India is the country outside the EEA where most immigrants to Norway come from.
‘’People are often surprised when I say that Indians are is by far the largest nationality coming from outside the EEA. Immigrants from India receive little attention. I think that’s also because there are very few problems associated with the group,‘’ said the Director of the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) Frode Forfang to NTB.
He added that mostly highly qualified immigrants and their families come from India and they are engineers, doctors and many from the IT industry.
”They are doing well. We mostly hear about the groups that are facing integration challenges,’’ explained Forfang.
70 percent in IT
In the last five years, 14,058 people from India have been granted a residence permit.
”It has increased over a few years but it is the last two years that India has been the single largest nationality outside the EEA,” emphasised Forfang.
A large proportion of Indians come here through family reunification with people who already live and work in Norway. Among workers from India with registered industry, about 70 per cent are registered with “information and communication” as a sector.
In 2018, 3,064 Indians were granted residence permits, while the figure had risen to 3,657 last year. The Philippines is number two on the list, with 2,014 people last year and 12,559 in the last five years.
The complete list
Many of the countries that are often associated with immigration to Norway are not even on the top ten list.
“Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example, are not on the list,’’ said Forfang.
Before India was top of the list in 2018, it was Syria that had the highest number of immigrants with 2,788 people in 2017. Last year, 959 Syrians were granted residence permits.
A total of 24,220 citizens from countries outside the EEA area stayed in Norway last year.
Here’s what the entire top-ten list looks like:
India: 3,657
Philippines: 2,014
USA: 1,596
China: 1,240
Syria: 959
Eritrea: 913
Ukraine: 902
Russia: 783
Serbia: 781
Thailand: 746
Other countries: 10,629
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
Indians respect the traditions & culture of a country where they work or live. In fact they try to learn from the cultures which are not their own & integrate that into their own culture to enrich it.Indians love to coexist & have never been the cause of inter cultural feuds. Their culture teaches them to be loyal to the land that feeds them