Welcome Association Italy (W.A.I.) is a trade union that assists Italian, EU, and non-EU citizens. The services are aimed at facilitating the stay in Italy of every associate. The trade union’s guiding intuition is to offer concrete support in areas that may be most critical for its members. In line with this ambition, three divisions were created:
- Assistance
- Accommodation
- Academy
Today Welcome Association Italy is a well-known organization in the field of assistance to foreign citizens. This is why it counts numerous partnerships and collaborations with organizations, schools, and universities that have decided to turn to it as a point of reference.
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Continuously Evolving
Welcome Association Italy has as its mission the continuous search for services that facilitate and improve the lives of its members. Thus, as members’ needs have evolved, the trade union has found ways to adapt, improve and grow. This continuous evolution has allowed W.A.I. to become a major hub of services and information for foreign nationals and others. But W.A.I. has not always been a trade union. Let’s try to retrace the main stages of its history.
Origins
Welcome Association Italy was founded in 2016 as a non-profit association. At the time, the association was not able to provide all the services it offers its members today. At this embryonic stage, the association was focused on assisting foreign citizens arriving in Italy. The turning point came in 2019 when the association met the F.A.S.T. – CONF.S.A.L. Federation.
The meeting in 2020 allowed the association to join the Autonomous Federation of Transport Unions. This transition did not affect the purpose and mission of the former association.
The W.A.I. Structure and Services
In the transition from association to trade union, Welcome Association Italy has found a way to adapt to the new needs of its members. At the same time, W.A.I. has maintained the core around which the three divisions develop namely, the Association. Membership to the trade union guarantees the status of associate, which in turn allows access to all the services. The associate can choose between Welcome combos for Italian, EU, and non-EU citizens. In addition, the associate has free access to:
- conventions for leisure
- conventions for healthcare
- cultural activities, events, and awareness campaigns organized or sponsored by Welcome Association Italy
- WAI EXTRA, that is a platform reserved for members with products of all kinds.
The Three Divisions
Around the original core, the Association, three divisions have sprung up. Each division focuses on a specific need of its members. Thus were born:
– ASSISTANCE, the division of support and the listening point for anyone living or wishing to stay in Italy. The trade union provides legal, bureaucratic, trade union, and social-health services, all through the various agreements and partnerships developed over the years.
– ACCOMODATION, the division that deals with finding short, medium, and long-term housing solutions in the main Italian cities. This is an indispensable service for our members, especially for non-EU and EU citizens who have no contacts in Italy.
– ACADEMY, this division allows our members to enroll in professional and degree courses, Master’s degrees, IT and language certifications at agreement prices. This economic facilitation is yet another fruit of the various strategic partnerships with leading centers, both in the professional and university spheres.
Future Projects
The keywords of the trade union Welcome Association Italy, as you can see in this brief description, are assistance and evolution. Two years after becoming a trade union, we can say that it has achieved excellent results. This has been possible thanks to the foresight of the professionals working for W.A.I., who believed and believe in this project. It cannot be ruled out that to meet the further needs of its members, something else may change in the future, with the only condition that these changes are for the better.
