The sanctions from UN, US and EU contain no reference to the residence status of Iranian students in other countries. Also the UDI recent actions do not reflect the tolerance, openness, anti-discriminatory and traditional Norwegian values that everybody has come to know and appreciate.
We request that the Norwegian government compel the UDI to reconsider the deportation decision and visa application rejection of the Iranian highly educated nationals in Norway.
----------
Fulltekst på norsk
Stopp den urettferdige utkastelsen av høyt utdannede iranske statsborgere
UDI har nylig satt en begrensning på fornyelse og utstedelse av visum og oppholdstillatelse for iranske studenter og faglærte. Som en konsekvens har dette først ført til at antallet iranske PhD studenter ved NTNU har sunket fra 39 i 2012 til tre i 2013. Bare ni masterstudenter av 35 innvilgede studenter møtte frem i fjor. Årsaken var at de ikke fikk innvilget visum for å komme inn til Norge, til tross for deres gode akademiske vitnemål som var bakgrunnen for at NTNU gjerne ville ha dem som ansatte eller studenter.
Men historien stopper ikke der. I det siste har situasjonen blitt enda verre, med minst fem PhD-studenter og nyutdannede ansatt på bakgrunn av sine gode faglige egenskaper som har blitt nektet fornyelse av midlertidig oppholdstillatelse, og de sitter med dette igjen uten noe annet valg enn å forlate Norge i juni 2014.
Disse menneskene har bodd og jobbet i Norge i flere år uten noen form for problemer, og nå må de forlate landet bare fordi de ble født i en del av verden som kalles for Iran.
Disse handlingene fra UDI er tilsynelatende koblet til bestemte aktiviteter utført av regjeringen i Iran. De restriktive tiltakene fra FN, USA og EU inneholder overhodet ingen referanse hva gjelder oppholdstillatelse til vanlige iranske personer eller iranske studenter i andre land.
Studentene og de akademisk ansatte som blir nektet oppholdstillatelse har ingen tilknytning til den iranske regjering, og de blir behandlet annerledes bare med bakgrunn i sin nasjonalitet.
Vi ser på handlingene UDI driver med som en diskriminerende, meningsløs og urettferdig straff av iranere. Denne politikken fører til tvangsutsendelse av mange dyktige og høyt utdannede personer, noe som vil ha negative konsekvenser for norske universiteter, og som vil begrense det norske samfunnets tilgang på det som er noen av verdens mest talentfulle unge mennesker innen sine fagfelt.
Disse handlingene reflekterer ikke toleranse, åpenhet, anti-diskriminering og de tradisjonelle norske verdiene som alle har kommet til å kjenne og verdsette, inkludert iranere som er gjester i Norge.
Vi ber om at den norske regjering pålegger UDI å revurdere beslutningen om deportasjon og avslag på visumsøknad, og å fjerne alle disse urettferdige restriksjonene på liv og studier i Norge for høyt utdannede iranske personer som kom hit for å bidra til en lysere fremtid for dem selv og til det beste for samfunnet.
----------
Full text in English
Stop the Unjustified Embargo of Residence Permit Applications for Highly Educated Iranian Nationals
UDI has recently restricted the renewal and issuance of visa and resident permit for Iranian students and skilled workers. As a consequence, this resulted first in decrease of Iranian PhD students at NTNU from 39 in 2012 to 3 in 2013 and only 9 master students out of 35 admitted students showed up last year. They did not manage to get visa to enter Norway, despite of their good academic records which helped them to get the admission from the university.
But this is not the whole story. It gets even worse these days, where at least 5 PhD students and new graduates employed as skilled worker are denied for renewing their temporary resident permit, leaving them with no choice but to leave Norway in June 2014.
These people lived and worked in Norway for few years without any problem and now have to leave the country just for being born in a part of the world called Iran.
These actions by UDI are apparently linked to certain activities of the government of Iran. The restrictive measures from UN, US and EU contain no reference whatsoever to the residence status of ordinary Iranian people or Iranian students in other countries.
The students and skilled worker who are denied resident permit have no connection to the Iranian government and they are treated differently only due to their national origin.
We find the actions of the UDI, discriminatory, meritless, and unjustly punitive of Iranian people. The resulting policy amounts to the forced emigration of many skilled and educated people, which will have negative ramifications for Norwegian universities and will also, limit the contribution of one of the most talented foreign highly-educated population to the Norwegian society.
The action does not reflect the tolerance, openness, anti-discriminatory and traditional Norwegian values that everybody has come to know and appreciate, including Iranians as guests in Norway.
We, the undersigned, request that the Norwegian government compel the UDI to reconsider the deportation decision and visa application rejection and remove all these unfair restrictions on life and study of the Iranian highly educated nationals in Norway who came here to contribute in a bright future, for their own good and the good of the society.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
May 25, 2014
May 22, 2014
We hit one hundred signatures while the UDI continues to ruin lives with their blatant discrimination. These bureaucrats need to understand that we are not shrinking away while they destroy the futures of Iranian students.
May 21, 2014
The massive surge in support proves that people are finally waking up to the shameful discrimination coming from the UDI. We are building the kind of pressure that the Norwegian government can no longer ignore.
May 20, 2014
The UDI continues to hide behind vague policies while destroying the futures of brilliant students who just want to study. I am spending my days forcing these bureaucrats to look at the human cost of their xenophobic gatekeeping. Do not let them think we are going to quiet down just because they ignore our emails.
Reached 100 supporters
May 20, 2014
28 Comments
I cannot believe it's Norway of all countries that comes up with such discrimination. It is highly unfair to have to be punished for the actions of a government that we don't even support and have chosen to live away from! The reason behind the large number of Iranians coming to Norway is that the young generation have had been facing major crisis since 2009 and many have made attempts to immigrate similar to the Iran and Iraq war! We are not spies.. we are just regular people fighting for a better future in the best way possible! work and education!!!! Shouldn't we be entitled to some respect just as any other nationality?
As many times Norwegian authorities and universities officials verified, the Iranian are one of the most high educated nationalities in Norway as foreigners. They are attempting to improve the Norwegian scientific communities and develop Norwegian industry as well. So,it is not fair to behave Iranian students like criminals just because of their government. Stop education discrimination.
Dear christian, I am one of the rejected phds! We respect all regulations of all countries. If the law here is to restrict iranian students in studying in some sensitive fields, ok(it is not reasonable ) but it is not our problem. We are saying it is Pst's job to go through the detail of projects and see if it is a sensitive field or it has sth to do with mass destructive weapones or not! They should not reject all iranians without looking into detail! That this is discrimination! But they did this in our cases! Our supervisors are experts in our fields. They admit it is not sensitive at all! I am working on ferromamganese production. We already have two ferromangamese producers in iran and i am using iranian papers as refrences!at least in my field, there is no technology to transfer!
Everybody understand the Norwegian concerns particularly, the guys who are living here as foreigners. However national security is not acquired by sacrificing the innocent and ordinary students. At the initial point, it is good to consider followings: 1- There is no any relevancy at all, between the program of students who got rejection and the military purposes or nuclear field. 2- According to Norwegian law every single application should process individually and any sign of criminality or danger should be proved. 3- We are all in Norway, The country which grants the Nobel peace award, the country which is head of talking about and claiming human's rights.
Well said! Thank you! They really need to consider the competition over the western countries to absorb the most qualified students; in which US and Canada would be the most "attractive" of all for Iranians based on different criteria such as lifestyle! I would also like to add that many Iranians chose to come to Norway for studies (including me) since Sweden set tuition for International students. Before that Sweden was the choice for most.. It all shows that it's for financial benefits no other reason!
Please help us to reach 2000 signatures!
If there is any law against studying of Iranians ? please get this to public, then we will see how your people react to this! I recently applied to several universities but all of them say that the the maximum degree for Iranian(in my field) is M.D .Means, we cant study in PHD level ,because we are IRANIAN. HEY...! Thats rediculous !
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The sanctions from UN, US and EU contain no reference to the residence status of Iranian students in other countries. Also the UDI recent actions do not reflect the tolerance, openness, anti-discriminatory and traditional Norwegian values that everybody has come to know and appreciate.
We request that the Norwegian government compel the UDI to reconsider the deportation decision and visa application rejection of the Iranian highly educated nationals in Norway.
----------
Fulltekst på norsk
Stopp den urettferdige utkastelsen av høyt utdannede iranske statsborgere
UDI har nylig satt en begrensning på fornyelse og utstedelse av visum og oppholdstillatelse for iranske studenter og faglærte. Som en konsekvens har dette først ført til at antallet iranske PhD studenter ved NTNU har sunket fra 39 i 2012 til tre i 2013. Bare ni masterstudenter av 35 innvilgede studenter møtte frem i fjor. Årsaken var at de ikke fikk innvilget visum for å komme inn til Norge, til tross for deres gode akademiske vitnemål som var bakgrunnen for at NTNU gjerne ville ha dem som ansatte eller studenter.
Men historien stopper ikke der. I det siste har situasjonen blitt enda verre, med minst fem PhD-studenter og nyutdannede ansatt på bakgrunn av sine gode faglige egenskaper som har blitt nektet fornyelse av midlertidig oppholdstillatelse, og de sitter med dette igjen uten noe annet valg enn å forlate Norge i juni 2014.
Disse menneskene har bodd og jobbet i Norge i flere år uten noen form for problemer, og nå må de forlate landet bare fordi de ble født i en del av verden som kalles for Iran.
Disse handlingene fra UDI er tilsynelatende koblet til bestemte aktiviteter utført av regjeringen i Iran. De restriktive tiltakene fra FN, USA og EU inneholder overhodet ingen referanse hva gjelder oppholdstillatelse til vanlige iranske personer eller iranske studenter i andre land.
Studentene og de akademisk ansatte som blir nektet oppholdstillatelse har ingen tilknytning til den iranske regjering, og de blir behandlet annerledes bare med bakgrunn i sin nasjonalitet.
Vi ser på handlingene UDI driver med som en diskriminerende, meningsløs og urettferdig straff av iranere. Denne politikken fører til tvangsutsendelse av mange dyktige og høyt utdannede personer, noe som vil ha negative konsekvenser for norske universiteter, og som vil begrense det norske samfunnets tilgang på det som er noen av verdens mest talentfulle unge mennesker innen sine fagfelt.
Disse handlingene reflekterer ikke toleranse, åpenhet, anti-diskriminering og de tradisjonelle norske verdiene som alle har kommet til å kjenne og verdsette, inkludert iranere som er gjester i Norge.
Vi ber om at den norske regjering pålegger UDI å revurdere beslutningen om deportasjon og avslag på visumsøknad, og å fjerne alle disse urettferdige restriksjonene på liv og studier i Norge for høyt utdannede iranske personer som kom hit for å bidra til en lysere fremtid for dem selv og til det beste for samfunnet.
----------
Full text in English
Stop the Unjustified Embargo of Residence Permit Applications for Highly Educated Iranian Nationals
UDI has recently restricted the renewal and issuance of visa and resident permit for Iranian students and skilled workers. As a consequence, this resulted first in decrease of Iranian PhD students at NTNU from 39 in 2012 to 3 in 2013 and only 9 master students out of 35 admitted students showed up last year. They did not manage to get visa to enter Norway, despite of their good academic records which helped them to get the admission from the university.
But this is not the whole story. It gets even worse these days, where at least 5 PhD students and new graduates employed as skilled worker are denied for renewing their temporary resident permit, leaving them with no choice but to leave Norway in June 2014.
These people lived and worked in Norway for few years without any problem and now have to leave the country just for being born in a part of the world called Iran.
These actions by UDI are apparently linked to certain activities of the government of Iran. The restrictive measures from UN, US and EU contain no reference whatsoever to the residence status of ordinary Iranian people or Iranian students in other countries.
The students and skilled worker who are denied resident permit have no connection to the Iranian government and they are treated differently only due to their national origin.
We find the actions of the UDI, discriminatory, meritless, and unjustly punitive of Iranian people. The resulting policy amounts to the forced emigration of many skilled and educated people, which will have negative ramifications for Norwegian universities and will also, limit the contribution of one of the most talented foreign highly-educated population to the Norwegian society.
The action does not reflect the tolerance, openness, anti-discriminatory and traditional Norwegian values that everybody has come to know and appreciate, including Iranians as guests in Norway.
We, the undersigned, request that the Norwegian government compel the UDI to reconsider the deportation decision and visa application rejection and remove all these unfair restrictions on life and study of the Iranian highly educated nationals in Norway who came here to contribute in a bright future, for their own good and the good of the society.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
May 25, 2014
May 22, 2014
We hit one hundred signatures while the UDI continues to ruin lives with their blatant discrimination. These bureaucrats need to understand that we are not shrinking away while they destroy the futures of Iranian students.
May 21, 2014
The massive surge in support proves that people are finally waking up to the shameful discrimination coming from the UDI. We are building the kind of pressure that the Norwegian government can no longer ignore.
May 20, 2014
The UDI continues to hide behind vague policies while destroying the futures of brilliant students who just want to study. I am spending my days forcing these bureaucrats to look at the human cost of their xenophobic gatekeeping. Do not let them think we are going to quiet down just because they ignore our emails.
Reached 100 supporters
May 20, 2014
28 Comments
I believe Norway as a free country should not restrict anyone from free education based on the political reason. We are living in 21st century, in the era of communications and fast computers. It is impossible to curb one nation from data, information and science. The knowledge that we claim Iranians are seeking after here in Norway, can be found anywhere else even easier and more accessible! I can't understand in anyway that these new regulations can benefit anyone rather than destroying the image of the country and harming the innocent Iranian students.
I cannot believe it's Norway of all countries that comes up with such discrimination. It is highly unfair to have to be punished for the actions of a government that we don't even support and have chosen to live away from! The reason behind the large number of Iranians coming to Norway is that the young generation have had been facing major crisis since 2009 and many have made attempts to immigrate similar to the Iran and Iraq war! We are not spies.. we are just regular people fighting for a better future in the best way possible! work and education!!!! Shouldn't we be entitled to some respect just as any other nationality?
As many times Norwegian authorities and universities officials verified, the Iranian are one of the most high educated nationalities in Norway as foreigners. They are attempting to improve the Norwegian scientific communities and develop Norwegian industry as well. So,it is not fair to behave Iranian students like criminals just because of their government. Stop education discrimination.
Dear christian, I am one of the rejected phds! We respect all regulations of all countries. If the law here is to restrict iranian students in studying in some sensitive fields, ok(it is not reasonable ) but it is not our problem. We are saying it is Pst's job to go through the detail of projects and see if it is a sensitive field or it has sth to do with mass destructive weapones or not! They should not reject all iranians without looking into detail! That this is discrimination! But they did this in our cases! Our supervisors are experts in our fields. They admit it is not sensitive at all! I am working on ferromamganese production. We already have two ferromangamese producers in iran and i am using iranian papers as refrences!at least in my field, there is no technology to transfer!
Everybody understand the Norwegian concerns particularly, the guys who are living here as foreigners. However national security is not acquired by sacrificing the innocent and ordinary students. At the initial point, it is good to consider followings: 1- There is no any relevancy at all, between the program of students who got rejection and the military purposes or nuclear field. 2- According to Norwegian law every single application should process individually and any sign of criminality or danger should be proved. 3- We are all in Norway, The country which grants the Nobel peace award, the country which is head of talking about and claiming human's rights.
Well said! Thank you! They really need to consider the competition over the western countries to absorb the most qualified students; in which US and Canada would be the most "attractive" of all for Iranians based on different criteria such as lifestyle! I would also like to add that many Iranians chose to come to Norway for studies (including me) since Sweden set tuition for International students. Before that Sweden was the choice for most.. It all shows that it's for financial benefits no other reason!
Please help us to reach 2000 signatures!
If there is any law against studying of Iranians ? please get this to public, then we will see how your people react to this! I recently applied to several universities but all of them say that the the maximum degree for Iranian(in my field) is M.D .Means, we cant study in PHD level ,because we are IRANIAN. HEY...! Thats rediculous !
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I believe Norway as a free country should not restrict anyone from free education based on the political reason. We are living in 21st century, in the era of communications and fast computers. It is impossible to curb one nation from data, information and science. The knowledge that we claim Iranians are seeking after here in Norway, can be found anywhere else even easier and more accessible! I can't understand in anyway that these new regulations can benefit anyone rather than destroying the image of the country and harming the innocent Iranian students.