4,184 Syrians received Norwegian citizenship in 2022, and a total of 39,246 were granted, according to Directorate of Immigration figures for last year.

The top list is also citizens of Poland (3,752), Eritrea (3,587), Sweden (3,237) and Russia (1,720).

More than nine in ten, 94 per cent, of applicants accept their application for Norwegian citizenship. From most countries, more than 90 percent of applicants have received their application for citizenship. 143 stateless people were granted Norwegian citizenship in 2022, but only 74 per cent of them applied.

Seven years since the refugee crisis

Of Norway’s other neighbours, there will be 894 Danes, 472 Finns and 400 Icelanders who will receive Norwegian passports in 2022.

The number of Syrians granted Norwegian citizenship has increased markedly from 2021, when the figure was only 1,355. The general rule is that you must have lived in Norway for eight years to obtain Norwegian citizenship, but for asylum seekers the rule is seven years.

In 2022, seven years since the refugee crisis in 2015, when more than 10,500 Syrian asylum seekers came to Norway, this may affect the numbers.

The ban was lifted in 2020

In 2021, a total of 4,086 Swedes will be granted citizenship. In the past, countries like Somalia and Eritrea topped the list.

At the turn of 2019–2020, the general ban on dual citizenship in Norway was lifted, so you no longer need to give up your citizenship in another country to acquire Norwegian citizenship. Prior to this, Norwegian citizens could also be citizens of other countries.

Since then, the number of citizenships granted has exploded. In 2019, the last year before the changes to the rules went into effect, only 13,169 Norwegian nationalities were granted. In 2020, the number was 19,469 and in 2021, 41,030 people received Norwegian citizenship.