Afghan “Amir” has lived in Norway for almost twenty years. He has a permanent job and pays taxes. He has over 400,000 in annual salary, and is expecting both bonus and holiday pay.
Nevertheless, he must receive social assistance from Nav, with a cash card.
The tax is paid automatically. Besides that, he doesn’t get his salary.
Because Amir does not have a valid ID and therefore does not have access to BankID.
It is now three years since he has heard anything from UDI.
– I have an account in Den danske bank. After the code chip stopped working three years ago, it has been difficult for me with banking services, he says.
“Amir” can no longer get hold of cash after the ATM swallowed his card.
Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB
Will connect more services to BankID
NRK knows who “Amir” is and has seen all the documentation. Nevertheless, he does not want to be identified, because he is afraid that there will be consequences for his application.
Most of his problems are about the money-laundering law that came in 2018, and a digitization of services that has not taken into account the fact that not everyone is logged in the same way.
Maybe you got it yourself; the question of whether you are a politically exposed person and whether you are going to pay money abroad?
Disappointed and cursed
The law on money laundering meant that many elderly people had to re-identify with the bank. But a large number lost access to their bank account because they did not have a valid passport.
“Amir” has a Norwegian immigration passport, but it has expired.
For three and a half years, he has been waiting for UDI to finish processing his case so that he can get valid identification.
He is dejected and cursed, and does not quite know where to turn.
– It’s not that I don’t have money, but I can’t get hold of it, he says.
He experienced that the ATM swallowed the card and he had to go to Nav for help.
– If I had Vipps, I could borrow from a friend and pay back, but it’s not a service that I have access to either, he says.
Lack of identification at the bank was the reason why the card was taken.
Every fifth Norwegian is digitally excluded
20 percent of the population is digitally excluded, according to figures from the Directorate of Digitalisation.
That amounts to just over a million people.
Some are outside because of unfortunate circumstances with identification, others because they are unable to communicate with the public.
Many of them are young – younger than you think.
At the same time, KrF proposes to link BankID to even more services. The party has submitted a representative proposal to the Storting to introduce requirements for logging in with BankID on social media.
The purpose is to make it more difficult to lie about one’s age. Should the proposal go through, it may become difficult for people in Norway without valid identification to use social media.
This is being researched
Gilda Sedigghi is a researcher at Norce Research in Bergen. They have received NOK 8 million for the DIGcapabilities project, with a focus on young people.
Her research will focus on digital skills among young people who are not in work, education or training. The hope is that it will reveal new knowledge that can be used across ages.
Gilda Sedigghis and Norce Research have received NOK 8 million to research digital alienation. Primarily against young people who fall outside, but the experiences can be applied to several groups.
Photo: John Inge Johansen / NRK
Because digital alienation affects young people, adults, the elderly and people in both cities and rural areas.
In addition, it affects in different ways. Some are outside due to lack of ID, others due to internet. Still others due to lack of knowledge.
– Many young people are good at being on social media and use the phone with a high level of digital competence. But that does not necessarily mean that they understand what an e-mail is and how to use it, says Sedigghis.
– We have heard examples of young people sending in CVs with the entire content in the title field, says Sedigghis.
– The understanding of what e-mail is can also be deficient. They have many email addresses, but do not check them regularly and forget which identity they sent the first request with, she adds.
New reality
It’s even worse if you don’t have anyone around to guide you into this area. Thus, those who have ended up outside the school system or have parents who cannot guide them, are in an unfortunate cycle.
For “Amir”, it is not the competence that is lacking, but valid identification.
As long as he does not have valid identification, he will not receive a BankID.
Thus, he also does not get to tell the bank whether he is a politically profiled person or send them a copy of proof that he is who he is.
– The letter that most people get every year with these questions, I have probably received seven times a year in regular mail. Most recently it was sent in the online bank, which I do not have access to. The last thing that happened was that the bank card was swallowed, because I haven’t got my ID, says Amir.
Head of control at the UDI, Henrik Ræstad Madsen, says it is the banks that choose which requirements are set for issuing electronic ID.
– The Ministry of Justice is now processing a proposal to issue a national ID card to foreigners, which in practice will be able to ensure access to electronic ID for foreigners who currently do not get access due to a lack of ID documents, says Madsen.
