Following new figures showing that immigration to Norway is accelerating, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is presenting a new proposal which, according to himself, will make it easier to expel criminal foreign nationals. But there is one major “if” attached to the entire proposal.

At the Labour Party’s national executive meeting, party leader and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced that the government today will send out a proposal for consultation. According to him, the proposal will:

– Extend the scope for expelling foreign nationals who have not been convicted, but where there are grounds to fear that they will commit crime here in Norway. Then they should not be here. Then they should be sent out, he said from the podium.

In the government’s press release the following is stated:

“The rules now being proposed may, among other things, be applied where the police possess concrete evidence making it likely that a foreign national intends to carry out criminal acts that may lead to imprisonment, for example theft, violence or the sale of narcotics. The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) shall then be able to expel the foreign national and impose a re-entry ban, and not merely refuse entry, as is permitted today.”

Document examined the consultation paper issued by the government closely, in order to assess how it affects the authorities’ regulatory framework.

Under the current framework, Norwegian authorities may refuse entry to foreign nationals they fear will commit crime, but they cannot expel them (impose a re-entry ban) unless they have already been convicted.

The new proposal grants the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) the authority to expel and impose a re-entry ban based on what the proposal formulates as “concrete indications” that the foreign national will commit offences, or that the person constitutes a “serious threat to public order or security”.

However, there is one major catch in the entire proposal.

It applies only to tourists, persons on visa stays and foreign nationals who hold a residence permit in another Schengen country and may lawfully remain in Norway for up to 90 days.

It does not apply to foreign nationals who have a temporary residence permit. In Statistics Norway’s (SSB) statistics they are referred to as “non-residents”. In other words, persons who are present in the country but do not reside here.

According to SSB figures for 2020–2023, non-residents accounted for just over 7 per cent of all charges in Norway. With regard to aggravated theft from a person, they account for as much as 60 per cent of charges, and one third of all new remand custody admissions in the period 2016–2020.

In addition, there is a higher threshold for EEA citizens and family members of EEA citizens. Under the Citizens’ Rights Directive (unionsborgerdirektivet), it is required that the foreign national must constitute a “genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to fundamental interests of society”.

In the department’s review it is stated that the only cases relevant here are EEA citizens with “very short-term residence”, as the only category that may be expelled without a criminal conviction.

For example, Swedish citizens linked to criminal gang networks operating in Norway will not become significantly easier to expel on the basis of the government’s consultation paper.

The department points out that Denmark, Finland and Sweden already have rules that go further than the government’s proposal.