Veteran expat assists struggling compatriots

Migrant workers often feel helpless and stranded when they run into trouble in the Faroes.

Unaware of their rights and with limited assistance from the authorities, they have no-one to turn to – unless there happens to be a fellow compatriot in the country who understands the system.

One of these is Polish-born Sabina Poulsen in Søldarfjørður, who has helped many Polish workers.

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“I often receive calls from Polish workers, who feel utterly distressed after being dismissed from their jobs,” she explains.

“I then offer them to stay a few days in my holiday house and lend them money for a flight back home to Poland.”

Sabina is critical of how migrant workers are being thrown around in the Faroese system.

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“When they contact the police, they are referred to a trade union. But, as we have heard recently, the trade unions are overburdened with migrant worker issues, so these people have nowhere to go,” she explains.

“And many migrant workers are not members of a trade union, which obviously makes their situation even more difficult.”

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

English version by prosa.fo.

More Faroese News in English.