Immigration regulation - StatRes (discontinued), 2010

The total expenditure was NOK 4.3 billion in 2010. This is an increase of 10 per cent from the previous year, and almost triple that of the total expenditure in 2007.

NOK 3 billion of the total expenditure was spent on the purchase of residence places at private and municipal refugee reception centres. The government’s expenditure for the purchase of such places was more than three times higher in 2010 than in 2007.

28 per cent spent on operating expenses

The operating expenses, which are referred to as own production in the statistics, made up 28 per cent of the total expenditure, or just over NOK 1.2 billion. This breaks down to NOK 940 million spent by the UDI and NOK 270 million spent by the UNE. In 2010, the operating expenses were 2 per cent higher than the previous year, but as much as 64 per cent higher than in 2007. While the operating expenses increased substantially in both 2008 and 2009, there was no major increase last year.

Investment expenditure constituted the remaining 2 per cent of the total expenditure.

More man-years

The total number of contracted man-years in immigration regulation in 2010 was 1 372, excluding long-term absences. Of this, 1 051 were in the UDI and 321 were in the UNE. This is 60 more contracted man-years than the previous year; an increase of 5 per cent. In the UDI, there were 20 more fewer man-years, while the UNE had an increase of 40 man-years. However, many more man-years were used in 2010 compared to 2007. The UDI used 45 per cent more man-years, and the UNE used twice as many as in 2007, giving a total increase of 57 per cent.

Stable number of processed cases

The total number of cases processed by the UDI in 2010 was 95 000. This is a fall of 9 000 cases from the previous year, but similar to the figure for 2007. The number of asylum cases processed in 2010, however, was more than double that of 2007, which is offset by no change or a reduction for most other types of cases in the same period. The UNE also saw a large increase in the number of asylum cases processed from 2007 to 2010, and a fall or no change for other types of cases.

Despite the relative stability in the number of cases processed, operating expenses and man-years have both increased considerably. This is mainly due to a change in the composition of cases; there are now far more asylum cases, and these require more resources to process than other cases. The statistics on unit costs show that it cost the UDI an average of NOK 17 000 to process an asylum case in 2010, excluding the expenditure for residence places. This is NOK 2 000 more than in 2009, but NOK 2 000 less than in 2007.

Increase in processing time for the most common types of cases

The processing time by the UDI for asylum cases was 198 days in 2010. This is an increase of 29 days from the previous year, but 8 days less than in 2007. The processing time for family reunification cases was 159 days in 2010. This is an increase of 26 days from the previous year, and 50 days compared with 2007. For the two other major types of cases; Work and residence including EEA and Citizenship , the increase in the processing time from 2007 to 2010 was even greater, with 50 and 80 per cent respectively. In order to measure the processing time, the median processing time is used, which is how long it took to complete the processing of half of the cases in the UDI.

The processing time for asylum cases in the UNE was six and a half months in 2010. This is the same as in 2009, but four months less than in 2007. For most other types of cases, the processing time in the UNE is, however, the same or longer compared with 2007 and 2009.

Fewer first-time immigrants need residence permits

In 2010, 74 000 persons immigrated to Norway, which is 12 000 more than in 2007. Of these, 61 000 were first-time immigrants, which is 9 000 more than three years earlier.

The share of first-time immigrants that needed a residence permit was 38 per cent in 2010. This is a much lower share than in both 2007 and 2008, when as many as 85 per cent of the first-time immigrants in Norway needed a residence permit. This fall is mainly due to the requirement for non-Nordic EEA nationals to have a residence permit being discontinued on 1 October 2009, with some exceptions for nationals of Rumania and Bulgaria. The non-Nordic EEA nationals now only need to register with the immigration administration.