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Norway to go after ‘asylum cheats’

NTB/The Local
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Norway to go after ‘asylum cheats’
Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

Many asylum seekers have cheated their way to a residence permit in Norway, according to Immigration and Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug.

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Listhaug said that next year’s governmental budget would include an additional 177 million kroner to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), even though the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country has has fallen from 31,000 last year to just over 2,000 this year.
 
In addition, the allocation to the Immigration Appeals Board (Utlendingsnemnda - UNE) will be boosted by 15.7 million kroner. 
 
The money influx will go toward handling pending cases, modernize IT systems and pursuing revocation cases in which those who have obtained a residence permit may have lied on their application.
 
“We know there are some who have fooled us. We want to revoke their residence permits so that those who have lied to us will be forced to leave Norway,” Listhaug told P4.
 
She said the additional 177 million kroner to UDI will come in handy.
 
“This will provide UDI the capacity to prioritize both family reunification and revocation cases,” Listhaug said. 
 
The head of the agency agreed. 
 
“If we get to keep more resources next year than the decline in the number of asylum seekers would indicate, then it is clear that we would be able to increase our capacity for catching cheaters,” UDI director Frode Forfang said. 

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