The UDI will now investigate asylum cases from Eritrea, to see if refugees participate in events in Norway, where they support the regime from which they have fled.

But it is almost impossible to force anyone to return to Eritrea after being exposed to cheating. In the last few years, about 80 people have had their residence permit withdrawn because they cheated, mainly with ID. Only one of them has returned to Eritrea.

Two weeks ago, NRK told about Norwegian Eritreans in Oslo celebrating the introduction of national service in Eritrea.

It is this national service that allows Eritreans to flee the country in the thousands and seek asylum, among others in Norway.

NRK’s ​​sources in the Eritrean environment in Norway say that there are several of these pictures that have come to Norway in the last 10-15 years and have been granted asylum here.

Almost impossible to forcibly return

As a result of NRK’s ​​reports, the government has instructed the UDI to review 150 random Eritrea cases again – to assess whether protection in Norway can be withdrawn.

But the UDI says it is virtually impossible to force anyone to return to Eritrea.

“This area, ie both Eritrea and Ethiopia, is one of the areas where it is most difficult for the police to forcibly return people,” says Frode Forfang, director of the UDI to NRK.

Losing rights in Norway

But even though the UDI does not get forced return eritters, Forfang emphasizes that loss of residence permit has serious consequences.

– It means, after all, that they lose all the rights it entails, such as the right to work, take education and the right to social benefits.

Forfang says that loss of residence permit due to various forms of cheating also has a signal effect that should not be underestimated.

According to the UDI, they have reason to believe that many of the approximately 80 people who have been granted their residence permit in recent years, to a large extent still live in Norway.

– Very difficult to prove

In other words, the UDI will now investigate whether there are Eritreans with asylum and who at the same time support the regime.

This becomes very difficult to prove, says Forfang.

– Finding sufficient evidence to actually withdraw a residence permit is not easy. It is not enough just to be pictured at an event organized by the regime. It will take a good deal more than that for us to obtain a residence permit, says the UDI director.