Many foreigners were previously not eligible for unemployment benefits if laid off or furloughed. Skilled workers who have come from outside the EEA to work in Norway are currently not entitled to unemployment benefits if they are laid off, something which has put as many as 13,000 skilled workers under enormous pressure during the pandemic. Many of these workers have paid taxes for years but risked seeing no benefit if suddenly laid off. Recently the parliament agreed to temporarily change the rules, making foreign skilled workers eligible for benefits retroactively, for the period of unemployment between May 4 and October 31.
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For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca or Sjaak van der Velden, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org.
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