When someone’s permit is revoked or the refugee status ceased, this means that the person loses the permit that he or she had previously been granted. Temporary residence permits, permanent residence permits and Norwegian citizenships can be revoked or ceased.
A common reason for a permit being revoked or ceased is that the circumstances have changed since the permit was granted. In such cases, very few appeals are granted. Many people who lose their permits must return to their home countries.
We distinguish between revocation of a permit and cessation of refugee status.
What does it mean that your refugee status is ceased?
Cessation of refugee status and residence permit is assessed when a person no longer needs protection in Norway. A refugee status may cease either through the actions of the refugee or through fundamental changes in the objective circumstances in the home country. A permit may also cease when someone with refugee status has been convicted of a criminal offence and grounds for expulsion are considered. The Immigration Act § 37 (lovdata.no) stipulates the cessation clauses.
What does it mean to have a permit revoked?
Revocation of a permit is assessed when we receive notification that a person has provided incorrect information in order to obtain a residence permit in Norway. This might be, for example, if someone has lied about their identity in order to be granted a permit. The Immigration Act § 63 (lovdata.no) stipulates in which cases a permit can be revoked.
Revocation of a permit, or parts of it, may also be assessed if conditions or basic prerequisites for the permit are violated during the permit period. This could be the case, for example, if a person has been granted a permit to live with their spouse and then the spouses separate. That means that the conditions for the permit, that spouses need to liver together, are no longer met and the permit may be revoked.
Revocation of citizenship
All cases regarding revocation of citizenship will be considered at a board hearing. If this applies to you, it means that you will be asked to come to UNE to give an oral statement before a decision is made in your case.
What do we consider?
A lot of cases concern people who have been granted a permit on specific conditions, but whose situation has changed so that they no longer meet the conditions to hold the permit. This could be, for example, a person who was granted a permit for full-time studies that also allowed him or her to work for a specific number of hours. If he or she has worked more than the permit allows, the permit can be revoked. Others may have been granted a permit to work for a specific employer. If they have worked for several employers, or for a different employer, the permit can be revoked. Some people are granted permits to live with their spouse. These people can lose their permits if they leave their spouse.
Even if a person has been granted asylum, it is not certain that they will keep their permit permanently. The right to asylum is temporary, and the permit can be revoked in certain cases. One common reason is that changes have taken place in the home country that means that the person no longer needs protection. This must be a major change that has lasted for a certain time. It must be safe to return to the home country. We will not revoke a permit in the event of small and temporary changes that do not alter the political or security situation in a way that makes it sufficiently safe to return.
In June 2017, two cases concerning applicants from Mogadishu in Somalia was assessed by UNE in a Grand Board meeting. The Grand Board concluded that the security situation in Mogadishu had changed significantly over the past five years, and that the change was of a sufficient duration for many refugees to return. Read the Grand Board decision here.
Neither will a person lose a permit if he or she has special cause to object to being returned due to previous persecution. In practice, it will take a lot for this to form the basis for a decision not to revoke a permit.
If a person loses a permit, we will always consider whether he or she may be granted a new one. For example, a permit may be granted on humanitarian grounds. The best interests of the child are important in this assessment.
We sometimes discover that people have provided incorrect information about their identity and where they come from. These people risk losing their permits and/or Norwegian citizenship. They can also lose their refugee status. An example might be a person who has stated that he or she comes from a country with an unclarified security situation and who has therefore been granted protection or a residence permit on humanitarian grounds. It later emerges that the person comes from a different country and he or she would not have been granted a residence permit in Norway if the correct information had been provided.
In other cases, we discover that a person who has married someone who has a permit in Norway or is a Norwegian citizen has done so for the purpose of being granted a permit here. In such cases, we must consider whether the most important reason for the marriage was to be granted a residence permit in Norway. We assess the reasons for the marriage, but events that took place later may also be significant.
Incorrect information about other matters of importance to being granted a permit can also lead to a permit being revoked. For example, it might be that someone does not have the professional qualifications they claimed to have.
Withholding important information can also lead to the revocation of a residence permit. For instance, individuals who have failed to disclose that they previously applied for a visa or residence permit in Norway under a different identity. Another example is individuals failing to mention that they have a residence permit in another safe country in their application for protection in Norway.
People who lose their permit because they have given incorrect information can also be expelled.
No. The permit can be revoked if the conditions are met. It is up to us to make the correct decision in each case. We have to consider the consequences that losing the permit or citizenship will have for the person in question and his or her immediate family. We must also consider the consequences it will have for other cases if we do not revoke the permit. For example, giving incorrect information about your identity is a very serious matter. Revocation can help to prevent others from giving incorrect information. We will therefore often revoke permits in cases of this kind, even if it has major consequences for the person in question and his or her family.
No. The cessation of refugee status may apply if the conditions are met. It is up to us to make the correct decision in each case. We have to make sure in an objective and verifiable way that the situation which justified the granting of refugee status has ceased to exist. We also have to consider the consequences that cessation of the status will have for the person in question and his or her immediate family.
We will consider whether a person may be granted a new permit if we revoke the one they had, or their Norwegian citizenship. In such cases, we will often grant permits on humanitarian grounds. We do not grant many permits of this kind. If a person with refugee status has their permit revoked we will asess whether the person should be granted a new permit due to the need for protection.
We do not normally consider granting new permits to persons who have been expelled.
UNE does not reverse many decisions. The most common reason for us reversing a decision is that we receive new information that shows that the decision to revoke the permit was incorrect. Such information could be new documentation submitted or that the appeal contains new arguments that present the case in a different light when we consider it.
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