Good evening. I write from the North Pennines close to the Cumbria/ Northumberland border in the far North of England. My name is Ian Pennell and I am a 55-year old Book-keeper who lives near the village of Nenthead, over 400 metres above sea-level. I have read some of the articles on your website about Norway with interest, but before one can move to and live in Norway (or just spend time in the country) one has to get into the country in the first place. And from the UK that has become harder since Brexit, as you allude to in a couple of your articles.

I have visited Norway four times in my life and it is indeed a beautiful country, and I hope to visit again next month when I hope to join my brothers on a trip right up to Svalbard. I have included a link to an article that I have produced on a website that I have that covers various topics about what should be covered in Regional TV in northernmost parts of England. Chief amongst these is the Norwegian connection to folk who live in Scotland, Northumberland and Tyneside with Norway- through the oil and fishing industry, travel and family connections.

The article that I have on my Website (which you will be welcome to read, and which you might find interesting) and which I have reproduced in Norwegian with the help of a professional translator does concern something that is going to impinge sharply upon potentially a million folk who just want to travel from northern Britain to Scandinavia, not just Norway. And that is ETIAS, starting sometime this year.

The proposed new Visa Waiver System for the entire Schengen Area, ETIAS (which stands for the European Travel and Information Authorisation System) will be similar to the ESTA Visa Waiver System for anyone wanting to visit the USA. We are not talking about folk moving to Norway, just someone from, say, Tyneside wanting to visit the Norwegian flords for a short break. ETIAS, as it will be designed, will screen out people who are considered a threat from the entire Schengen Area- and after Brexit Britain (including northern Britain) is included in the territories from where an ETIAS will be required for travel to Norway.

Published literature on ETIAS states that anyone convicted of serious crimes would be refused an ETIAS Visa Waiver, but my understanding is that this will be down to the discretion of the officials and that, if one has to state that one has been conviced of an offence it is likely to lead to rejection. No consideration is likely to be made of circumstances leading to an automatic- barring crime (i.e., a battered wife who kills her abusive husband, or an austisitc man who lashes out at his tormentors)- some patently unfair rejections will happen.

Meanwhile a Greek Islamic terrorist or a Portuguese paedophile- from very different cultures and with even less affinity to Norway (and thus perhaps more dangerous to Norway) would be at liberty to travel to Norway with nothing more than an ID card. While people, families and colleagues of Norwegian folk who live in Scotland or NE England will be banned from coming to Norway to visit friends and family (on the basis of unfortunate circumstances in their lives). I am not talking about murderers, paedophiles and terrorists here, just those who have had a fight in their youth or reacted badly to extreme provocation: ETIAS will have the potential to cause massive and serious problems for many folk who have ties with Norway- or indeed anywhere else in the Schengen Area.

As I say, arbitrary and unfair: How is it that the Norwegian authorities have allowed themselves to be open to countries that are very different (including in such countries some groups even hostile to Norway) whilst putting up barriers against a country that helped rescue them from Hitler’s Germany in the Second World War and whose language (English) that they teach their kids at school?? Britain is amongst President Maduro’s Venezuela in the requirement of it’s citizens to be screened in this way before visitng Norway; Greeks and Portuguese can just come willy-nilly! This does not seem right or fair, but there we are: ETIAS is about to become a reality for any Scots or Northumbrians wanting to visit Norway. And if you’ve been a naughty boy in your youth then hard lines, you aint visitng Norway!

But ETIAS will also be denied to others, those who have over-stayed their 90-day limit in the Schengen Area, those who have links to any groups the Schengen Border authorities (FRONTEX) disapprove of, those who don’t fill in their ETIAS application form EXACTLY RIGHT who will also be rejected. As I say, out of the population of eight million who live in Scotland and North East England, a million are liable to end up rejeced for an ETIAS. Sure, there’s an appeal process and one could (eventually) apply for a Schengen Visa- and the entire process could take months and even then one could be turned down.

You may have your own take on ETIAS, and how it could impact on those who might wish to visit Norway. I certainly think this is a topic likely to become of interest, and relevance, to a lot of folk who might want to visit Norway not just from the UK, but from the USA and Canada too (as folk visiting from there will also need an ETIAS). And it’s going to be a major impact for a lot of people with connections to Norway. There will, in time, be a real need for articles warning of the need to get an ETIAS Visa Waiver well before travelling, how and which Schengen countries to apply to travel to to maximise one’s chances of getting an ETIAS, how to prepare and fill in the ETIAS in a way that maximises one’s chance of being accepted. And how best to get a rejection overturned on appeal.

Also, on the subject of Norway are the islands of Svalbard (or Spitzbergen) right up in the Arctic Ocean which are nevertheless part of Norway. Technically, it ought to be perfectly possible for someone from Britain to go to Svalbard for an Arctic adventure even if they are rejected for an ETIAS. That’s because Svalbard, though part of Norway, is not part of the Schengen Area and also because Britons should not legally need to have a Visa or Passport to visit Svalbard. That’s because Britain is a signatory of the 1923 Svalbard Treaty which allows for Britons to go there to visit just as much as folk from mainland Norway or any other part of Europe to visit. In practice, however a British citizen will need an ETIAS to travel to Svalbard because the only realistic way of getting to Svalbard is via mainland Norway, i.e., Oslo Gardermoen Airport and Tromsø Airport. That said, the Svalbard Treaty is still valid and it should be possible for a group of Britons denied an ETIAS to raise the funds needed to charter a flight from the Shetland Isles to Svalbard direct- and with the help of a good attorney it should be granted totally legal to do that. The possibility of folk getting to Svalbard without an ETIAS might be a topic that you are interested in exploring.

All the best, please keep up this excellent website.

Ian Pennell