This involves, amongst others, pregnant students, divorcees and job-seekers married to Danes. In many of the cases the individuals have applied for social benefits in their country of residence.

Common grounds for deportation are, for example, that those involved do not have sufficient affiliation to their country of residence, the Citizens' and Consumer Rights Committee were told when Johan Lindblad from the Secretariat for the Freedom of Movement Forum presented the issue on Wednesday 27 January.

One example is a Norwegian student in Denmark who became pregnant with her Danish partner. She had to take a break in her studies and was told by the municipality that she had to give up her student place in order to receive cash benefit. Without a student place she was not able to receive a Norwegian student loan. It turned out that she had been in Denmark for too short a time to be eligible for cash benefit in Denmark, and was therefore sent home to Norway.

Several of the cases gathered by Hello Norden are complicated judgements and interpretation of the rules seems to have become stricter.

The Nordic Convention of 1994 states that all Nordic citizens have the right to live in another Nordic country.

The Committee now calls for the Nordic governments to produce more documentation in such deportations in order to take the matter further, and possibly to re-visit the convention to formulate it more clearly so that it is less open for interpretation.

The committee will raise the issue at its April meeting in Oslo.

Silje Bergum Kinsten
Phone +45 33 96 02 51
Email siki@norden.org