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Romanians in Italy became a notable presence mostly after 1999, due to a large wave of emigration known in Romania as Fenomenul migrației către UE (Movement to the EU Phenomenon). 80% of the emigrants went to Spain or Italy, whose national languages are related to Romanian. They were followed by a further wave beginning in 2002, when Romanian citizens obtained the right to leave their country and go to any Schengen Zone country without having a visa. As of 2015, there were 1,131,839 Romanian citizens with additional 150,021 Moldovans living in Italy.
In 2007, Italy expelled Romanian citizens with criminal records, after a wave of violent crimes of which swelling numbers of Romani immigrants from Romania were held responsible. Roma are a large historical ethnical minority in Romania (over 600,000 people, 3.3% of the population) and they make up 6% of Romanian citizens in Italy.