Help refugees if needed but once the country is safe then they should be sent back. This only make sense. If they want to proper immigrate then they should apply like anyone else.

Norway’s Immigration and Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug, says that UDI has assessed the security situation in Afghanistan, so that far more than before are rejected and can be sent back.


- The Immigration Directory (UDI) has made a new assessment of the situation in Afghanistan. They conclude that today there are no provinces in Afghanistan that is so unsafe that no one can be sent back there. Therefore, many will get their asylum application rejected, says Listhaug to VG.

- There is no danger for a refugee to be sent back?

- No one recognized as a refugee will be sent back to Afghanistan, but people who do not need protection, and are not granted residence on other grounds, however, will be sent back. The UDI considers this. They are also considering whether the applicant would be safe in other parts of Afghanistan than just the place they come from. In this case, the applicant is expected to return to such an area.

- Does that mean you’re effectively closing the border to Afghans?

- UDI’s assessment of the conditions in Afghanistan suggests that far fewer than earlier are in need of protection. The first five months of this year, UDI has declined nearly 75 percent of all asylum applications from Afghanistan. This is a clear signal that many Afghans will not be granted residence in Norway.

Recently, Finland also decided to return refugees to Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, as the countries are not considered to be dangerous anymore, according to the Finnish Immigration Service.

Last year, 31,145 asylum seekers came to Norway, where 6,987 were from Afghanistan.