The Oslo Immigration Directorate announced that Ukrainian refugees currently residing in Norway can apply for financial support to return to their homeland. The Norwegian government provides 17,500 kroner (about 570,000 HUF) in cash to cover repatriation costs.
“If you have a valid residence permit in Norway, but now want to return to your country, you can apply for support from the Norwegian authorities” – Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI) announced on its website.
The cash grant is used to help refugees “resettle” in Ukraine, where the Immigration Service is unable to assist with transportation.
At least 16 weeks in advance, applicants must provide “a description of how they will travel home and where the journey will end (means of transportation, route, destination)” and either a declaration that they are using a private car, train or plane – or a copy of a bus ticket.
If Ukrainians with a Norwegian residence permit change their minds and wish to return to the Nordic country within two years, they must repay the cash benefit. For example, if they return in less than a year, they owe Oslo 15,000 kroner. However, those who spend at least two years away do not have to repay anything.
As of September 2023, approximately 57,000 Ukrainian refugees live in Norway. It was not clear how many people were granted unrestricted residency status and how many were registered as refugees or granted asylum. The Immigration Service noted that people with refugee or asylum status may lose it if they voluntarily return to Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Swiss authorities put forward a plan that would offer incentives to Ukrainians who wish to return to their homeland once their temporary “S” status expires, which is expected to be in 2025. The proposal calls for a payment of between 1,000 and 4,000 Swiss francs. “To encourage voluntary departure.” More than 70,000 Ukrainians have applied for refugee status in Switzerland.
The United Nations estimates that about 5.8 million Ukrainians have left the country since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, although the European Union recently put the number at closer to 10 million.
The government in Kiev said last month that it did not consider them “refugees” but rather temporarily displaced people, and asked Western governments not to integrate them but to find a way to return them. Ukraine shows particular interest in men of fighting age, and has even requested their extradition, but several European Union countries, including Hungary, have rejected the request.
