Refugee center head: 'Benefits migration' not possible in Estonia
Jana Selesneva, the head of the asylum seekers' accommodation center in Vao, said benefit migration is not an issue in Estonia.
Selesneva told Eesti Päevaleht that no refugee wants to live on 90 euros a month. This is how much the state offers them in handouts.
For this reason, asylum seekers tend to find work as soon as possible. Of the 69 people currently in Vao center, 11 have found a job and a few more have been set up for trial days or internships.
A few dozen have registered with the unemployment office, and three-four people are studing in vocational schools or at the Tallinn University of Technology.
Although the number of the employed may seem small, it has to be taken into account that asylum seekers are forbidden from working for the first six months of their stay in Estonia.
In addition, 25 of the center's inhabitants are underage and 14 are stay-at-home mothers.
Editor: M. Oll