Record number of asylum seekers to Norway
UDI's offices are located in Oslo. Photo: Wikipedia
So far this year close to 10 thousand refugees have arrived in Norway. This is an increase by 45 per cent compared to last year. These numbers indicates that 2009 might be a new record year for asylum seekers arriving in Norway.
In 2008 around 14.400 asylum seekers arrived in Norway. This number is nearly doubled from the year before.
Our of the 9.900 arrived so far in 2009, 5.700 came from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia and Iraq. 1.417 persons claim to be minors, and more than thousand of these came from Afghanistan.
According to new figures from The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) about 40 per cent have been granted asylum, or granted stay in Norway on humanitarian grounds.
Tighter control
From June 15, 2009 UDI was directed to apply stricter requirements for identification documentation in asylum cases. It has been a major problem that very few asylum seekers can legitimise themselves with valid travel documents. Experience shows that over 95 per cent lack proper documents when they report to the police, reported UDI on June 6.
Source: Aftenposten / UDI
