A month ago, the Tax Agency announced that people who fled Ukraine and who were granted temporary protection for at least two years can register in Sweden. This means that refugees from Ukraine can be assigned a social security number, which makes it easier to, for example, look for a job and rent a home.
One of those who applied to be registered is Oksana Prokopenko, who came to Sweden in March 2022 from Ivano-Frankivsk in western Ukraine. Just the day after the full-scale invasion began, she was in the car with her two daughters. The youngest, Milana, was then three years old and the oldest, Zoriana, was 16. They took with them the most important things that fit in a bag.
– I came here with my own money, but it ran out very quickly. When I received a grant, it turned out that the prices were very high compared to the grant.
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Today, Oksana lives in an apartment in central Stockholm. She has found most of the things in the apartment for free online and volunteers help with clothes and food. In Ukraine, she worked as a sales manager and supported the whole family as a single person. In Sweden, she hasn’t worked at all because she needed to take care of Milana. The family still lives on benefits – about five thousand kroner per month.
– The economic situation is still difficult. Unfortunately, the help that Ukrainians receive is small and insufficient. It’s about just surviving.
Oksana has considered leaving Sweden and moving to another country.
– I have spoken to people I know who fled to other countries – there the help was completely different from here, from day one.
Now that Oksana has been able to apply for a social security number and register with the Employment Service, she sees opportunities to start working and enter Swedish society.
– With a social security number, I get more opportunities, she says.