Latest news with #NorwegianDirectorateofImmigration
Local Norway
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Norway
Norway's Progress Party wants zero net immigration from 'high-risk countries'
Immigration policy spokesperson for the populist-right Progress Party Erlend Wiborg made the comments to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten on Friday ahead of the party's national conference at the weekend. 'Our goal is zero net immigration from high-risk countries,' he said. Wiborg said countries in the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia could be described as 'high-risk' as the party believes refugees from these countries present integration challenges related to crime, low employment, use of public benefits and social segregation. 'Over time, Norway has accepted far too many immigrants from such countries. It is not sustainable and imposes enormous costs on taxpayers. We see ever-growing problems related to crime and segregation. The experiences from Sweden are frightening,' he told the paper. His comments on Sweden referred to an increase in gang crime in recent years, which politicians in both Sweden and Norway opposed to immigration attribute to failed integration and increased immigration. Last year, ordinary 4,970 asylum applications were handed into the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI). However, Norway also has a fast-track 'collective protection' asylum scheme for those fleeing the war in Ukraine, with 90,082 asylum seekers from the Ukraine having been granted this status since the war broke out in 2022 . Wiborg said the Progress Party would prioritise Christian refugees. Wiborg said the party wanted to measure how well local authorities were integrating arrivals based on several parameters. 'Everything from the proportion of people in work, crime, receipt of public benefits, education and participation in society and other factors should be openly available to everyone, and show how integration works. This way, municipalities can also learn from each other, while at the same time stopping all immigration to municipalities that clearly have major integration challenges,' Wiborg said. Advertisement The party also wants to establish asylum reception centres in third countries like Rwanda. Something which the party it would look to form a right-wing coalition with, the Conservative Party, is also in favour of. Last month, Wiborg outlined how the Progress Party would also tighten up the citizenship, permanent residence and family reunification processes, saying Norway ' hands out citizenships like candy '. READ ALSO: How Norway's citizenship rules could be tightened under a new government
Local Norway
02-05-2025
- Business
- Local Norway
Norway's immigration directorate updates salary thresholds for work permits
The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) requires skilled work permit applicants to have received a job offer with pay and working conditions that are in line with what's considered typical in Norway. Skilled worker permits are available for non-EEA nationals who have a university degree, have completed vocational training of at least three years at upper-secondary school level, or have special qualifications acquired through long professional experience. Prospective employees who will be working in an industry with a collective bargaining agreement must be paid the collective wage rate. Meanwhile, those working in an industry with no collective bargaining agreement must earn at least 469,366 kroner per year pre-tax if they hold a bachelor's degree. In some cases it may be possible to earn a salary less than this if the applicant or employer can document that it is the norm for the industry. For reference, the average annual salary in Norway is 704,700 kroner per year, according to figures from the national data agency Statistics Norway . Those with a master's degree will be subject to a higher wage requirement and will need to earn at least 513,100 kroner per year pre-tax unless they can prove a lower salary than is typical for the role. The updated earnings requirements were effective immediately upon their introduction on April 11th. Advertisement When applying for a skilled work permit, the applicant's vocational training or higher education needs to be relevant to the job they are applying for. They must also have a job offer before applying for a permit, and the role must be a full-time position or 37.5 hours per week. The UDI will also grant work permits to those who have been offered positions equivalent to 80 percent of full-time hours. Some workers must also have their qualifications officially recognised and authorised in Norway. READ ALSO: What foreign workers in Norway should know about regulated professions
Local Norway
26-03-2025
- Local Norway
Can you track the progress of your Norwegian residence and citizenship applications?
Handing in an application for Norwegian residence or citizenship is a pretty exciting moment for many. However, that excitement can soon turn to anxiety once a few months pass with no updates. Furthermore, long waiting times for an answer to residence and citizenship applications have become a bigger problem in recent years. Waiting around for a residence or citizenship decision can leave applicants feeling as if their life is on hold. So, The Local contacted the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration to find out if there was any way that applicants could track the progress of their application. 'Unfortunately, it is not possible to follow the progress of the case via My Page [on the applicant's UDI portal]. This is a functionality that we know users want and is high on the list of features we want to develop,' Gustav Try, press officer from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, said to The Local. At the time of writing, The Local had yet to hear back from the UDI on whether the implementation of a feature that would allow users to track the progress of their application was something the UDI would work on in the future. The bad news is that applicants are unable to call the UDI to find out more about the progress of their application. However, the UDI will notify the applicant once their application has been received and when it has been processed. Additionally, applicants may also receive periodic messages in regards to their application. While getting up-to-date information on the progress of your application currently isn't possible, there are a number of things you can check regarding your application. For example, the UDI has an overview of typical waiting times for different application times that are updated regularly. In some cases, it will be able to provide a rough waiting time on its website, such as with applications for a work permit. Some applications will take longer to process, and others will take less time to process, so these estimated waiting times should be treated as a guide. Advertisement Meanwhile, in other cases, the UDI cannot give applicants a rough waiting time. In the example of family immigration cases, the UDI will post which applications it is processing based on when they were submitted. It will also outline how long it will be working on these applications for. The UDI is unable to provide information on cases submitted after the date of the batch it is currently working on due to a large backlog, the directorate writes on its website. The information on the waiting time sections is updated by the UDI around once a month. For other applicants, the time they spend waiting can differ significantly compared to the waiting time. When it comes to citizenship, applicants will either be left waiting a few months or two-and-a-half years at the time of writing. Advertisement The reason for this is some cases are automatically processed, meaning they need minimum input from a case handler. These are the applications that receive an answer in a few months, much shorter than the current estimated waiting time of 30 months. The bad news for applicants is that they are not notified of whether their application will be or has been selected for automated processing. Although, applicants can generally expect a long waiting time if they haven't received an answer from the UDI within six months of handing in there citizenship application. READ ALSO: Norway's immigration office vows to cut citizenship application backlog When the UDI will contact you There are some cases where the UDI will contact you directly to update you on the status of your application. The most common, of course, is once a decision has been made on your case. Another instance in which the UDI will contact you is if they need more documentation regarding your case.
Local Norway
26-02-2025
- Business
- Local Norway
Half of seasonal work permits granted to firms who broke Norwegian work laws
The figures, reported by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, showed that 12,775 permits were granted to companies that violated the Working Environment Act between 2014 and 2024. Over the ten-year period, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) granted 23,775 work permits to seasonal workers. Seasonal work permits are granted to those who are offered full-time jobs that can only be carried out at certain times of the year and are typical in the agriculture and fishing sectors. The UDI can also grant seasonal permits for hospitality work during high seasons or to replace a worker on holiday leave, with the need for these workers assessed by the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). One of the conditions for being granted a seasonal work permit is that the pay and working conditions must be no worse than what's considered typical in Norway. Despite this, Aftenposten reported that 322 companies that were granted seasonal permits for their workers had been caught failing to pay overtime, violating safety violations, not recording working hours properly, or underpaying staff by the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. Of these companies, 43 have been fined for serious violations of the Working Environment Act and 23 worksites were shut down due to life and health being endangered. However, just five of these companies have been barred from applying for seasonal permits for workers by the UDI. The UDI told the newspaper that it could not block more companies from applying for permits due to the limited legislation on when it can apply sanctions. Furthermore, the UDI's powers to block companies were not based on violations of the Working Environment Act, and sanctions on firms were considered after several serious violations. Minister of Agriculture and Food Nils Kristen Sandtrøen has said that the law must be changed to better prevent workers from being exploited. 'It must be a minimum requirement that employers follow Norwegian regulations,' he told the newspaper. Norway's agriculture ministry and jobs ministry will meet with key players in the agriculture industry to develop new measures.
Local Norway
21-02-2025
- Business
- Local Norway
Norway's immigration office vows to cut citizenship application backlog
At the end of 2024, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) had just under 20,000 citizenship applications waiting for a response. Around 80 percent of the citizenship applications waiting for a decision at the end of last year had applied in 2023 and 2024, while the remaining applicants has applied during or before 2022. The UDI has set itself the goal of reducing the backlog of cases waiting for an answer by the end of the year. 'Our goal is to process more cases than the number of applications received in 2025, but internal reallocation of resources and external factors may affect how many applicants receive a decision this year. We are constantly working to improve and streamline our processes,' Per-Jan Brekke, team leader in the UDI's press office, told The Local. Progress on cutting the waiting list had already been made in 2024, when the UDI received 21,700 applications for citizenship but managed to process 25,700 in total. The UDI said that it hoped that its applications system would be improved throughout 2025 but that a new and improved IT system the government has invested in wouldn't be rolled out this year. 'The immigration sector is working on renewing our systems. In the citizenship department at UDI, we have a partly modernised platform and will further improve our processes throughout 2025 and coming years, but we do not plan to introduce a new case processing solution in 2025,' Brekke said. 'In the long term, this [the new IT system] will lead to shorter waiting times, but we do not believe the development work in 2025 will have a significant impact on waiting times,' he added. Citizenship cases are either fully or partially automated at the UDI. Cases that are fully automated typically receive an answer within a few weeks or a couple of months of handing in their application, while others wait in excess of two years for an answer. At the time of writing, the current waiting time for Norwegian citizenship for most foreign nationals was on average around 30 months. Applications that can't be handled automatically are assigned to a caseworker. The UDI has previously told The Local that caseworkers processed a mix of new and older cases – with older cases being more time-consuming due to factors such as missing paperwork. The directorate recently said that a drop-off in the number of people being granted citizenship between 2023 and 2024 was due to a mix of fewer applicants and less staff available to handle the applications, many of which still have to be done manually.
