Statelessness in Norway

There are not many stateless persons living in Norway today, 1,626 persons at the beginning of 2024. The number of stateless individuals has fluctuated from year to year due to variations in the immigration of stateless individuals and the transition to Norwegian citizenship, with peaks of just over 3,000 in 2011 and 2017-2018, as shown in Figures 1-2 and Table 1. According to the National Population Register, the number of individuals without citizenship who are currently or have been registered as residing in Norway, is approximately 20,000. Half of them entered the population after 1968, mostly through immigration (Vassenden 2020).

The data on statelessness come from the Directorate of Immigration (UDI) and the National Population Register, i.e. from administrative registers. Few other countries have as goog data figures on statelessness as Norway. There is, therefore, great international interest in the Norwegian figures and the Norwegian system, especially in  ther efforts to improve countries' statistics on statelessness and refugees.

Most stateless individuals in Norway migrated here from Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, see Figure 3, which shows the total numbers for the period 2000-2022. Most of these individuals probably have a Palestinian background. The immigration from these countries was particularly high in 2009 and 2016 due to armed conflict, as depicted in Figure 4. This figure also highlights several other smaller peaks. Notably, there was a significant increase from 2021 to 2022 in stateless immigrants arriving from Malaysia. Most of these individuals originally fled from Myanmar (Chin and Rohingya). Of the 119 who arrived from Malaysia in 2022, 67 were born in Myanmar.

The largest groups of stateless individuals in Norway in 2023 were born in Syria (581), Palestine (280), and Norway (115), as shown in Figure 5. Many of the stateless individuals born in Syria and Iraq have Palestinian background, and probably many of those born in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan, and Kuwait as well. The Population Register does not contain data on the nationality or ethnicity of stateless individuals, but the UDI annual report from 2013 wrote that “Most stateless Palestinians came from the Damascus area in Syria. Some stateless Palestinians came from the West Bank/Gaza and from Iraq. Some stateless Kurds came mainly from the northeastern parts of Syria.”

Stateless individuals and foreign citizens with residence permits in Norway cannot vote in parliamentary elections, but like other non-Nordic citizens, they can vote in local elections if they have lived here in the last three years before the Election Day (Election Act 2002). Stateless individuals can apply for a Norwegian travel document, but some countries do not accept these. “More rights and obligations that were previously linked to citizenship are now linked to whether the person is residing, registered in the population register, has legal residence, or is actually staying in the country.” Like other non-Norwegian citizens, stateless individuals cannot be a member of parliament, a minister, a Supreme Court judge, etc., and cannot do military service.

Only 4 percent of the stateless individuals who moved to the country in the period 1990-2022 immigrated for reasons other than fleeing, such as work and education, as shown in Figure 6, but the reasons have varied greatly over time, see Figure 7. The immigration of family members of refugees has also varied, often occurring one or two years later, although many family members move to Norway simultaneously with the person who received protection.

There are more stateless men than women in Norway (50-60 per cent), see figure 8. Most of the stateless people are in the ages 20-39, as shown in figure 9. About ¼ of the stateless are children and young people, while only 7 per cent are 60 years of age or older. Among children under age 10, just under half were born in Norway (43 per cent), but the proportion drops rapidly with age and is only 5 per cent for children and young people aged 10-19. The reason for this is that most stateless persons living in Norway quite quickly become Norwegian citizens, as discussed below.

The stateless individuals in Norway are well spread out and lived in 143 out of the country's 356 municipalities at the beginning of 2023. The highest number of stateless persons were in Oslo (202), Bergen (115), and Trondheim (92), but they constituted only a negligible part of the population (0.03-0.04 percent). In 48 municipalities, only 1-3 stateless individuals lived, while there were no stateless individuals in 213 municipalities. In relation to the total population, the highest percentage of stateless individuals was observed in the small municipalities of Hægebostad, Fjaler, and Askvoll (0.2-0.4 percent), but there were only between 6 and 11 persons in each municipality.

Most become Norwegian citizens

The main reason why there have been fewer stateless persons in Norway in recent years is that the immigration of stateless persons has decreased, and that most stateless persons apply for and obtain Norwegian citizenship after a few years, as shown in figure 10. Stateless persons over the age of 18 can apply for Norwegian citizenship if they "have resided in the country for the past three years with residence permits of at least one year's duration" (Citizenship Act of 2005, § 17). Children of people who have obtained Norwegian citizenship can also apply, but they must have lived in the country for the last two years. This is significantly shorter than for most other non-Nordic immigrants, who must usually have lived here for eight years, except for those who are married to Norwegian citizens, who can apply after five years of residence. The requirements for residence in Norway are also shorter than eight years for citizens from other Nordic countries (two years) and EEA countries (three years). Applicants who have been granted a residence permit as a refugee can apply for citizenship after a total of seven years of permanent residence.

In the years 2003–2022, 8,060 stateless persons became Norwegian citizens, as shown in table 1. Most transitions to Norwegian citizenship occur four years after immigration, see figure 10. Of the stateless persons who applied for Norwegian citizenship in 2021, there were only 10 percent who had lived in Norway for ten or more years. In 2021, 85 per cent of stateless persons' applications for Norwegian citizenship were granted. The number of grants is affected by the handling capacity, which has been limited in recent years. In the spring of 2023, the processing time was 24 months for applications for Norwegian citizenship, and this had increased to 32 months in the fall of 2023 "... from the time you handed in the documents to the police until you get an answer." (Sources: Innvilgede statsborgerskap etter opprinnelig statsborgerskap (2021) (udi.no) og Guide til ventetid for søknader om statsborgerskap, 30.10.2023 (udi.no)).

Most applicants for Norwegian citizenship received a residence permit as refugees (57 per cent in 1990-2022) or as family members of refugees (38 per cent in 1990-2022). Transfer refugees (formerly called quota refugees) usually receive a residence permit as soon as they arrive in Norway, as they have gone through a selection and approval process in advance. They can therefore apply for Norwegian citizenship as soon as three years after their arrival. For asylum seekers, on the other hand, the stay in Norway only counts from the day they receive a permanent (and not temporary) residence permit. However, the number of stateless transfer refugees is modest. In the period 1990-2022, they made up only 14 percent of all those who received a residence permit due to flight, while asylum seekers made up 86 percent, not including those who received a residence permit as family members.

Many stateless persons have applied for asylum in Norway, as shown in table 1, but they still make up a small proportion of asylum seekers, only 9 per cent in the period 2011–2022. In 2021, 94 per cent of asylum applications for residence permits from stateless persons were granted. Statelessness does not automatically grant a residence permit in Norway. There is no reliable information on how many stateless persons there are among people who stay in Norway without a residence permit (undocumented persons etc. (udi.no).

Among the stateless persons who lived in Norway on 1 January 2023, only 10 per cent had lived here for ten or more years, see Figure 11. The reason for the high number of stateless persons who has lived here for 5-8 years is the large immigration of stateless persons in 2014-2017, particularly from Syria, as shown in figures 3 and 4.

As many as 83 percent of children born to stateless parents in Norway obtained citizenship four years after birth, and only 2 percent of them have lived here for ten or more years without becoming Norwegian citizens.

There are not many stateless people who move from Norway, on average only 30 people per year since 2003 (table 1). The reason for this may be related to the facts  that stateless persons receive travel documents with limited international validity and that staying abroad means that it takes longer to obtain Norwegian citizenship. In addition, some people who were stateless previously, have moved to another country after becoming Norwegian citizens.

Of the 8,201 stateless persons who became Norwegian citizens in the years 2000-2022, 606 have emigrated after the transition, while 70 have died. A total of 7,525 are still registered as residents. We have not studied this thoroughly enough to say whether stateless persons who obtain Norwegian citizenship emigrate more frequently or less often than other immigrants, who generally have significantly higher emigration rates than persons born in Norway. Nor can we say anything about whether there are people who become Norwegian citizens with an intention of emigrating as soon as citizenship is in place.

Legislation

Legislation affects how many stateless persons there are in a country. For example, not all children born in Norway automatically become Norwegian citizens, as their citizenship is determined by the citizenship of their parents. This principle is called jus sanguinis. If everyone born in a country is entitled to citizenship of this country, the principle is called jus solis. This is the case in the United States and several countries in South America.

In the years 2003–2022, 678 children were born in Norway without citizenship because their parents were stateless. A child with a mother and/or father who is a Norwegian citizen automatically becomes a Norwegian citizen, regardless of whether the parents are residents in Norway and where in the world the birth occurred (Statsborgerloven § 4).

The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recommended that all stateless children born in Norway receive Norwegian citizenship, as in Denmark, where the authorities grant Danish citizenship to children residing in Denmark. This is in accordance with Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states, among other things, that all children shall have the right to acquire citizenship from birth.

Stateless persons in Norway have few problems compared to stateless persons in many other countries. However, a report from UNHCR mentions that the Norwegian legislation has several gaps and weaknesses in this field:

• The United Nations statelessness conventions from 1954 and 1961 and the Council of Europe convention on citizenship from 1997 are not explicitly incorporated into Norwegian law.
• There is no definition of statelessness in Norwegian legislation.
• Norway does not have any procedure for determining statelessness.
• There is no recognized stateless status that gives stateless persons special rights, apart from a shorter residence requirement to obtain Norwegian citizenship than for other non-Nordic citizens.

In 2015, UNHCR pointed out that these weaknesses in the Norwegian legislation are in conflict with the international conventions to which Norway has acceded and recommended that the UN convention be incorporated into Norwegian law (UNHCR). The Parliament’s Local Government and Administration Committee has discussed this and stated that it "expects the Government to make sure that Norwegian legislation in this area is in line with our international obligations".

In 2016, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security issued an instruction to ensure that applications for citizenship from stateless applicants born in Norway are processed in accordance with international conventions as stipulated in Section 3 of the National Citizenship Act. Among other things, it is specified that stateless applicants born in Norway must have been permanently resident in Norway for three consecutive years prior to the application. However, there is no requirement for the length of stay for children under the age of two. It is the child's age at the time of application that is decisive. The child must be and remain resident in Norway. If the parents have a permanent residence permit, the children can obtain citizenship year of birth.

The new instruction may have contributed to a continued decrease of the proportion of stateless children born in Norway, which has been falling in this century, from 68 in 2017 to 18 in 2021 (from 2.2 to 1.1 per cent of all stateless), as shown in Figure 12.

In 2019, the UN Human Rights Council recommended that Norway include a definition of statelessness in national law and establish a procedure to determine whether persons are to be considered stateless according to the UN Convention of 1954 on the Status of Stateless Persons. The Solberg government partially accepted this recommendation: "We will consider including a definition of statelessness in Norwegian law. However, Norway will not consider introducing a procedure for determining statelessness. As a general rule, statelessness is not in itself reason enough to obtain a residence permit in Norway, and we do not interpret this as an obligation according to the agreement of 1954. However, residence can be granted under certain conditions if there are practical obstacles to return due to circumstances over which the person concerned is not the master.”

On 1 December 2020, the Citizenship Act was amended so that applicants who are married to a Norwegian citizen must have five years of residence in the country (§ 12). However, section 16 on stateless applicants was not changed. Stateless applicants who were not born in Norway must have or fulfill the conditions for a permanent residence permit to be entitled to citizenship upon application. In Prop. 130 L (2020–2021) it is indicated that "For many, this will entail a requirement for a five-year period of residence with residence permits that form the basis for a permanent residence permit".

A new Section 26 b of the Citizenship Act on loss of citizenship for reasons of fundamental national interests was introduced in March 2021 for a person who also has another citizenship, and who has shown behavior that could indicate that the person in question will greatly harm such interests.

References

UNHCR (1954): “Convention relating to the status of stateless persons. http://www.unhcr.org/protection/statelessness/3bbb25729/convention-relating-status-stateless-persons.html.

Vassenden. Kåre (2020): “Fra utenlandsk til norsk statsborgerskap gjennom mer enn førti år. Med forløpsdata og -analyse» Rapporter 2020/31, Statistics Norway.

I am grateful for helpful comments from Rebekka Arnesen, Kåre Vassenden and Lars Østby of SSB, Magnar Naustdalslid of UDI, and Cecilie Uteng of AID.