Fewer foreigners were sent out of Norway last year

The police deported a total of 4,157 persons without legal residency in Norway in 2019. The number of forced returns was the lowest since 2009.

The number of forced returns in 2019 was a decrease of 920 persons from the previous year, according to figures from the Police Immigration Unit (PU).

The reason for the decline is, among other things, that there are fewer asylum seekers left in Norway who have received a final rejection of their application for residency, says PU boss Arne Jørgen Olafsen in a press release.

In total, 358 failed asylum seekers were transported out of Norway in 2019, a decrease of 198 from the previous year.

At the start of 2020, a total of 820 failed asylum seekers who had received final refusal were staying in reception centres in Norway.

Most exported to Sweden
It is the PU who is responsible for returning asylum seekers who have received a final refusal, while the police districts are responsible for returning people who have to be removed or deported.

Of the 4,157 deported in 2019, 3,456 in this category were rejected and expelled. The year before, there were 598 more returns in this category.

1,419 of the persons who were transported were subjected to one or more punitive actions.

Most persons without legal residency were transported to Sweden (484), followed by Romania (255), Poland (252), Ukraine (245), Italy (232) and Russia (212).

161 minors transported
Ukrainians top the list of nationalities expatriated with a total of 299 people, ahead of Romanians (253), Russians (252), Albanians (224), Poles (194), Lithuanians (156), Somalis (140), Syrians (129), Afghans (124) and Iraqi nationals (120).

A total of 161 minors were transported in 2019. 151 of them were transported together with their parents or other family members.

The previous year, 242 minors were deported from Norway.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today