NEWS

The work on changing the law and allowing dual citizenship is in the pipeline. It’s still unclear when such a change will be passed in parliament, and thus uncertain when it will be enacted. A probable estimate would be during 2019 or 2020.

Here’s an overview of the process ahead.

1) Departmental hearing

Right before Christmas 2017, the Ministry of Justice released their proposed new law on allowing dual citizenship for a departmental hearing. This means that anyone with an interest in the law can submit their input by March 20, 2018.

Since then, there has been some major changes in the government apparatus, and the responsibility for integration, and therefore also dual citizenship, has been moved to the Ministry of Education. This does not seem to have any implications on the hearing, but there is a possibility that the move could affect the timeframe of the legislative work.

2) Revised law is assigned to parliament

When the departmental hearing is completed in March, it will be up to the Ministry of Education to prepare a final law proposal for Stortinget (parliament). The timeframe for this legislative work is difficult to estimate, as it varies from proposal to proposal, from one month to several years. This uncertainty stresses the importance of putting pressure on the government to release their proposed law for parliamentary debate as early as possible.

3) A parliamentary committee is assigned

When a new law proposal is released for parliamentary debate, the presidency (parliamentary leadership) will assign a committee that will present a recommendation for the parliamentary floor.

4) Parliamentary process and debate

The assigned committee is most likely to be the Local Government and Public Administration Committee. From the law reaches the committee to the law is passed, it will take a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on the time of the year and other legislative work.

5) New law enacted

When the law is passed in parliament, it will take at least one year before it takes effect. Norway is bound by a European convention, which means we will wait one year before this convention is rescinded.

We therefore estimate that it will be possible to apply for dual citizenship by 2019 or 2020.