Progress Party’s lack of progress

NEWS COMMENTARY: Norway’s most conservative party, the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, Frp), must be feeling a need for attention. One of its top leaders has once again resorted to grabbing it by making provocative comments about immigrants and the flag, and thus casting doubt on whether the party has made any progress of its own in recent [...]

Suspicious marriages bar residence

More than 600 foreigners who have married Norwegians during the last three years have been denied residence permission in Norway, because immigration officials suspect they’re marriages of convenience. Around 100 Turkish men also risk having their residence permits revoked on suspicion their marriages to Norwegian women were pro forma as well.
Some of the Turkish [...]

Majority positive to immigration

A new survey suggests that six out of every 10 Norwegians now views immigration as positive for the country, a big increase from the numbers just last year. City dwellers were more positive than those living in rural areas.
The survey, conducted by research firm Sentio for newspaper Nationen, indicated that 61 percent of Norwegians are [...]

DnB NOR closes false ID loophole

Norway’s largest bank, DnB NOR, is finally closing a loophole that has allowed illegal aliens to open bank accounts, obtain work permits and other important documents using false passports. One Albanian actually managed to get work inside the prime minister’s residence, at special police unit KRIPOS and inside a jail in Sandvika.
Newspaper Aftenposten has published [...]

Royals attend memorial for Poland

King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Mette-Marit were among those attending a special memorial service Tuesday evening for the victims of a plane crash that killed the president of Poland and several other high-ranking government officials over the weekend.
The services were held in Trefoldighetskirken (Trinity Church) in Oslo, which has been serving as Oslo’s [...]

Norway mourns Poland’s tragedy

Mourners streamed by Poland’s embassy in Oslo to leave flowers and light candles over the weekend, after a plane crash killed Poland’s president and many other top Polish officials. An estimated 100,000 Poles live in Norway, and as Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, “they need our attention and sympathy today.”
The mood outside the elegant [...]

False passports allow illegal residence

Several hundred Albanians are reportedly living in Norway under false identities, after obtaining and using counterfeit passports that helped them get residence permission, open bank accounts and even set up companies. Authorities are trying to crack down on the illegal immigration.
Officials from the state tax office, the labour ministry and immigration agency UDI are teaming [...]

Rejected asylum seeker can’t return

A single mother who was sent out of Norway with her young son while undergoing medical treatment after an alleged gang rape in Libya won’t be brought back, despite protests from her doctor and media pressure. Norwegian immigration authorities claim she’ll receive the protection she needs in Italy, where she initially was granted asylum.
Fathia Ahmed [...]

Pressure grows on asylum attorneys

Norwegian media has turned the spotlight on attorneys for asylum seekers this week, as complaints rise about the treatment some seekers receive when their cases are evaluated. At the heart of the issue is the disturbing story of a young single mother who was sent out of Norway and now is living on the streets [...]

Growth boosts Poland’s image

Forget the stereotype of the seasonal worker from Poland who travels to Norway every summer to pick strawberries. With Poland’s own economy on the rise, the country now is more likely to produce highly qualified workers who will opt to return home quickly.
Newspaper Aftenposten used three pages in one of its weekend editions to introduce [...]

Foreigners boost their ranks

Nearly 334,000 persons with foreign passports were living in Norway last year, reports state statistics bureau SSB. That still only amounts to 7 percent of the population, but it’s up 10 percent from the year before, with workers from Poland still fueling the growth.
Fully 66 percent of all non-Norwegian passport holders in Norway are from [...]

Illegal aliens to get medical help

Norway’s left-center government coalition has decided to extend the country’s national health care services to illegal aliens, with clearer rules regarding the type of aid and emergency services to which they’ll be entitled.
Children arriving in Norway without identity papers, pregnant women and psychologically unstable persons will be granted full access to the state health care [...]

Thousands stuck in UDI backlog

Nearly 40,000 people have had their lives put on hold, some for as long as three years, while they wait for legal permission to work or live in Norway. A huge backlog at immigration agency UDI is affecting everyone from asylum seekers to foreign researchers at Norwegian universities, and there’s little hope their paperwork will [...]

Objections rise over intimate exams

A delicate and somewhat uncomfortable debate has broken out in Norway over the immigration agency’s latest idea for verifying the age of asylum seekers: Clinical examinations of their sexual organs.
Officials at immigration agency UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet) are charged with screening foreigners entering Norway and seeking permanent residence. In recent years, the government has made it clear [...]

Rejected asylum seekers sent home

Norwegian government officials chartered a jet and forcibly sent 30 rejected refugees back home to Iraq over the weekend. The sudden deportations drew protests from some asylum advocates, but praise from opposition politicians, not least because the 30 included 11 persons with long criminal records in Norway. Others whose asylum applications have been turned down [...]

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