Member of Parliament Himanshu Gulati from the Progress Party (FrP) is now sharply criticising the government after a number of Indian chefs have been refused renewal of their residence permits.

The party believes that the system in practice favours criminal immigrants over those who actually contribute to Norwegian society. The core of the case is that better facilitation should be provided for people with skills that Norwegian business and industry in fact demand.

Prioritises criminals over taxpayers

Many of the affected chefs from India have worked in Norway for several years and have paid their taxes to the community. Gulati points out to Aftenposten that it is entirely illogical that these people are being expelled while they occupy important key roles in companies. He believes this demonstrates a government that has lost touch with the everyday reality of those who actually keep the wheels turning and contribute to value creation.

Sharp increase in the number of refusals

Figures from the first three months of this year show a dramatic change in practice among the immigration authorities. As many as fifteen out of twenty-two Indian skilled workers in the catering sector were refused renewal of their applications. This represents a sharp increase from 2023, when only one out of more than one hundred applicants was rejected. This development is now creating major problems for restaurants, which lose their permanent staff at short notice without any reasonable justification.

Stenseng’s new course and lack of logic

Minister of Labour Kjersti Stenseng from the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) defends the new line in an email to the newspaper. She writes that the country shall have strict and controlled immigration and that all requirements must be met. Stenseng chooses to adopt a hard-line position towards law-abiding workers, while otherwise representing a political wing that has defended a very liberal immigration policy. She justifies this sudden strictness by stating that extensive misuse involving false educational documents in the sector has been uncovered.

Misplaced focus in immigration policy

The Progress Party believes this case demonstrates a glaring lack of logic in the government’s priorities. Gulati claims that the authorities appear more concerned with those who enter the country illegally and live at the state’s expense than with those who work and pay for the whole affair.

Gulati believes there is a clear double standard when one is strict towards those who contribute, while criminal elements are often allowed to remain in the country without consequences.