Relocation is the EU effort to help ease the situation in European countries experiencing a high number of asylum seekers. UDI selects asylum seekers residing in an EU country and transfer them to Norway, where their application for asylum is processed.

It varies from year to year how many asylum seekers are relocated to Norway and from which countries we receive asylum seekers. It has been decided that Norway will relocate 200 asylum seekers in 2023. The 200 people will be selected from among asylum seekers in Greece (75 people), Cyprus (50 people) and Italy (75 people).

Who can be relocated?

In order to be relocated, the applicant must be registered as an asylum seeker in the country they are staying in and consent to the application being transferred to Norway for processing.

Those who are relocated to Norway are adult applicants, and accompanying children, who will most likely have their application for protection in Norway accepted. This means that they must meet certain criteria:
• identity is sufficiently proven
• there is a high probability that the applicant has a need for protection
• it is unlikely that there are reasons to exclude the applicant from refugee status
• it is unlikely that the application for asylum could affect key national interests

You will find more information about the criteria and implementation of relocation of asylum seekers to Norway in the instructions from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security (external website) (only in Norwegian).

The difference between relocated asylum seekers and resettlement refugees

Asylum seekers who are relocated to Norway are not resettlement refugees (quota refugees). The biggest difference is that resettlement refugees’ applications are processed before they come to Norway.

Those who are relocated apply for protection in Norway and their applications are processed after they arrive in Norway.

This means that those who are relocated must wait for a response to their application, and have the same waiting time as the applicants who have come to Norway on their own.