Letter to the editor. Give ukrainians the opportunity to stay

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the Riksdag will debate what will happen to the over 40,000 Ukrainian refugees who are in Sweden at the termination of the mass escape directive. We who work daily close to these refugees as colleagues and as participants in efforts to help the group place great emphasis on what will be said. We follow the debate with concern.

The Mass Escape Directive, which was activated by the EU on March 4, 2022, means that people who have moved the war in Ukraine are entitled to temporary protection. But there is nothing to say that countries must not be more generous than the directive offers. In several other countries, decisions have been made that Ukrainians be allowed to convert temporary protection into other types of residence permits.

Recently Published early results of an ongoing research project in Oslo, which shows that Ukrainians in Sweden have and has had a significantly worse starting point than in other Nordic countries. Despite this, Ukrainians here have to a greater extent become self -sufficient.

Many Ukrainians suffer from mental illness. We also know that children with parents who are feeling ill are at risk of developing mental illness themselves, which can lead to negative consequences such as the risk of violence, exploitation and criminalization. Despite this, these individuals who have built up a life here and integrated into our society are. According to a report From the UN Migration Organization IOM, 66 percent of employed Ukrainians in Sweden have now work. Almost half speak good Swedish.

One of our colleagues is a trained mechanical engineer, plugs Swedish for immigrants (SFI) full time and works extra as an educator with us. Another is a trained teacher, has three children and works full time as a coordinator at the same time as her husband and father of the children remain in the war’s Ukraine. They have learned Swedish, despite being granted SFI only in November last year, they have worked, attended school and paid taxes and been active in associations and contributed to our common future.

The Riksdag will now, with less than a year left of the directive, debate a motion that will clarify what the process should look like for these refugees. The fact that they have lived here for almost four years when the mass escape directive ceases should not be « counted » in a possible later asylum process according to current rules.

In addition, do not try The Migration Board if they have other reasons of asylum until the mass escape directive ceases. Thus, the Ukrainians who are in Sweden live in total uncertainty about their future and what laws will apply when temporary protection expires in less than a year.

The think tank Catalysis recently released a report that counts on how important it is for Sweden with labor immigration; We will need to increase the provision of skills and wages in the public sector. This comes the report “Profit with immigration“Until we achieve through increased labor immigration. Sweden’s municipalities and regions also indicate that we are facing a labor shortage.

Let those who are already here and are integrated get the same rights as other asylum seekers: that the time they have been here is included in the asylum process and that their asylum application is tested in the same way as others, so that they have the right to apply for a residence permit on grounds other than the mass escape directive.

Then they can fill needs Sweden has, while at the same time meeting their need for clarity and security. Make a political decision that provides security and stability to the Ukrainians who now call Sweden their home.

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