The new service centre for cross border workers in Kirkenes, have long been awaited for by local businesses in northern Norway which have troubles finding work force. With a service centre, case administration would faster and the red tape connected to employing foreign workers from outside EU/EEA would be reduced. However, at the opening of the office it has become clear that the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) will only be present in Kirkenes for two weeks.
− One of the main intentions of opening a service centre for cross border workers was to have UDI personnel present in Kirkenes to help the applicants and speed u the process. This is contradictory to what was promised by the Government one year ago. It is very disappointing to find out that this is not the case, says Monica Jerijervi who is board leader of the local business association to NRK.
UDI on the other hand, says that there are too few applications in Kirkenes to have a permanent UDI representative here. If the number of applicants increases, UDI will evaluate if there is ground for a permanent UDI representative in the future. However, UDI promise that follow up and case administration for applicants will be better after the opening of the service centre.
Rune Rafaelsen at the Norwegian Barents Secretariat says that the absence of UDI personnel at the service centre is a broken promise to what the government said last year. UDI’s decision lacks perspective of the future development, because with the huge growth in local industry the number of applications will grow.
