All Services For Foreigners Might Soon Be Available Through One Organisation

The Minister of Social Affairs and the Directorate of Labour plan to submit a bill to merge the Directorate of Labour and the Multicultural Information Centre so that all services for immigrants, refugees and applicants for international protection will be provided by one institution, reports Vísir. It is planned that the organisation will start work next year and will get a new name.

The Directorate of Labour and the Multicultural Information Centre are the institutions that provide a numberof services, but in an announcement on the government’s website, it is stated that the goal of their merger is to provide holistic and integrated services for all the aforementioned groups, in one location.

Among other things, it looks at the success of the reception centre for refugees, where all services for those who have just arrived in the country have been combined in one place. The centre opened in April and is located where Domus Medica used to be.

The intention is to achieve synergy between the institutions so that these three demographics can look to one place for the comprehensive services that the ministry and its institutions are intended to provide. The merger is also supposed to simplify cooperation between the state and municipalities on the issue and make services more efficient. It is planned that the Minister will present the bill on the merger in the spring Parliament.

The Multicultural Information Centre has its main office in Ísafjörður, where two of the organisation’s almost ten full-time employees are located. There are also two employees at the service office of the Directorate of Labour located in Ísafjörður. It is expected that the number of full-time employees at Ísafjörður will increase with the merger. It is also assumed that the permanent staff of both institutions will be offered work at the combined institution.