– The situation in Syria and neighboring countries is very difficult, and the government therefore wants to help. At the same time we can not ignore that there are around 5000 people at Norwegian asylum centers, most with refugee status, pending settlement in a municipality. Many of these have been waiting for a long time to start their lives in Norway. In addition, around 10000 people need to be resident in 2014. We must be realistic about how many resettlement Norway can receive. We have inherited a challenging situation that we must solve them, says Justice and Public Security Minister Anders Anundsen.
Despite this, the government has decided an additional quota of 500 places for Syrian refugees, in addition to the annual quota. This means in total 1000 Syrians will be accepted as refugee next year.
