Ukrainian refugees – Marina (49):
– I do not know how to pay it back.
Marina Kutsenko (49) tells through a translator about the credit card debt that she has taken up since she came to Norway as a refugee from the war in Ukraine.
She is one of several Ukrainian refugees who have taken out consumer loans to make ends meet in Norway, according to Noas – the Norwegian organization for asylum seekers.
– The level of support for asylum seekers in reception is drastically low, says Pål Nesse, Secretary General of Noas.
Just under 7,800 Ukrainians now live in reception centers, according to the UDI.
The problem for Marina is not only low rates, but she has not yet been paid a single penny of what she is entitled to, she says. In addition, she has extra expenses that must be covered.
Taken up loans
It was on March 10 that Marina fled to Norway, together with her 13-year-old son, 26-year-old daughter and daughter’s 6-year-old son. They were registered at the National Arrival Center in Råde, before the journey continued to the reception in Bergen. At home in Ukraine, Marina is her husband and her daughter’s husband.
Marina says that she is very happy to be received in Norway:
– We have got a lot, a place to live, and we are safe. We are very grateful that we can live here, there is peace and we can live like ordinary people, she says.
But the money situation is difficult. At the reception in Bergen, they got a roof over their heads – and food. But no more.
Since she came to Norway, Marina says that she has taken out credit card debt equivalent to almost 16,000 kroner.
The money has gone to expenses such as glasses, allergy medicines, hygiene items and extra food for the children. They needed to adapt because they have lactose intolerance, and were also unfamiliar with the food they were served at the reception, says Marina.
– Completely wild
An asylum seeker in an emergency room with food will receive NOK 447 a month, according to The UDI’s rates. This corresponds to around 15 kroner a day.
Supplements for single parents are NOK 264 per month and NOK 402 per barn under 18 years.
A single parent with a child under the age of 18, such as Marina, will have 1113 kroner a month, according to what Dagbladet understands. This corresponds to around 37 kroner a day.
If there is no food service at the reception, a single asylum seeker will receive NOK 2,044 a month. This corresponds to just under 70 kroner a day.
“The basic benefits will cover a resident’s necessary expenses for living expenses”, according to the UDIs guidelines.
– It’s completely wild. This should cover food, clothing, transport, telephone, medicines, hygiene items and other things you need. If you need some medicine or tampons, you may need to take the bus to the store or pharmacy, so the calculation does not work out, says Pål Nesse, general secretary of Noas.
– Did not get money
According to Marina, the problem was not only the low rates, but also the payout itself. She says they should get the money as a gift card. But the amount had not yet been paid when she moved to a friend in Lindesnes this week, after almost months on reception, Marina says.
– We got no money, she says.
The UDI regrets that there have been “challenges in paying basic support to the residents now in the start-up”, but promises improvement, according to regional director Belén Vinuesa Birkenes – see the full answer further down.
Birkenes further writes in the UDI that “operating operators for reception where residents did not receive cash payments, were told by the UDI to buy everything that residents needed, including hygiene and other products, including milk replacer, and lactose-free milk for people with intolerance or allergy”.
The UDI will not comment on the criticism of the rates, and refers to the Ministry of Justice. State Secretary Astrid Bergmål in the Ministry of Justice answers the following:
– I am concerned that it should be sober, but livable bets. These are asylum seekers who will not be in reception for long, but who will be settled in a municipality within a short time. Our main priority now is to get the refugees settled as quickly as possible so that they can get started with their lives, Bergsmål writes via a press contact.
Pål Nesse in Noas believes that the low level of support is politically motivated.
– Part of the political logic is that it should not be lucrative to apply for asylum in Norway. The rates have been that long. We must send a signal to the world that “do not come here”. But there is a reasonable middle ground between lucrative and decent, says Nesse.
Fear of exploitation
Pål Nesse in Noas says that the organization now hears about several asylum seekers from Ukraine who take out consumer loans to cover the costs while they wait in reception.
He fears that this may make asylum seekers more vulnerable to exploitation. Kripos has warned that it is “very likely” that Ukrainian refugees will be abused, according to NRK. Dagbladet has previously written about how human traffickers exploit the refugee situation, where the vast majority of refugees are women and children.
– Maybe they are promised a job that turns out to be something else, or they disappear into the black labor market. There are cases from the past, where women in reception have ended up in prostitution to make ends meet, says Nesse.
On Noah’s sin facebook page for Ukrainian asylum seekers, many express that they are grateful to be in Norway, but that the support is far too low, and that they have to live on credit.
– Brings young girls
– Hoping to go home
A woman writes that she lives in Ålesund and receives 72 kroner a day to cover food and everything else. “I understand that I have to drop chicken, fish, fruit completely to survive in one way or another. I really understand that it is not easy for mothers with children here. We must hope for a quick victory so we can go home! », The woman writes.
Marina and her family moved this week from the hotel in Bergen to a friend in Lindesnes. They want to be able to live in the municipality.
She cries when she tells about the escape, how a building was bombed while they were driving past, the long journey across the border. Now the family sits and watches news from their home country all the time.
Back home in Ukraine, she and her family have a bakery in Kyiv and a shop in Vinnytsia, which had to be closed due to the war. When Marina can possibly get a job in Norway, she does not.
– It is a very stressful situation, says Marina.
– Unfortunate
The UDI answers the following why Marina did not receive unpaid support at the reception:
– Both we and the operating operators, ie who run the receptions, have been aware that there have been challenges in paying basic support to the residents now in the start-up. In these cases, the residents ‘needs have been covered by the operating operators having paid the residents’ purchases in with the rates, and then sought reimbursement from the UDI, writes regional director Belén Vinuesa Birkenes at the UDI, via the press service.
She says that many asylum seekers and several emergency accommodation are among the reasons why it has taken time.
– Normally, the basic payment will be started at the National Arrival Center. However, there are some emergency accommodation that use a transitional arrangement because they have not had a payment solution ready to be able to pay to the residents. They buy with and other necessary goods for their residents, and most emergency accommodation is said to have started paying out on a basis from 1 May, Birkenes writes.
– We see that it is of course unfortunate that this is not in place. We are working hard to get this in place as soon as possible, and we and the operating operators have found various alternatives so far.