Instruction GI-08/2025 is a revision of previous guidance concerning Section 94(2) of the Norwegian Immigration Act, which allows asylum seekers to be exempted from the requirement of completing an asylum interview when applying for a temporary work permit, provided they are highly likely to receive protection in Norway under Section 28. The new instruction clarifies that if case processing is put on hold due to uncertainty about the situation in an applicant's country of origin or suspended under Section 33 because of expectations of improvement, the applicant should no longer be considered highly likely to receive protection. Consequently, such applicants will no longer meet the criteria for exemption from the interview requirement nor will they be eligible to renew temporary work permits already granted. The instruction reaffirms that the exemption applies primarily to applicants from countries with an asylum approval rate exceeding 80%, calculated based on decisions made in the past 6 months. Applications that are not substantively assessed, for example under the Dublin III Regulation, are excluded from this calculation. The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) is responsible for defining which applicant groups are covered by the exemption and must update its guidelines every 6 months or sooner if significant changes in approval rates occur.
