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IMMIGRATION

‘Mainly positive’ Norwegian experiences with immigrants linked to softening views

Norwegians have become more and more accepting of foreigners over the last two decades, a new study has revealed.

Published: 14 December 2021 16:38 CET
Pictured is somebody atop a mountain in Senja
Norwegians are becoming increasingly positive towards immigration, a new survey has revealed. Pictured is somebody atop a mountain in Senja.

Norwegians have increasingly positive views of foreigners and are becoming more open to the benefits of immigration, analysis from Statistics Norway has found.

The analysis follows the stats agency’s annual survey on attitudes towards immigration in which the number of participants who view immigration favourably again grew.

Since 2002, the public’s outlook on immigration has consistently become more positive, except for in 2015, which saw an influx of asylum seekers into the country following a refugee crisis.

“At the same time, as more positive attitudes are expressed, we see that there has been more contact with immigrants. Most people who have contact with immigrants state that they mainly have positive experiences with them,” Frøydis Strøm, senior advisor at Statistics Norway, said in the report.

As part of this year’s survey, the public was asked whether the pandemic and travel restrictions had made them more sceptical of labour immigration. A large majority, 59 percent, said the pandemic hadn’t changed their views on foreign labour. However, 29 percent did say Covid made them view labour immigration with a more critical eye.

Additionally, 80 percent of respondents said that immigrants made a valuable contribution to working life, and seven out of ten said that immigration from outside the Nordics contributed positively to the economy.

For the first time, the proportion of those who thought it should be easier for refugees to settle was higher than those who thought the rules should be tighter. However, a majority was still in favour of keeping immigration and integration rules as they are.

The public was more split on whether immigrants should try to become “more Norwegian”. Just under half said they disagreed with the idea that foreigners should be more like the locals, while 32 percent agreed.

In its analysis of the long-term trends and changes in attitudes towards immigrants, Statistics Norway noted that women were more likely to have more favourable views on immigration than men. Young people and those living in built-up areas were also more receptive to foreign residents than older people and those living in rural communities.

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IMMIGRATION

Norway’s immigration authority closes 1,000 cases into suspected cheating

Norway’s Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has dismissed more than 1,000 cases where applicants were suspected of providing false information, its director confirmed to public broadcaster NRK.

Published: 17 April 2024 15:40 CEST
Norway's immigration authority closes 1,000 cases into suspected cheating

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) has dismissed more than 1,000 asylum and immigration cases after it had been told to reduce the queue of cases by the Ministry of Justice, public broadcaster NRK reports.

Frode Forfang, director of UDI, told NRK that the UDI chose to close cases where there were suspicions that false information had been provided to prioritise what it considered to be the most pressing and serious cases .

“We were in a situation where a large number of cases were created, but our capacity was not proportionate to the number of cases. This meant that we did not get a good enough grip on the matters that we believe are the most serious. At the same time, it led to a good number of these cases becoming very old,” he said.

“Many people lived in uncertainty for a long time because we did not have the capacity,” he added.

The UDI also decided last year that cases older than three years old would not be reopened, according to the report from NRK.

Figures from the UDI provided to the broadcaster show that 78 people have been deported from Norway due to false information submitted with their asylum cases over the past six years.

In recent years, the rules for deporting those who have provided false information in asylum applications have been softened.

Over the last six years, nearly 900 people in Norway have received a new residence permit after their original one was withdrawn after the UDI had uncovered falsehoods in the original applications.

Forfang said it was important for the UDI to focus on cases where the applicant would likely be deported.

“We think that it is more important to work on those cases where we believe that the person in question may end up having to leave Norway, rather than those cases where the person in question will anyway be allowed to stay in Norway through a new permit,” Forfang said.

The UDI has previously told The Local that it had its budget cut. The directorate warned that this could mean longer waiting times for residence, asylum and citizenship in Norway.

“These budget cuts will reduce the UDI’s ability to process cases and respond to inquiries efficiently. A decrease in capacity to process cases may lead to extended waiting times for residency and citizenship applications, although this will also depend on the volume of cases received,” Beate Sveen, the UDI’s Director of Finance, told The Local last month.

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