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Norway’s Ministry of Labor and Inclusion has announced that this year 234 Norwegian municipalities have agreed to take in 22,390 refugees.
This means the municipalities have shown willingness to take in more than 90 per cent of the number that the Directorate for Integration and Diversity (IMD) has asked them to take in initially, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
According to Minister for Employment and Inclusion Marte Mjøs Persen, considering that a year has passed since the Russian occupation of Ukraine, millions of people have been forced to flee their homes, and about 40,000 have so far arrived in Norway.
“Their commitment and ability to throw themselves around has been very important to the fact that we have managed to settle so many people so far. I am sure that we will achieve this year as well,” she also added.
The IMD sends a request to almost every Norwegian municipality on the number of refugees they are required to settle. Yet, it is up to each individual municipality to decide how many places it will offer.
Last year, more than 31,000 people settled in all parts of Norway and in small and large municipalities, which is the highest number ever.
This year municipalities have been asked to accommodate a total of 35,000 refugees.
In this regard, IDM Director Libe Rieber-Mohn emphasised that there is a great uncertainty regarding this figure. According to him, the latest forecasts show that the need for solutions may be greater, however, this may change.
The deadline to respond to the request was January 31 of this year. So far, IMD has received responses from 234 municipalities. Meanwhile, 43 municipalities have requested to postpone the deadline to wait for the issue to come up for political consideration.
As Rieber-Mohn explains, it is expected that the number of decisions will increase in the future and will encourage municipalities to make decisions in accordance with this request.
Previously, data provided by the Finnish Ministry of the Interior revealed that around 45,000 refugees who left Ukraine in 2022 can now apply for a local municipality after staying in the country for a year.
Such data also show that starting from March-April of this year, nearly 13,000 refugees will have housing opportunities as well.
From March 1, Ukrainian women will be able to apply to the Digital and Population Information Agency (DVV) for a residence online only if that person has lived in Finland for a year, has a Finnish personal identification number or even temporary protection.
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