Introduction programme for immigrants

Participant

Persons who, during the reference year, were registered by a local authority as a participant on at least one of the courses in the introduction programme.

Former participant

Former participants are persons who have completed the programme or for different reasons have dropped out of the programme in a specified year, and are registered as resident in Norway in November the following year.

Course

The main course in the scheme is Norwegian with social studies. The social studies element is taught in a language that the participant understands.

In addition to ordinary Norwegian language teaching, initiatives outside of traditional classroom teaching are also offered, such as language practice in a workplace. Language practice is an element of the Norwegian training in which the participants have a part-time work placement in order to practice their language skills in an authentic setting.

Initiatives that prepare participants for education or employment include work practice or other initiatives organised by NAV/Aetat, such as vocation testing, computer training etc. Vocation testing is a method of assessing competence that documents both theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

Immigrants are persons who are born abroad to two foreign-born parents and four foreign grandparents. Immigrants have at some point immigrated to Norway.

Refugee

Persons whose status is ‘refugee’ in the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration’s register of refugees, and who have been granted a residence permit in Norway.

Country of birth is mainly the mother’s country of residence when the person was born.

Employment/education is made up of persons who are registered as employed or in education, and those who are registered with a combination of employment and education. Employed persons are defined as those who performed paid work for at least one hour during the reference week, and persons who had such work but were on temporary leave during the reference week due to illness or holiday etc.

Registered unemployed/on initiative is defined as persons who are registered as unemployed with NAV, and persons on ordinary labour market initiatives.

Other or unknown status are part of a collective term for the weakest degree of attachment to the labour market. Other status relates to individuals with a reduced ability to work who are on initiatives organised by NAV, those on long-term sick leave and recipients of social assistance. Unknown status means that they are not registered in any of the available data sources we use in the status reporting for labour market attachment. These individuals are therefore not employed, in education, registered unemployed or participating in labour market initiatives.

Country background is a person or a person’s mother’s or father’s country of birth. Norway (000) is used as the country background for persons without an immigration background. When both parents are foreign-born, they are most commonly born in the same country. In cases where the parents were born in different countries, the mother’s country of birth is used.

Municipality in this context is the programme participant’s municipality of residence.

National and county figures. For municipal figures, see KOSTRA publications.

Annual.

Not relevant

Files at an individual level with data are processed and stored long term.

The introduction programme and introduction benefit for new immigrants was made compulsory for municipalities from 1 September 2004 under Act no. 80 on an introductory programme and Norwegian language instruction for newly arrived immigrants (Introduction Programme). Before the scheme was made compulsory, an increasing number of municipalities had various forms of trial schemes.

The Introduction Act lays down the right and obligation of newly arrived immigrants to participate in an introduction programme. Immigrant groups are defined in section 2 of the Introduction Act. Participation in the introduction programme entitles individuals to receive an introduction benefit. With effect from 1 September 2005, the Act stipulated the right and/or obligation to participate in 300 hours of Norwegian language training and social studies. From 1 January 2012, the number of hours was increased from 300 to 600 for immigrants who were granted a residence permit after that date. Immigrants who are entitled to 600 hours of Norwegian language training and social studies can, if necessary, have the hours of training in Norwegian increased up to a total of 2 400. Immigrants entitled to 300 hours can, if necessary, have the hours increased up to a total of 2 700. The introduction programme must be completed within 5 years, not including any leave of absence taken by the participant. The purpose of the Introduction Act is to strengthen immigrants’ potential to participate in the labour market and society, and to facilitate their financial independence. The right and obligation to participate in the introduction programme applies to newly arrived foreign nationals with refugee-related backgrounds aged between 18 and 55, who lack basic qualifications. The introduction programme will be tailored to the individual’s qualification needs and will generally last up to two years. The programme may in special cases take up to three years. The aim of the introduction programme is to give new immigrants basic skills in Norwegian, a basic insight into Norwegian society and to prepare them for participation in the labour market and/or education.

Difference between social assistance and introduction benefit

Social assistance is given when other private and public resources are insufficient. Social assistance is intended to be a short-term benefit. An important condition for payout is therefore that all other solutions have been tried before social assistance is paid. The legislation on social assistance is aimed at two areas: income security and rehabilitation. Social assistance payments are based on a discretionary assessment and are calculated in relation to the income of the applicant and the total income of the family, as well as whether others are financially dependent on the applicant and what expenses the payout should cover. Social assistance is normally given in the form of a cash handout, but in special cases may be given in the form of loans or requisitions. Social services may also in special cases provide financial assistance to people who need it in order to overcome or adapt to a difficult situation, where the conditions for social assistance are not otherwise met.

The introduction benefit, however, is an individual benefit paid to newly arrived foreign nationals with refugee-related backgrounds aged between 18 and 55 years, who lack basic qualifications. The programme will generally take two years, and the content should be individually adapted and include Norwegian language training, social studies and initiatives to prepare participants to go into education or employment. The introduction benefit is the remuneration that participants on the introduction programme receive from the local authority to cover living expenses during the programme period. On a year-to-year basis, the benefit is equivalent to two times the basic national insurance amount (2 G). Participants under 25 years receive two thirds of the benefit. This benefit is taxable, and if the participant is absent from the training or initiative without a valid reason their benefit will be reduced by the relevant number of hours. The benefit is equal for everyone and is not means tested. This means that it will not be reduced upon receipt of child allowance, cash benefit for young children and so on. National insurance payouts such as sick pay and unemployment benefit are nevertheless capped.

Users of the statistics include the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (until 16 December 2015: Ministry of Children, Equality and Social Inclusion), Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi), KS (the municipal sector’s association), municipalities, researchers, students and the media. Statistics based on KOSTRA data aim to provide management information on local authorities and county authorities, for use by the population and media, local authorities and central government bodies. 

Not relevant

KOSTRA – Municipality-State-Reporting – main page: http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/00/20/kostra/

Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents: http://www.ssb.no/emner/02/01/10/innvbef/

Population statistics. Refugees: http://www.ssb.no/emner/02/01/10/flyktninger/

Statistics Norway has retrieved the information about the introduction scheme from Act no. 80 on an introductory programme and Norwegian language instruction for newly arrived immigrants (Introduction Programme). Pursuant to section 2-2 of the Statistics Act of 16 June 1989, Statistics Norway will compile official statistics.

Not relevant

Not relevant

The statistics are based on introduction scheme participants who are registered on KOSTRA form 11B. The files are then linked to population files of 31 December from the reporting year.

Full count, i.e. all municipalities running the scheme should report to Statistics Norway.

Former participants

For former participants, the information is compared with the System for personal data, where information from a number of registers is collated. Register data has a reference date in November each year and contains information about whether a person is employed, registered unemployed, on an employment initiative, in education, or is in receipt of specific types of government benefits or measures. A person may on the reference date have more than one status at the same time, for example where they are both in employment and receiving benefit. This article has looked at how many people are active, and we have examined the activities of employment and education in addition to the combination of these. The following prioritisation was made: if a person is registered as unemployed, but is also in education, they are considered to be in education and not unemployed. As regards the other statuses, such as health-related benefits and social assistance, there are many who have these in combination with, for example, employment, education or registered unemployment. In such cases, work and other activities, as well as registered unemployment, are prioritised.

Data is collected from the municipalities through the KOSTRA reporting. Most municipalities have their own business systems from which data is retrieved, while some municipalities report using an electronic form. After preliminary publication on 15 March, municipalities receive summary tables and error lists for their respective municipalities and provide feedback on these. Revised figures are published in KOSTRA on 15 June. Furthermore, all participants with a valid personal identification number are linked to population files of 31 December at the end of the reporting year. Only persons who are resident in Norway at the end of the year are included in the statistics.

Checks are performed on personal identification numbers, in addition to logical value verification. In addition to the checks carried out in the Central Population Register, Statistics Norway also performs checks for statistical purposes.

Former participants, leaving cohort

In order for former participants to be assigned a leaving cohort, the following processing is done: (a) All participants on the introduction programme whose status in KOSTRA is ‘completed’ or ‘dropped out’ at the end of the year, are initially included in the population. (b) Only those who have actually completed the course, i.e. who are not just on temporary leave from the programme, are included in the cohort. The population is therefore checked against those who participated in the programme the following year. (c) Women who drop out of the programme because they are having children right after dropping out of the programme or who for various reasons do not return to the programme after leave, are added to the next cohort. Thus, they are only included in the statistics once they have had a year’s leave for child care.

Not relevant

Figures are not shown where there are fewer than four units.

2006 was the first year that the statistics were published.

Errors in connection with the collection and processing of data can occur. There may be coding errors, revision errors, or errors in the electronic data processing etc. Extensive efforts are made to minimise such errors. Thus, they can normally be disregarded in a statistical context.

There should in principle be no sampling errors as this is a full count.

Not relevant