This year there have been nearly 8,000 asylum seekers to Norway, a growth of almost 30 percent compared to last year.
– We have over the last few months have seen a marked increase in asylum seekers to Norway, said Immigration Director Frode Forfang. UDI expects that there will be up to 14,000 asylum seekers to Norway until the end of 2013 and that the increase will continue in 2014.
In recent years, the number of applicants remained relatively stable at about 10,000 annually. The most significant increase in asylum seekers has been from Eritrea. In July, Eritreans made up 36 percent of all asylum applications, and the preliminary figures for August shows that 44 percent of applications are from Eritrea.
– Those coming from Eritrea have a strong need for asylum in Norway, says Forfang to TV 2 news channel. Eritrea is one of the closed and isolated country. According to Amnesty, the authorities imprisoned at least 10,000 political prisoners . Considering the high increase, UDI needs new reception centers for nearly 19,000 asylum seekers. It is not yet clear where the reception will be located. – We should put them out to tender. It depends on where the operators obtain housing stock, said regional and receipt Director of UDI, Christine Wilberg to newspaper VG.