https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160426-norway-to-pay-asylum-seekers-to-leave/
Norway to pay asylum seekers to leave
April 26, 2016
Norway is offering asylum seekers 30,000 krone (£2,517) to leave the country voluntarily.
The offer, which came into effect yesterday, will run for six weeks and will be paid to the first 500 asylum seekers who apply for voluntary return to their home countries.
The funds are an increase to the previously proposed 20,000 krone (£1,678).
“We need to entice more people to voluntarily travel back by giving them a bit more money on their way out. This will save us a lot of money because it is expensive to have people in the asylum centres,” Minister of Immigration and Integration Sylvi Listhaug said.
“There are also many who are not entitled to protection and, by all means, are going to be rejected. It’s better for us to stimulate their travel back,” she added.
There are some 25,861 asylum seekers waiting in asylum centres in Norway, a majority of them are from Somalia, Eritrea and Syria, according to official data.
Asylum seeker Mohammad Seifan told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed: “The authorities are kind of begging us to leave the country by giving us about $4,000 while some refugees have borrowed twice that amount to get here.”
Human rights groups in Scandinavian countries criticise what they call the authorities’ disregard for human life through policies that prolong the waiting period and then offer financial incentives to leave.
More than 7,000 asylum seekers have been waiting for more than a year to hear from immigration authorities in Norway.
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http://www.thelocal.no/20160425/norway-ups-financial-incentive-for-asylum-seekers-to-leave
Norway to asylum seekers: We'll pay you extra to leave
The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration’s (Utlendingsdirektoratet - UDI) is offering a 10,000 kroner bonus to asylum seekers to leave voluntarily.
UDI will offer an additional 10,000 kroner to the first 500 asylum seekers who apply for a voluntary return to their home countries. Beginning on Monday, the offer will run for six weeks on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We need to entice more to voluntarily travel back by giving them a bit more money on their way out. This will save us a lot of money because it is expensive to have people in the asylum centres,” Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug told broadcaster NRK.
The offer entails giving asylum seekers an additional 10,000 kroner in travel expenses on top of the 20,000 kroner already offered.
UDI reported in December that an increasing number of asylum seekers are interested in taking Norway up on its offer to fund a return trip home due to long family reunification waiting times and barriers to taking work or starting an education.
According to UDI, a family with two children can receive upwards of 80,000 kroner ($9,300 or 8,600 euros) in addition to the travel expense coverage.
To qualify for the additional 10,000 kroner to cover travel costs, asylum seekers must have arrived in Norway prior to April 1st and must not have overstayed their legal length of stay.
UDI said the goal of the bonus was to stimulate a faster voluntary return of those asylum seekers who do not have a legitimate protection claim in Norway. The bonus scheme will be marketed via displays and posters in 31 municipalities.
Received on Tue Apr 26 2016 - 13:35:30 EDT