Equal rights for refugees

Two-year temporary residence permits, work permits and free access to schools, daycare and health & welfare services.

These are some of the rights proposed for up to 200 Ukrainian refugees in a bill that is currently being fast-tracked through Parliament.

“If the bill is passed, these refugees will be granted rights that are the same as those enjoyed by Faroese citizens,” says integration minister Magnus Rasmussen, who introduced the bill, based on the new Danish Emergency Act on refugee asylum.

 >> SEE ALSO Faroes can host 200 refugees

There are no official figures on how many Ukrainian refugees have come to the Faroes as those who have arrived so far remain registered as regular travellers until the bill is passed, according to the Immigration Office.

Red Cross Faroe Islands has no official figures either, but they know of about 40 Ukrainian citizens who have arrived in the Faroes since the war started on 24 February.

The new bill was accompanied by a request for an additional grant of DKK 15.5 million to cover the estimated costs of hosting 200 refugees for the remainder of this year.

This amount is broken down into DKK 5.3 million for education, DKK 5.1 million for welfare services, DKK 4.1 million for health services and DKK 1.1 million for the Immigration Office.

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The new bill estimates that the Faroes can take in up to 200 refugees, based primarily on housing capacity.

However, the integration minister will not rule out the possibility of increasing this number.

“We felt a need to specify a number as a starting point. But we can make further adjustments if it becomes necessary.”

More details to follow later this week or early next week.

Read the Faroese versions of this article here, here and here.

Translated by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.