Number of arrivals of Ukrainian refugees is decreasing, UDI tells Norway Today

A total of 546 new Ukrainian asylum seekers have been registered in Norway in the last week.

On Wednesday and Tuesday, 92 and 80 new applications for asylum from Ukrainian citizens were registered, respectively. 

According to Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) figures, since February 25, 16,335 asylum applications from Ukrainian refugees have been registered in Norway.

The UDI has recently announced that it’s reducing its estimate of the total number of Ukrainian refugees that will arrive in Norway from 60,000 to 45,000.

“We have been closely monitoring how many refugees have arrived in Norway in the past weeks. Together, the UDI, the National Police Immigration Service (NPIS), Kripos, Landinfo, Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB), and Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) have created scenarios for estimated arrivals. 

“The assessment was adjusted based on the arrivals in past weeks, the situation in Ukraine, and how we predict the situation to be in the forthcoming period. Our current estimate is 40 000 – 50 000. There is uncertainty to these estimates,” Hanne Rygh Holter, a senior press officer at the Communication unit at the UDI, told Norway Today.

The current situation in Norwegian refugee reception centers

Rygh Holter told Norway Today that there are no capacity issues at the reception centers.

“There are no capacity problems at the refugee reception centers. We have built up sufficient capacity, and we now see that the number of arrivals is decreasing. We expect that an increasing number of Ukrainians will be settled in a municipality. Many reception centers were started up simultaneously, and we faced some challenges in the start-up phase,” she noted.

Furthermore, she also commented on challenges related to financial assistance that the refugees receive – an issue that triggered debate in the Norwegian media.

“Some of the refugee reception centers have had some issues regarding the financial assistance the refugees receive. The fact that many (refugees) came at the same time also presented some challenges in some reception centers in terms of payment to the residents. We are in the process of solving these challenges,” Rygh Holter accentuated.

Robin-Ivan Capar is a contributor and editor at Norway Today.

Source: #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

Do you have a news tip for Norway Today? We want to hear it. Get in touch at [email protected]