8 The way forward

In this white paper, the Government has provided an account of the scope and nature of Norway’s consular services today. As is made clear, the Foreign Service devotes substantial resources to this work, which includes crisis management, an area where the Foreign Ministry’s capacity has been significantly increased in recent years.

Since the publication of the previous white paper on consular assistance in 2011, various developments and trends have made it necessary to consider whether the level and nature of consular assistance currently provided is appropriate or whether adjustments are needed. Today, for example, there are more Norwegians staying or living in other countries, as a result of both dual citizenship and changing travel and settlement patterns; crisis preparedness has become more resource-intensive; and digital advances have made it possible to provide services from Norway that previously could only be offered at the local level.

The demand for consular services is expected to increase in the years ahead, and this includes assistance with leaving a crisis-affected area. In order to prevent an even greater gap between the expectations of Norwegian citizens abroad and the actual services the Norwegian authorities can offer, it is important to ensure that there is general understanding and acceptance of the types of consular services that can be provided and who is eligible to receive assistance.

In the Government’s view, consular assistance must continue to be based on the principles of individual responsibility and self-help. The Government considers it important to emphasise that these principles apply even before a trip abroad is undertaken, and will take steps to strengthen what can be defined as preventive consular assistance. For example, in connection with the presentation of this white paper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to replace the term ‘travel advice’ with ‘travel warning’.

The Government will seek to establish closer alignment between travel warnings and the types of consular assistance people can expect to receive. If, for example, someone chooses to ignore a warning about staying in a certain area and does not take advantage of the opportunities to leave on their own while this is still possible, they cannot expect to receive consular assistance or be offered assisted departure at a later date.

The Government will continue to give priority to providing assistance to Norwegians staying abroad for a short period rather than those who are permanently resident in another country, and will carry out a review to consider in more detail whether to establish clearer criteria for required ties to Norway, in addition to Norwegian citizenship, in order to qualify to receive consular assistance, including assisted departure.

There is a need to put in place clearer guidelines setting out the cases in which assisted departure is to be offered to foreign citizens. Here, consideration must be given among other things to the risk that entry into Norway may circumvent important provisions in the immigration legislation. The Government will propose a set of guidelines for this after this white paper has been debated by the Storting.

Consular cooperation with the other Nordic countries and the EU will be further developed in areas where this is considered appropriate. Crisis management is one area where this is particularly relevant.

The Foreign Service provides a range of services to the public, often on behalf of other Norwegian ministries or government agencies. These will be streamlined and digitised as far as possible. For example, responsibility for approval of seafarers’ doctors may be transferred to the Norwegian Maritime Authority, and consideration will be given to how to simplify and digitise notifications of deaths and how to achieve better use of resources in connection with providing information about elections and advance voting at missions abroad.

To maintain the necessary quality and security in connection with the issuing of passports, and to ensure optimal use of resources, it will in future no longer be possible to apply for an ordinary passport at all embassies or consulates general, but these missions will still be able to issue emergency passports. In the long term, the Government will assess whether to outsource receipt of applications for passport renewals to an external service provider, or to digitise this service, as certain other European countries have done.

The honorary consulates are part of our consular and crisis preparedness system. They are an important resource, available at a relatively low cost. In the Government’s view, there is a need to carry out a review of the system of honorary consulates; a clearer framework for administration of the consulates and clarification of what they are expected to provide as regards both traditional and new tasks will make it possible to use resources more effectively.

The review of Norway’s current consular practices has revealed that some of the regulatory framework in this area is outdated or imprecise. The types of consular assistance individual Norwegians can expect to receive and the services the Foreign Service is to be able to provide must be clearly defined. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has therefore initiated a review of the instructions and legislation with a view to further clarifying the consular framework.

Under the current rules, expenses incurred by the Foreign Service in connection with the provision of consular assistance are covered by the Norwegian authorities, whereas the individuals concerned are required to cover their own expenses. This will continue to be the case. Exceptions may be made in complex, acute crisis situations. The Norwegian authorities may demand reimbursement of their expenses in cases where gross negligence has been shown by the individuals receiving assistance.

The Government will continue to give priority to providing professional consular services to Norwegians abroad and to ensuring sound use of resources.