Faroese Employers’ Association calls for assessment of integration law costs in the Faroe Islands

The Faroese Employers’ Association is calling for a more precise assessment of the costs associated with the proposed integration law introduced by the government. The association believes that such an evaluation should be conducted before the proposal is submitted to the Parliament, while expressing overall support for the initiative aimed at enhancing integration.

The proposal suggests that obligations related to integration will be imposed on businesses, although this aspect is not included in the current draft. The Employers’ Association recommends that they be consulted in a timely manner before any specific obligations are placed on the industry.

Furthermore, the association asserts that successful integration necessitates changes to the immigration law. Currently, the law requires that individuals from non-EU countries must work 40 hours per week in order to qualify for language instruction, which can be problematic given time constraints.

To address this issue, the Employers’ Association emphasizes the need to amend the working hour requirement for individuals from non-EU countries, aligning it with the 30-hour weekly requirement that applies to EU citizens. Alternatively, they suggest that language instruction hours in Faroese could be counted as part of the 40-hour work week.