– When I drive a bus, I feel like I’m using my brain. I give all my attention to the road, to the people, to the situation. Ukrainian Iuliia Bondar took the bus ticket just over a month before the war broke out in February 2022. She fled to neighboring Slovakia with her son. There she got a job driving a bus for a year. It was also there that Bondar heard that there were opportunities to drive a bus in Norway. Ukrainian Iuliia Bondar now wants to drive a bus in Norway. Photo: Nadir Alam / news But when she came here, her driver’s dream was shattered: – The tax authorities said I couldn’t work as a bus driver. I had all the necessary papers, but I have a driver’s license from Ukraine. EU citizens can get a job as a bus driver right away. But Ukraine is not a member of the EU. Bondar is therefore not an EU citizen, and she cannot get a Norwegian social security number. – Then I can’t work, says Iuliia dejectedly. How to get a national ID number If you are an EU/EEA citizen or a family member of an EU/EEA citizen and will be living in Norway for more than six months, you must register your move to Norway with the Tax Administration to get a national ID number. How to report a move to Norway (external website). If you have been granted a residence permit in Norway, UDI sends information to the Tax Agency that you will live in Norway. After you have received a residence card, the Tax Agency decides whether you should get a national identity number or d-number. The Norwegian Tax Agency will send you information about this between two and six weeks after you have received your residence card. Source: Udi.no Will change the law According to the employers’ association Spekter, around a thousand new bus drivers are needed each year in Norway. Managing director Anne-Kari Bratten says that they now hope the law can be changed, so that more people can get jobs as bus drivers. – All measures that can contribute to this industry getting more competent labor will be good for getting the scheduled bus and school bus running. Managing director of Spekter, Anne-Kari Bratten says that the industry needs more bus drivers. Photo: William Jobling / news Ukrainians must live in Norway for at least four years and know basic Norwegian to be able to get a driving license so they can drive a bus. The government wants to do something about this requirement. Labor and Inclusion Minister Tonje Brenna hopes Ukrainians can fill the empty seats around the country with a temporary change in the law. – We are particularly concerned that all the new arrivals from Ukraine get to work quickly. Working as a driver is one of the things we absolutely need to get more people to do. Will only apply to Ukrainians More than 70,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Norway. According to E24, several hundred of these have a background as bus drivers in their home country. Minister for Employment and Inclusion, Tonje Brenna, says the requirement for residence and language will continue to apply to other groups. – The vast majority of people who come to Norway now have a Ukrainian background. Therefore, this is a special measure for them, says Brenna. The Minister for Employment and Inclusion (Ap), Tonje Brenna, got to try out the driver’s seat in the bus for herself. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news – But then wouldn’t this apply to Syrians and Eritreans, for example? – It is important that we have good solutions that ensure that we have good security and know who works as a driver in Norway. That is why we make this exception for Ukrainians, says Brenna. Also changes course Potential drivers must go through a short adapted course to get approval in Norway, says transport minister Jon-Ivar Nygård from the Labor Party. Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård says that Ukrainians who want to drive a bus in Norway must go through a short course. Photo: Bård Nafstad / news The requirement to get such a course is that Ukrainians must have experience of driving a bus from their home country. – Of course, we also have to have some arrangements where you carry out some interviews and surveys, says Nygård. And adds: – So that we are confident that these are people who can do a good job as drivers in Norway. This temporary proposal to amend the law will be presented to the Storting in April. According to the plan, it will be reversed on 1 July 2025 if it goes through.
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Ukrainians are not allowed to become bus drivers because they are not EU citizens – now the government wants to change the law – Greater Oslo
