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Migration to Norway - Flows and Regulations

For the past two decades, migration and its regulation have been at the top of the policy agenda in Europe. The research project seeks to describe and explain the interaction between migration flows and migration regimes, pivoting on the case of Norway.

Migration regimes are understood as sets of regulation, laws, policies and practices which together govern the inflow and integration of immigrants.

The main research questions include: what is the interrelation between migration flows and regulation? To what extent can migration to Norway be explained as a function of the national migration regime, the emerging European regime and the regimes in relevant neighbouring countries?

The key actors brought together in this project include: the Institute for Social Research in Oslo (ISF), the Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen (FoL, UiB), Professor Grete Brochmann from the Institute of Sociology and Social Geography at the University of Oslo (ISO,UiO) and Dr of Law Vigdis Vevstad from Vevstad Consulting (VC). International partners in the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and the UK will also contribute.

More information about the project, led by Jan-Paul Brekke at ISF, is available in English http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/ISF/Prosjektsider/European-Migration-Network-Norway/Other-ongoing-large-studies/VAM-Migration-to-Norway-Flows-and-Regulations and in norwegian  http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/ISF/Prosjektsider/Migration-to-Norway-Flows-and-regulation.

At the Law Faculty, researchers explore the relationship between international law, EU-law and Norwegian immigration laws and policies. How do regional and international frameworks limit the freedom of Norwegian policymakers in the area of immigration control? Where are these frameworks unclear?

In the field of asylum, one contested issue is the use of “protection alternatives” by destination states eager to reduce the flow of asylum applicants. Rather than providing protection itself, a state may send a potential refugee to another state (a “safe third country”) or a “safe” place in the country of origin. Under what conditions is the concept legitimate under international law? What rights must, in fact, be protected? A PhD thesis will explore the legal requirements for a protection alternative in the country of refugee origin, and analyze state practice in select Scandinavian countries. How are “internal protection alternatives” assessed with respect to certain refugee groups (Iraqis, Somalis)? Where do interpretations diverge and converge between countries, and why? How do internal protection alternatives relate to “external” protection alternatives – so-called “safe third countries”?

Project researchers are also writing chapters on EU law and the Dublin Cooperation in a textbook on Norwegian Immigration Law, to be published by Universitetsforlaget in 2013.

UiB Project Staff

Terje Einarsen

Jessica Schultz

Vigdis Vevstad (external consultant).