PAM Offshore, which is a daughter company of Tórshavnar Skipasmiðja, has for a few years had people working abroad in the oil industry. To date most of them have been working within the Norwegian oil industry, where a dual tax agreement exists. The newly signed tax agreement with Great Britain, which hopefully will come into force on the 1st of January 2008, has most likely provided PAM Offshore with another leg to stand upon. Through this agreement, all questionable and doubtful taxation issues ought to be resolved, which should enable Faroese working in the UK and vice versa, only having to pay one tax according to the rules and regulations in the agreement.
This new situation has prompted Mr Mohr, the CEO at PAM Offshore, to turn his eyes towards the British mainland: -“This agreement opens up the option to send people to work in the UK also, and we are in the process of investigating the possibilities”, says Mr Mohr. He will however not give any details, but says PAM Offshore has had contact with UK companies.
Shortage of labourers in the Faroes
There are already many Faroese skilled labourers working abroad, but there are not many foreign skilled labourers working in the Faroes. In several vocations there is a shortage of labourers in the Faroes, and therefore Mr Mohr says it is important that the door is also opened at the other end: -“We cannot barricade ourselves in our own little world”, he says.
The Faroe Minister for fiscal affairs, Mr Magni Laksafoss is in complete agreement and says it is very important we open up our labour market to foreigners, but under structured and controlled conditions: -“There is a huge demand for labourers all over Europe and this is coming in the wake of the ever increasing wave of senior citizens (More and more are getting older, but fewer children are being born, Edit.) Therefore the shortage of labour is not just a problem for us, but all over Europe”, he points out.
One thing is to open up the labour market, another thing is to see to it that you do not lose control: -“It is also important that the people support the idea of importing foreign labour to the Faroes”, says Mr Laksafoss.
