Up to 200 may be laid off in UDI

UDI Logo, minor asylum seekersLogo UDI. Photo Norway Today Media

From the New Year, the Immigration Directorate (UDI) must let go of between 150 and 200 temporary staff. The reason is due to fewer are seeking asylum in Norway.

 

“This does not come as a surprise to us, and we have been prepared for a while. This is the consequence of fewer asylum seekers,” said UDI Director Frode Forfang to NTB.

He states that all who have to go are temporary employees, most of whom were recruited in connection with the asylum wave in 2015.

– There are no permanent employees who have to leave. Most of the positions are of temporary case workers in Oslo. Some may have also worked at regional offices, he says.

Forfang says that those who have to go have done a very good job for UDI.

“They are largely newly educated people who we would love to keep. Their future employers will be very lucky to employ them,” said the UDI director.

During the first nine months of this year, 3,052 people applied for asylum in Norway. Almost half of these were relocated from Italy and Greece, so only around 1,800 people have come to Norway on their own.

50 asylum seekers in the week
The forecast for this coming year indicates 4,250 asylum seekers, but it is likely that the final figure may be lower than this. In September, only 183 asylum seekers arrived, and the arrival numbers have remained stable for about 50 new asylum seekers per week for the next several months. From past experience, the numbers fall over the autumn season.

In the government’s budget for next year, the Ministry of Justice writes that developments in the arrival of asylum seekers in the period ahead are still very uncertain, but they estimate between 2,000 and 12,000 asylum seekers next year. The forecast underlying the grant proposals are 6,000 asylum seekers.

Signal Effect
The Ministry of Justice writes that in the budget proposal, “it seems as if asylum seekers are choosing other countries other than Norway”.

– From 2015 to 2016 there was a 7 percent decline in the number of asylum seekers to Europe. Norway had a decline of about 90 percent, and it was the only country in Europe with the largest decline in numbers of asylum seekers, so they say.

The budget for the Directorate of Immigration will decrease by about NOK 200 million next year. This year, UDI had almost NOK 1.2 billion available. Next year, they will receive NOK 988 million according to the draft state budget.
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©  NTB Scanpix / Norway Today