Since the war broke out in 2022 and up until March this year, 5,924 Ukrainians who are older than 55 have applied for collective protection in Norway, according to UDI. Many have a high education, good health and want to get to work as soon as possible, but they do not have the same right to training as the young. One who is reacting is Galyna Globa in Stavanger. The 62-year-old sewing teacher has been teaching student teachers at the university in the city of Slovensk in the Donbas region. Anna Kilmartin is Galyna’s daughter. She has lived in Norway since 2006 and works as a special education teacher. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news When the war broke out, she fled to Norway, where her daughter lived before. – For the first time in her life, my mother is sitting on the bill to the state without doing anything. She has a lot of energy, knowledge and experience and wants to contribute. Now she feels guilty, says daughter Anna Kilmartin. She translated what her mother says to news. – We have contacted the municipality, hospitals, sewing clubs. Can he help Ukrainian children? Are there Ukrainian soldiers here who need rehabilitation? Galyna Globa and granddaughter Sophia. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news So far they haven’t caught on. – It would have been useful to have some kind of work experience. I don’t necessarily need a salary. As the Norwegian teacher says – we have to go out and practice. Talk to people, says Galyna. Does not get intro program The 62-year-old receives Norwegian lessons three days a week. But it takes time to learn a new language, and it doesn’t get any easier with age. – The problem is that I don’t get into the intro programme, where I can get an internship, says Galyna. Galyna Globa has taught her granddaughter Sophia to become a racer in swimming. Here they are in the pool at Gamlingen in Stavanger. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news The program was introduced in 2004. The participants receive, among other things, training in Norwegian and social studies and help to get into work and education. Those who have skills that are needed, can get practice with language training in a workplace. But only those between the ages of 18 and 55 automatically have the right to participate. – Several react to the age limit. Norway has a retirement age of 67. Then the intro program should also apply for the same length of time, says leader of the Ukrainian Association in Rogaland, Olena Hebler. Olena Hebler is the leader of the Ukrainian Association in Rogaland. Photo: Øystein Ellingsen / news Age discrimination, Raudt believes Raudt also reacts to the age limit. Since January 2022 and until March this year, a total of 6,233 people over the age of 55 have applied for protection in Norway. – We want people to work in Norway, and then we have to help them do that. This seems like an arbitrary rule, says Mímir Kristjánsson from Raudt, who sits on the labor and social affairs committee at the Storting. Raudt politician Mímir Kristjánsson wants to raise the age limit to participate in the intro program. Photo: Rødt A committee has proposed raising the retirement age in Norway. The age limit in the intro program should also be raised, he believes. – It is age discrimination when you do not want to help people over 55. In modern working life, it is now expected by many that you will work until you are 70, says Kristjánsson. It’s about capacity But according to the government, it is not appropriate to change the age limit. – The reason why the upper limit is set at 55 is capacity challenges in the municipalities, but they have the right to make exceptions. There is also an obligation in the intro programme, and for someone over 55 it can be demanding to participate, says State Secretary in the Ministry of Labor and Inclusion, Samra Akhtar (Ap). Samra Akhtar (Ap) is state secretary in the Ministry of Employment and Inclusion. Photo: Simen Gald / Ministry of Labor and Inclusion Stavanger municipality has more than 1,150 refugees under follow-up. About 500 of them are included in the intro programme. – We have no practice of making exceptions. The volume is very large, and it is also a political issue, says Tor Arne Hartvigsen, manager of the refugee service in Stavanger. Tor Arne Hartvigsen runs the refugee service in Stavanger municipality. Photo: Anett Johansen Espeland / news That it will cost to expand the offer is not a good argument, believes Kristjánsson. – It will be turning it on its head. If you are 55, you have twelve years left in working life. If the welfare state is to pay benefits for the entire period instead of them contributing and paying tax, it will be expensive.
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Age limit prevents older refugees who want to go to work
