http://www.dailyindia.com/show/7876.php/Norway_cautions_Indian_jobseekers
Oslo, March 14 (DPA) Norway has advised caution to Indians seeking jobs in the Scandinavian country following a report in an Oslo daily Tuesday that Indian nurses had paid huge amounts to recruitment agents. The Norwegian embassy in New Delhi posted a message on its website saying that rather than paying middlemen, applicants could apply directly through the state agency in charge of health personnel - SAFH - at a charge of about $100. The embassy also said "there are presently no vacancies in the nursing sector in Norway". The Oslo daily Aftenposten reported that some Indian nurses have paid 18 months in wages to get employment in Norway. An unnamed spokesman for the recruiting agency Triumph India, however, said hopeful applicants had not been charged up to $6,000, as some reports suggested. "It's only between $200 and 300," the spokesman was quoted as saying, but he later said some nurses had paid more money for services - including airline tickets and accommodation in Norway - after they had secured a contract. Per Haugum of the Norwegian Registration Authority for Health Personnel or SAFH said there were few signs that the recruiting firm had any contact with prospective Norwegian employers. --DPA -- TUMCHER AXIRVAD ASSUM; DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London, England
