OSLO, Sept 27: Norway will no longer automatically grant asylum to all Ukrainians, the government said Friday, with applicants arriving from western Ukraine to be examined case-by-case.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Norwegian authorities decided to provide "collective protection" to all Ukrainian refugees by granting automatic asylum.
In the past two and a half years, Norway, a country of 5.6 million inhabitants, has taken in some 85,000 Ukrainians, which, according to Oslo, is more than its Nordic neighbours.
"We can't take in a disproportionate share of displaced people compared to similar countries, such as the Nordic countries," Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl told a press conference.
Immigration authorities will from now handle asylum requests individually for residents of six regions in western Ukraine, considered safe because they are far from the front line. —AFP
