immigrants
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Directorate Of Labour: Labour Rental Company “A Criminal Practice”
The director of Iceland’s Directorate of Labour pulled no punches when talking about Menn í vinnu, a labour rental company that was one of the subjects of a recent investigative news piece about the exploitation of foreign workers in Iceland. The president…
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Foreign Workers Subjected To Exploitation, Unions And Police Now Involved
Representatives for the Icelandic Confederation of Labour Unions (ASÍ) and the police visited the living conditions of foreign workers, most of them from Romania, where it has come to light that they have been subjected to multiple instances of worker exploitation. The…
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Ending Exclusion: Iceland’s Public Broadcaster Increasing English Service
RÚV is Iceland’s public broadcasting service. Its mission is to inform, educate and entertain everyone. It operates several radio stations and one television channel, all of which are also online. Broadcasting was seen as a public good, thus RÚV had a legal…
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Thousands Of Foreign Workers In Iceland Exploited, Indicating Systemic Problems
Thousands of foreign workers in Iceland—primarily employed in construction, hotels and restaurants—are being subjected to some of the worst examples of illegal employment practices in the country. This was examined in detail in a report from Kveikur, an investigative news show from…
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Immigrants In Iceland: 13% Of The Population, Nearly 20% Of The Workforce
The percentage of Icelanders in the labour market has never been higher, and their presence in the workforce is at an even higher percentage than their share of the total population. RÚV reports that, according to data from Statistics Iceland, there were…
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Never As Many Children With Foreign Background In Iceland
Children who are either immigrants, second generation immigrants or come from a partially Icelandic family have doubled since last year and have now reached a total of 15,634—a number that has never been higher in the history of Iceland. A steady increase…
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Workers’ Spring: Meet The Immigrants Who Are Aiming For A Real Change
This spring, something revolutionary might happen in the realm of Icelandic trade unions. After 18 years of running Efling, one of the largest unions in Iceland, Sigurður Bessason stepped down from his position as chairman and eight out of fifteen board members…
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Most Icelanders With Positive Outlook Towards Immigrants
If you have newly moved to Iceland or are considering doing so, it may please you to learn that a significant majority of Icelanders will be ready to welcome you. According to a new poll conducted by the Social Science department of…
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News In Brief: A Heart-Shaped Ferris Wheel, Tax Evaders & Doodies
We often talk about the insane amount of tourists who have been visiting our shores in the past few years, but it looks like tourists aren’t the only ones interested in coming to Iceland. The Directorate of Labour estimates that around 3,000…
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Am I Just Wrong? Myths About Asylum Seekers & Refugees, Debunked
For every story we at Grapevine run about asylum seekers and refugees in Iceland, it seems there will almost always be a small but loud contingent of commenters who seem to think people fleeing war zones are a threat to Icelandic society.…
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Immigrants Comprise Close To 10% Of Iceland’s Population
Immigrants make up 9.6% of Iceland’s population, as of the beginning of this year, and their numbers have only grown by 0.7% between years. RÚV reports that new data from Statistics Iceland shows that Poles comprise the largest share of all immigrants,…
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Foreign Domestic Violence Survivors Need Greater Support
Survivors of foreign origin of domestic violence face numerous obstacles to getting the help they need, new research has discovered. Vísir reports that these survivors can have difficulties finding an interpreter to be able to tell their story, and much of the…
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Heroes & Villains: Immigrants and Expats
This week’s hero is immigrants. We live with the many benefits of immigrants every single day. They do the jobs no one else wants to do, which more often than not means gruelling physical labour, thankless social welfare posts or, worst of…
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Most Akureyri Residents View Foreigners Positively
The majority of people living in Akureyri believe immigrants and refugees improve their town, the results of a new poll show. The research was conducted by Professor Markus Meckl at the University of Akureyri. According to the findings of the poll, about…
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Immigrant Labour Crucial To Economic Sustainability
Thousands of immigrants will be needed to enter the Icelandic job market every year for the economy to sustain itself, industry experts predict. “We need foreign workers, untrained and specialists alike,” Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, Director of the Federation of Icelandic Industries (SI), told…
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Iceland’s Immigrants The Most Employed In The World
Immigrant participation in the workforce is highest of all in Iceland, topping other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to the latest report, Iceland has the fifth lowest rate of unemployment amongst OECD countries, at 4.1%. Japan,…
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Free Counselling Services For Immigrants Now Available
Immigrants in Iceland in need of information and counselling can now get it for free, courtesy of the City of Reykjavík. The service in question, Living In Reykjavík, is open to all and located on the ground floor of City Hall. It…
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Icelandic Police Can Seize Foreigners’ Valuables
A law Denmark is considering that has been criticised around the world is already on the books in Iceland: police can seize a foreigner’s valuables in order to pay for their detention and deportation. Denmark has recently been making international headlines (1,…
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4 Out Of 5 Immigrants Did Not Vote In Last Municipal Elections
Only about 20% of immigrants who could vote in 2014 did so, data from Statistics Iceland shows, but voter participation in general was very low. Kjarninn reports that 239,734 Icelandic residents were eligible to vote in the 2014 municipal elections, comprising just…
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Why Are These People Studying In Iceland?
As legend has it, Iceland has served as a cold, unpredictable haven for adventurous, outcast or outlawed Vikings since the good ol’ 800s. Every now and again, a portion of the population would get swept away, because of the weather, because of…
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Changes To Refugee And Immigration Law Proposed
The Icelandic government could begin taking steps to abide international law where the treatment of refugees is concerned, if a bill currently in parliamentary committee passes as is. Stundin reports that the committee, representing all parliamentary parties and operating under the leadership…
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Did We Just Detain A Man For Carrying HIV? —Debates On Monday #24
“Man under arrest, suspected of infecting women with HIV” ran Vísir’s first headline on this story, early Thursday. “Suspected of infecting women with HIV” headlined RÚV a little later. “A foreign male is suspected …” their item began. Vísir’s second headline, published…
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Immigrants Work More For Less Pay
New research on immigrants in the workforce shows they tend to work longer hour for less pay than their Icelandic colleagues. This was amongst the findings of Erla S. Kristjánsdóttir and Þóra Christiansen, Fréttatíminn reports, in research they conducted on immigrants in…