Asylum seekers and refugees in Norway
Recent stories
Asylum seekers over-represented in crime stats
According to police statistics, every tenth person charged or suspected where the police have finger-print evidence, is an asylum seeker.
11 February 2004 (89 words)
Prime minister warns against stigmatising immigrants
Following a highly-publicised debate about immigrant crime, prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and the justice minister Odd Einar Doerum have warned against branding immigrants and refugees as criminals.
29 July 2003 (687 words)
Unskilled labour from Europe sought
In October 2001, the government announced that it would liberalise immigration laws so as to open the door for unskilled labour.
27 October 2002 (53 words)
Government sets deportation figure
The UDI director believes that the government has underestimated the number of failed asylum seekers who will have to be deported.
7 October 2002 (39 words)
Minister links fast-track procedure to asylum criminality
In January, the minister of local government and regional development warned that stricter policies are needed to reduce the stream of criminals seeking asylum.
3 August 2002 (212 words)
Special centre for 'problem' refugees proposed
The UDI has called for the creation of a special reception centre for asylum seekers with serious social or psychological problems.
9 July 2002 (163 words)
New asylum rules come into force
In June, new asylum rules came into force which mean that all refused asylum seekers will lose entitlement to financial support.
5 June 2002 (63 words)
Increase in reception centres in northern Norway
The UDI is proposing an increase in asylum centres in northern Norway because 'it's too difficult to find new sites elsewhere' with 'well-suited facilities'.
15 March 2002 (91 words)
Protection for asylum seekers suspected of terrorism to be removed
Humanitarian organisations say that the government's proposed immigration and asylum legislation would leave asylum seekers, under suspicion of supporting terrorism, vulnerable to expulsion, even though they might face torture and the death sentence in the country whence they are expelled.
4 March 2002 (53 words)
Bulgarian migrants disappointed
After Bulgarian travel agents placed adverts in Bulgarian newspapers saying there was a shortage of labour in Norway, many Bulgarians left for Norway believing they were assured employment.
1 October 2001 (59 words)
The debate about 'criminal asylum seekers'
The National Authority of Investigation of Economic Crime in Norway has been asked to research organised crime among asylum seekers.
1 October 2001 (119 words)
Key skilled migrants sought
As the government acknowledges the pressing need for new migration to fill key labour shortages, the trade and industry minister, Grete Knudsen, has suggested that a special 'green card' system be introduced to fill gaps in the IT sector.
1 October 2001 (151 words)
Progress Party refugee audit backfires
When the Progress Party-controlled town council of Os ordered an audit of refugee finances in order to ascertain the burden refugees placed on the township, they were rudely surprised.
1 January 2001 (79 words)
Kurdish asylum seeker attacked in Bodo
Police in Bodo are investigating a brutal attack by four Norwegians on a Kurdish asylum seeker who was racially abused and kicked senseless on his way back to an asylum centre.
1 January 2001 (42 words)
Employers want immigration work skills flexibility
Norway's leading employers organisation, the NHO, has called for greater flexibility in reviewing requests from companies in need of workers with special skills.
1 January 2001 (33 words)
Syrian family forced to pay deportation costs
The justice ministry has asked the Oslo police to report on why they confiscated NOK90000 from a family deported to Syria in lieu of their repatriation costs.
1 January 2001 (124 words)
Fast-track procedure for 'criminal' asylum seekers announced
The justice ministry has announced a fast-track system for dealing with claims from asylum seekers with a criminal record - a move which, it seems, is backed by the Norwegian Association for Asylum Seekers.
1 January 2001 (45 words)
Slovakian visa requirement may be reintroduced
After the Norwegian government abolished the visa requirement for visitors from Slovakia on 16 August, 327 Slovak Roma sought asylum in Norway in the space of a week.
1 January 2001 (47 words)
Discrimination in residence and citizenship claims alleged
An internal survey carried out by the Directorate of Immigration has found that officers spend three times as long dealing with citizenship and residence applicants from Africa or Asia as with those from eastern Europe or America.
1 January 2001 (71 words)
New asylum detention centre planned
NOAS, an organisation for asylum-seekers, has condemned plans to establish a special detention centre for asylum-seekers close to Norway's main airport.
1 August 2000 (97 words)
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