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Norway’s immigration directorate cuts contact hours to work on cases

Norway’s Directorate of Immigration will cut the hours that applicants can contact it to try and process more residence, citizenship and asylum applications.

Published: 8 February 2024 16:33 CET
Pictured is the Norwegian flag in the sunlight.
Norway's UDI is cutting its contact hours to process cases. Pictured is the Norwegian flag in the sunlight. Photo by Maryan Ivasyk on Unsplash

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) will close its information service on Wednesdays until April 2024 to try and spend more time working on cases.

“UDI will allocate more time to process applications in February, March and April 2024. Therefore, we will not be as available as normal by phone and e-mail during this period. At the same time, more people will be given the opportunity to chat with the UDI Information Service,” the directorate wrote on its website.

It said that the reason it was closing its information service on Wednesday is that its case officers who handle applications also work on the information service. The time, therefore, would free up case officers to process applications.

The service will remain open on all other weekdays between 10am and 3pm. The service also said there may be long waiting times for callers. 

The UDI also said that those wondering about waiting times will need to check the information on its website as its information service is unable to provide any additional information.

Member comments

  1. Not fit for purpose dysfunctional institution broken so bad it is a joke should serve the public to offer solutions to their needs ridiculous waiting times and no leadership a ship with no captain and no accountability how much longer do the public need to suffer this ridiculous mis management with very high painful fees

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IMMIGRATION

How Norway can punish volunteer work if you don’t have a residence permit

An American citizen has been deported from Norway after arriving in the country to volunteer through an international exchange programme as they did not possess a residence permit.

Published: 6 September 2024 12:20 CEST
How Norway can punish volunteer work if you don't have a residence permit

Public broadcaster NRK reports that the American, a 22-year-old from Rhode Island, had begun volunteering on a farm in Eidskog in east Norway before being arrested by police.

She had booked her place through the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms initiative. She was set to be on the farm for two weeks on a voluntary basis before continuing her travels.

However, police picked her up three days after she arrived in the country for breaching the Immigration Act. This is because US citizens and all third-party nationals need a valid permit to work in Norway.

“A foreign person who intends to take up work for or without remuneration, or who wants to run a business in Norway, must initially have a residence permit which gives the right to take up work or run a business,” Vibeke Schem, a press advisor for the Norwegian Immigration Directorate, told NRK.

“In this connection, and in a broad sense, work means a performance that represents a creation of value. The value creation can be both material and non-material. Little is needed for a performance to be considered work,” she added.

The American citizen has been expelled from Norway and given a ban from the whole Schengen Area for two years.

She has appealed the decision, however, and believes that her tasks did not constitute work and that she was on the farm for learning purposes, which included some hands-on responsibilities in addition to theoretical education.

NRK reports that Norway’s economic crime unit, Økokrim, said that the Worldwide Opportunities on Organic could be used for illegal work in 2022.

However, people who hail from the Schengen area are able to volunteer for the organisation under the Freedom of Movement rules.

READ ALSO: How Norway can revoke residency and citizenship over wrong details

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