In an effort to speed up processing times and standardise regulations, the Norwegian government has proposed a series of major amendments to the Citizenship Act, the very legislation that sets the rules for acquiring and losing Norwegian nationality.
These possible changes could significantly impact the international community living in the country; however, they still have a long way to go before taking effect.
The proposal is currently in the public consultation stage.
READ MORE: What will Norway's plan to toughen citizenship rules mean for you?
In Norway, new laws usually go through this step before reaching parliament. Depending on the specific regulations of the proposal, this process may or may not be open to the general public.
For these specific citizenship rule changes, the government has officially opened a public consultation period, allowing both organisations and private individuals to submit their feedback.
This means that absolutely anyone may submit input, giving you the opportunity to express your specific case if you have something to contribute or say.
Regarding deadlines, there is a minor discrepancy on the official platforms. While the official consultation document states October 19th as the final date, the main landing page on the government website lists October 16th instead.
In any case, try to send your comments well before these dates to be safe.
How to submit your input
If you want to have a voice in the country's political process, the procedure is relatively straightforward.
You simply need to visit the government's official website, where you’ll find clear step-by-step instructions.
You can send feedback as a private person, or on behalf of a business or organisation.
The Local tested the system to see how the submission process works in practice, and to send your input, you do not even need to log in.
However, if you want to save a draft and finish it later, you’ll need to log in with a secure ID.
A quick warning based on our test. When we tried to log in, the platform didn’t work. So, we recommend writing your response in advance and submitting it all at once to avoid losing your progress.
If you are submitting as a private individual, the system only asks for your comments and some basic details like your name and email.
You can also upload attachments if you want to include extra documents to support your case.
Keep in mind that the official page is only available in Norwegian. If you use your browser’s translation tools, sometimes your response might not save properly. This is a common technical issue on government websites.
What happens after sending my response?
Every answer will be checked by a case manager before it appears on the official regjeringen.no website as all consultation responses are legally public information.
That being said, you do have the option to submit your response anonymously if you are responding as a private individual.
Naturally, any answers with threats, hate speech, or defamation will be filtered out and not posted.
After the public consultation ends in October, the Ministry will review all the feedback. They may change the draft law based on what people say or keep it as it is.
Once it’s final, the proposal goes to the Norwegian Parliament for debate, possible changes, and a final vote.
READ MORE: TIMELINE: When could Norway’s planned new citizenship rules take effect?
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