IMDi REPORT: 2017 Saw Fewer Refugees

refugeesRefugees.Photo: pixabay.com

A new IMDi press release reveals that ending 2017, the Norwegian Integration and Diversity Directorate (UDI) successfully settled 11,100 refugees within Norway. That’s 4,200 fewer total refugees than processed within 2016.

 

The Norwegian Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDi) press statement also reports that a total of 50k refugees have been successfully placed within Norway within the last 5 years.

Libe Rieber-Mohn, Director General of IMDI detailed the status of Norway’s immigration; ‘There’s good cooperation between IMDi and the various municipalities that are assimilating these refugees. Close cooperation drives results. We’re able to settle these individuals in a timely manner, reducing the overall waiting time and also reducing the number of refugees within reception processing. Once settled within a community, refugee integration becomes finalized with refugee placement within the workforce.’

Despite 2017’s lower immigration figures, Rieber-Mohn urges to maintain the systems developed to help settle incoming refugees.

‘Maintaining the tools and channels used to successfully integrate refugees within a community is worth the investment. If a refugee becomes unemployed, they join several various rosters within a municipality’s expense budget. Minimizing immigration efforts would reduce our ability to act with efficiency. Immigration channels can quickly become overloaded without the minimum machinery needed to process newly arriving refugees.’

‘It’s important that integration expertise is maintained.’- concludes Rieber-Mohn.

According to Statistics Norway, 2017’s Norwegian immigrant population comprises 16.8% of the country’s total population, including both immigrants and children born in Norway to 2 immigrant parents.

As of 2017, The 10 most common countries of origin of immigrants residing in Norway and associated refugee population numbers:
Poland (97,196)
Lithuania (37,638)
Sweden (36,315)
Somalia (28,696)
Germany (24,601)
Iraq (22,493)
Syria (20,823)
Philippines (20,537)
Pakistan (19,973)
Eritrea (19,957)]

UDI is responsible for migration and immigration, including operating reception centers for asylum seekers. IMDi is responsible for persons who have been granted residence permits in Norway, and for other tasks in the field of integration and diversity.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today