In total, 15,580 people were granted residency in Norway through family reunification last year. That’s 20 percent more than the year before, according to figures from the UDI.
The increase is due to the Directorate of Immigration handling many cases in 2016, not that the real number of applications increased, said the agency.
The largest group are family members of a Norwegian or Nordic national. This group amounts to 5,569 people.
Nearly one in three, 4347 people, were reunited with a family member who has been granted asylum in Norway.
While significantly more applications came for family reunification from Syria in 2016, the number of applications from Somalia roughly halved, according to the outline from UDI.
More than 2,100 people were family members of persons with a work permit in Norway.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
