Norway proposes emergency legislation to tighten asylum rules

The Norwegian government on Friday proposed emergency legislation to tighten its rules on asylum in response to the growing influx of asylum seekers into the Scandinavian country.

The proposed amendments will give immigration authorities greater power to refuse to process an asylum application if the asylum seeker has already resided in a safe third country, and Norway considers Russia to be a safe country, the ministry of justice and public security said in a statement.

"The proposed legislative amendments will enable the swift return to Russia of asylum seekers who have resided in Russia," Minister of Justice and Public Security Anders Anundsen was quoted as saying.

The ministry has also proposed it should be possible to arrest and remand in custody foreign nationals in cases where it is most likely that their asylum applications will not be processed, or to impose on them a duty to report to the authorities and to stay in a specific place.

"We are also proposing an amendment that will make it possible to set a shorter deadline for leaving Norway, or to request that the person concerned leave Norway immediately," Anundsen said, "This will make it possible to return asylum seekers more swiftly."

The emergency legislation proposal came as growing numbers of refugees are entering into Norway at the northern border crossing station Storskog from Russia.

According to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), a weekly record of 2,452 asylum seekers arrived in Norway last week and 1,113 of them came through Storskog. Enditem