Immigration

The number of people from the Netherlands who have moved to the county of Telemark has tripled in 10 years, after a recruitment company was hired to bring in Dutch workers.  

106 Afghans that have worked with the Norwegian forces in Afghanistan applied for protection last year. Only 21 applications were granted asylum in Norway, and all of them were translators.

2012, 30 % more residents disappeared from Norwegian asylum centers, compared to 2011. A total of 2398 people disappeared from Norwegian centers last year.

The Agrarian Party (Senterpartiet) wants tougher requirements for immigrants who want to apply for Norwegian citizenship.

The party wants immigrants to pass a test in Norwegian social affairs and a language test before they receive a Norwegian passport.  

This has been included in the proposal for a new party program ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election this fall, Dagsavisen reports.

The head of the program committee, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, says the party is inspired by the US requirements for citizenship.

Government coalition party, the Labour Party (AP) last year proposed an obligatory language test, but the third coalition party, the Socialist Left Party (SV) vetoed the proposal.
 

Persons trying move to Norway for work or family reasons from countries outside Europe now face even tougher regulations. Income issues have been hindering or even halting would-be immigrants in recent months, including a young American who has a Norwegian wife and a baby born in Norway.

Only citizens of countries tied to the European Union or European Free Trade Association can freely move to Norway by merely registering with local authorities. Everyone else has to go through the immigration agency UDI, and the Justice Ministry recently raised the level of income required by the Norwegian spouse in order to prove that he or she can support the immigrant spouse. In a related issue, even foreigners with offers of well-paid jobs in Norway can no longer take a short-cut through the bureaucracy.

Recruiting tool removed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Labour Minister Anniken Huitfeldt confirmed last week that a rule introduced in 2010, which allowed would-be immigrants with a job offer that would pay more than NOK 500,000 a year (about USD 87,000) to bypass the queue of work immigrants, already had been abolished because it allegedly was abused.

“This was a rule that was supposed to make it easier for companies to recruit highly qualified labour from abroad,” Huitfeldt told newspaper Aftenposten. “But it hasn’t functioned in line with expectations and we see that it’s been abused. That’s unacceptable and we’re therefore repealing it.”

Huitfeldt’s predecessor, Hanne Bjurstrøm, had tightened the rule after Aftenposten had reported on cases where unskilled workers were being brought to Norway from Kosovo and Pakistan after their employers falsely declared they’d be paid high incomes in accordance with the rules.

Instead they were poorly paid, and police said the rule was a “gift” to criminal networks. Huitfeldt claimed the rule is no longer needed, either, because processing time for immigrant work applications has been reduced.

Higher income requirements for spouses

Meanwhile, the authorities have raised the income demanded for a Norwegian to bring a foreign spouse to Norway by NOK 20,000.

Norwegian spouses now must have earned at least NOK 262,000 or its equivalent in the year prior to their spouse’s arrival, in order for their foreign spouse to secure residence and work permission.

That’s caused problems for many couples, especially Norwegian students who have studied abroad, fallen in love and wanted to move home to Norway with their foreign partner. Mathilde Hallingstad Prenevost married her American husband Isaac Ashley Prenevost in Norway last summer, two months before their daughter Olivia was born.

The couple met while studying in China, but Isaac Prenevost was denied work and residence permission in Norway because his Norwegian wife, as a student in China, didn’t meet the income requirement.

Isaac Prenevost, who holds a US passport, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) he was “shocked” (external link, mostly in Norwegian) that he didn’t get residence permission because he has a wife and daughter in Norway and will seek work himself.

His wife said she can understand that Norwegian authorities want to be sure her husband isn’t moving to Norway to live off state welfare, but stressed that both she and her husband want to work.

They’re by no means alone. Camilla Bilstad Johannessen of the organization Grenseløs Kjærlighet, which works for family reunification, said the rules are splitting up many couples. She said it was a “paradox” that Norwegians are encouraged to study abroad, but that it can be difficult to establish a family life in Norway afterwards with non-Norwegian spouses.

Views and News from Norway
 

 

Some opposition parties in Parliament want to place foreigners convicted of crimes in prisons that are much more spartan than those housing Norwegians.

 

 

More than 58,000 persons suddenly and wrongly were classified as Norwegian citizens many years ago and only now are state authorities addressing the major blunder. They don’t think, though, that passports have been misused.

A Polish cleaner has sued Telemark Hospital in south-eastern Norway after she was sacked from her job in August for speaking her native language during breaks.

" We are committed to prevent serious incidents in and outside the asylum centers. For this to happen we need to give residents more knowledge," said acting director of regional and receiving department of Immigration, Marit Sjaastad.

Justice Minister Grete Faremo has finally responded to a stream of complaints, also from the state’s own immigration agency UDI, that new income requirements for would-be immigrants can be too strict.

In many cases, Norwegians married to foreigners haven’t been able to move home with their spouses and children, even when the children have Norwegian passports and at least one parent has work.

Norway’s most conservative party is proposing new criteria for approval of refugees’ applications for asylum in Norway: Dress like Norwegians, communicate in Norwegian, get a job, respect Norwegian culture and attitudes, don’t exploit welfare programs and stay out of trouble with the police.