A proposed new rule would, in practice, mean that many refugees are deprived of the right to family life, according to several, separate organizations.
‘The time limits are too short and the application fee is too high’, says Norsk Folkehjelp (Norwegian People’s Aid), the Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS), and the Norwegian Red Cross.
‘The Red Cross have been contacted by several desperate refugees who have been told that they do not have funds to pay, and who therefore canot apply for family reunification’, wrote the Norwegian Red Cross in a response to the Justice Ministry.
The new proposals provide asylum seekers who are granted residence, a three-month deadline to register an application for family reunification, instead of the one year that it used to be. In addition, the families must pay an 8,000 fee within six months, and family members need to go to a Norwegian embassy and deliver ‘securities’ in the form of legal papers, such as passport, I.D. etc., within one year.
The consultation period for the proposals, which have been put together after an order by a parliamentary majority consisting of Arbeiderpartiet (Ap), Senterpartiet (Sp), and coalition parties was completed on Wednesday.
Unless limits are to be reached, refugees must have some income in order to apply for family reunification.
‘We assume that the objective is that fewer refugees be given time to submit an application before the subsistence kicks in’, wrote Norwegian People’s Aid
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
