The Government takes about turn on family reunification

The opposition reacted strongly to that the Government did not introduce a softening of the practice in family reunification cases. After a short time it became apparent that it will happen after all.

VG mentioned Thursday how the introduction of the altered regulations has been waiting for over a year after it was adopted by the Parliament. The reason was that the Ministry of Justice thought that the case should be reconsidered by the Parliament.

In early August rules were issued that shorten the deadline for how long considering a family reunion application can take, in place. A majority in Parliament however also decided last June that the income requirement for reunification should be reduced from the current minimum of NOK 306,700 in taxable income, to NOK 252,472. This the Government failed to do, writes the newspaper.

Delaying tactics

– So they have introduced the tightening we agreed on, but failed to implement the softening we agreed on? This is pure delaying tactics of the Parliamentary resolution, says Immigration policy spokesperson for the Centre Party (Sp), Heidi Greni.

The Christian Democrats (KrF) asked Prime Minister Erna Solberg (Conservatives) to rectify the situation, and Labour (Ap) believed Sylvi Listhaug’s (FRP) Ministry showed little respect for the Parliament.

Reverses after reactions

The Ministry of Justice at first rejected that they tried to obstruct Parliament’s decision, and that they vied for a rematch. Meanwhile, State Secretary Vidar Brein-Karlsen (FrP) said that they believed softening was wrong and wanted that the Parliament should review the matter once more.

Shortly after the news was made known, the Ministry however took an about turn.

– We will implement a regulation as soon as possible, says Brein-Karlsen.

– When we see the reaction from the other parties, we see no reasons for postponing this any further, he concludes.