Refugees arrive in Sicily after being rescued at sea. Almost 100,000 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, applied for asylum in Italy last year. Doing unpaid work could become a precondition for gaining asylum

Thousands of migrants arriving in Italy will have to perform unpaid “socially useful” work to qualify for asylum and the expulsion of economic migrants will be speeded up under the Italian government’s new plans.

“It will be up to local mayors to decide what they do, and the work will probably be voluntary,” a government source said yesterday. A handful of towns in Italy already ask migrants to clean up streets and parks.

Under the scheme, which will be presented to parliament tomorrow by Marco Minniti, the interior minister, the work would become a precondition for gaining asylum.

Just under 100,000 migrants, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa, applied for asylum in Italy between January and October last year. They live in crowded migrant centres