-seasonal or self-employment (including people converting an existing residency permit into a work permit).

READ ALSO: 

The total quota has remained stable since 2016, though the number of permits actually granted to non-EU workers has plummeted over the past decade. In 2017, the most recent year for which official data is available, Italy issued 2,802 permits to workers from the US, more than any other country.

Certain jobs are exempt from the quota system, including university professors, translators, interpreters and some roles in the performing arts. Therefore, Zagami says, it is important to check if and how you might be affected.

It is then crucial for the sponsor to begin the visa application procedure as soon as possible after the publication of the quota list, because most quotas are filled within a few days. Any applications arriving after the quota is filled, or which are completed incorrectly, are rejected with no chance of appeal.

What to do before you leave the US…

The Italian employer must then lodge an application for the work permit with the Central Immigration Office (Sportello Unico). If successful, the applicant will be issued with a no-impediment (nulla osta) document. This functions as a guarantee that the sponsor will enter into a contractual working relationship with the American employee-to-be.

In some professions, employers must also apply to the provincial employment office (Ufficio Provinciale del Lavoro e della Massima Occupazione) in their city by submitting evidence that there is nobody qualified for the position offered available in the local labour market. Although rare, it is possible for the authorities to suggest the employment of an EU citizen in their place, Zagami says.

He says one of the main reasons Americans experience difficulties is that “many employers are unwilling to go through the necessary procedure, maybe because of the slow and meticulous Italian bureaucracy, or also because of the set quotas”.

FOR MEMBERS: How to become Italian: A guide to getting citizenship


Photo: DepositPhotos

For freelancers or those hoping to work independently, the process is slightly different. Workers must apply for the visa independently and receive the no-impediment document from the local police headquarters (Questura).

There are further restrictions on the number of freelancers that may enter Italy from a certain country or nationality in any given year, and freelancers must also prove they have a proper income and adequate accommodation arranged in Italy.

Only once the no-impediment document is granted may an American apply for an entry visa (visto d'ingresso per motivi di lavoro) at an Italian consular office in their home city. This must be done before the American moves to Italy – Americans already in Italy have to return to the US to apply for their entry visa.

Zagami points out that while it could cause problems if Americans decide to enter the territory without a visa, it is possible to enter the country with a more easily obtainable student visa, for example, and convert this to a working one once they have found an employer in Italy – although tourist visas cannot be converted to working ones.

This procedure again involves applying to the Central Immigration Office for authorization.

… and once you get here

Within eight working days of arriving in Italy with their temporary work permit, all Americans must apply for a residency permit (permesso di soggiorno).

They also need to apply for a tax code (codice fiscale), one of the easier hurdles of Italian bureaucracy, at their local revenue agency (Agenzia delle Entrate).

READ ALSO:

The final step is to present the signed work contract to the local employment office (Centro per l’impiego), where the application will be approved.

With the temporary permit, the tax code and the approval of the employment office, the police headquarters will finally issue the long-term work permit.

How much does it cost?

Zagami says the visa itself costs around €116, while the process can take anywhere between 30 and 120 days. 


Photo: DepositPhotos

But what if the job offer falls through during the process, or an American loses their job in Italy?

Zagami advises that in these cases “it is important to look for another job immediately, because the legislation in force allows the employees to stay only six months after the loss of the former job”.

The process may be long-winded, but it is perfectly possible for Americans to come to Italy for work – as long as you've got the time, organization, patience and the necessary paperwork. 

This is an updated version of an article first published in 2013.

SHOW COMMENTS