By: Daniel Nardini
And we all thought the immigration system in America was tough! The Kingdom of Norway’s immigration system is outright draconian. In fact, too tough. Here’s the kicker. Even if a Norwegian national marries a foreign spouse, they cannot live together in Norway if the Norwegian spouse does not make a minimum of 242,440 Norwegian kroner (that is US $44,500) a year. The European Court on Human Rights ruled this part of Norway’s immigration law as a violation of the country’s and the European Union’s standard on human rights. It has also been ruled as violating the basic rights of children since the children of foreign spouses suffer from the trauma of their parents not being together.
You can ask why Norway does this? According to the Norwegian government, it is to keep foreign spouses from going on government welfare programs. But this logic does not work. Almost all foreign spouses do not want to go on any welfare programs, and have opted to work. The only answer I can come up with is pure racism—unlike Norway’s European neighbors, Norway refuses to change the rules to separate the economic issue from the issue of immigration. If anything, the Norwegian government is going to raise annual income a Norwegian national will need to make to keep their foreign spouse in Norway. The amount will be raised to 261,700 Norwegian kroner (US $48,000).
Even neighboring Sweden does not do this. A number of foreign spouses have opted to live in Sweden—at least they will be close. The Swedish government recognizes the problem, but since the Norwegian government does not want to change this part of their immigration policy, there is nothing Sweden can do. What is truly sad is that even though a Norwegian national may have legally married a foreign spouse, the Norwegian’s income has to be fairly high for them to have their foreign spouse “allowed” to live in Norway. Frankly, it should be a right, not a privilege, for a foreign spouse of a Norwegian citizen to live in Norway. Norwegians pay high taxes, and those taxes go to support Norway’s high standard of living and government programs. Moreover, Norway’s immigration laws should be in line with those countries in the European Union. However, since Norway is not a member of the European Union, it has no interest in whatever rulings any institution those countries in the European Union make. So this assures that Norway’s immigration laws will remain draconian.
Immigration Blues in Norway
By: Daniel Nardini
You can ask why Norway does this? According to the Norwegian government, it is to keep foreign spouses from going on government welfare programs. But this logic does not work. Almost all foreign spouses do not want to go on any welfare programs, and have opted to work. The only answer I can come up with is pure racism—unlike Norway’s European neighbors, Norway refuses to change the rules to separate the economic issue from the issue of immigration. If anything, the Norwegian government is going to raise annual income a Norwegian national will need to make to keep their foreign spouse in Norway. The amount will be raised to 261,700 Norwegian kroner (US $48,000).
Even neighboring Sweden does not do this. A number of foreign spouses have opted to live in Sweden—at least they will be close. The Swedish government recognizes the problem, but since the Norwegian government does not want to change this part of their immigration policy, there is nothing Sweden can do. What is truly sad is that even though a Norwegian national may have legally married a foreign spouse, the Norwegian’s income has to be fairly high for them to have their foreign spouse “allowed” to live in Norway. Frankly, it should be a right, not a privilege, for a foreign spouse of a Norwegian citizen to live in Norway. Norwegians pay high taxes, and those taxes go to support Norway’s high standard of living and government programs. Moreover, Norway’s immigration laws should be in line with those countries in the European Union. However, since Norway is not a member of the European Union, it has no interest in whatever rulings any institution those countries in the European Union make. So this assures that Norway’s immigration laws will remain draconian.