Iceland review - 2004, Page 40

38 ICELAND REVIEW
“You need an AIDS test,“ the doctor told me, as he prepared a needle
to draw blood from my arm.
This was five years ago, and I was at the doctor’s office for a physical
examination, a precursor to receiving a resident permit that would, af-
ter the proper signatures from the appropriate union, enable me to
write for this very magazine.
My blood would again be tested for hepatitis. Before it was all over,
the nurse would also prick my arm to test for TB.
Poked and prodded, the nurse then gave me a small plastic cup with a
set of instructions to take home. The guys in white lab coats needed a
stool sample to boot.
I left the office, filed through the waiting room past a slew of patients
speaking languages my ears couldn’t recognize. They were just like me,
waiting to be sampled so they too could receive a residence permit to
live and work in Iceland.
Based on the fact that I’m living in Iceland and writing this article I was
obviously successful in jumping over all the hurdles. But this spring,
Iceland followed the lead of so many other European countries by pass-
ing a new law restricting immigration. Because of the legislation, for-
eigners seeking to immigrate to Iceland now have higher hurdles to
jump, and there are many more of them.
Cracking Down
There are numerous aspects to the new immigration law, but the pri-
mary focus is on two areas of concern: fraudulent marriages, both fake
and forced marriages, and bogus residence permits. A fake marriage is
one conducted for the sole purpose of a residence permit while a
forced marriage is when a woman is sold or “forced“ into marriage
with an Icelander.
To safeguard against these types of marriages, the new law stipulates
that a foreigner aged 18-24 is not able to obtain a residence permit ba-
sed on marriage to an Icelander. (Why these ages were singled out
cannot be easily explained by anyone associated with the bill.) In addi-
tion, the burden to prove whether a marriage is legitimate is placed on
the couple rather than the State. Finally, the police, with a warrant, may
search a couple’s house if the police feel that couple is engaged in a false
marriage. (These laws only apply to “foreigners“ from non-EEA nations.)
While Iceland’s a pretty hip place for a writer like myself to live, are
there really scores of immigrants knocking on the door trying to get in
by falsifying marriages? Are women really being sold into marriages
with Icelandic men?
FOREIGNERS NEED NOT APPLY
Iceland’s parliament recently passed controversial
legislation to curb so called “phony“ marriages
and “bogus“ residence permits. Is the new immigration
bill an example of Draconian legislation or a
necessary safeguard?
By Edward Weinman Photos by Páll Stefánsson
IR_Immigration 11.6.2004 11:27 Page 38