“Nick Vs. Norway: fight has ended with Norwegian government being knocked out by yours truly, at the Supreme Court Of Appeal in May 2018.
I know that many of you were following this case and curious about details, so I decided to write little this article to answer most of your questions. I will try to quote the court verdict as close as possible, so you can have pure facts for your information.
I came to Norway in 2010 and had a temporary residence permit until 1stof October 2011 according to the rules for artists, cf. the Immigration Act section 26 first paragraph letter a and the Immigration Regulations (FOR-2009-10-15-1286) § 6-2.
I established the sole proprietorship in February 2011 and ran tattoo business as a self-employed from the premises of Lucky 7 Tattoo DA in Oslo. When I applied for a renewal of the temporary residence permit, it got refused by Immigration Directorate (UDI). I filed a complaint, and the work permit was eventually granted by the Immigration Commission's (UNE) on 10thof January 2014. It concluded that I can be regarded as self-employed under the Immigration Act section 25 and as skilled in accordance with section 6-18 of the Immigration Regulations, cf. § 6-1. All other conditions for my stay were also met by UNE's assessment. At that point the question of my professional competence was not explicitly considered.
When I applied for a renewal of the temporary residence permit, it got refused by UDI again. According to UDI's assessment, I was neither self-employed nor trained in the sense of immigration regulations.
UNE supported the rejection in decision of 2 March 2016, but with another reason. They maintained the assessment from 2014, saying that I had to be regarded as self-employed and skilled, but concluded that the work that I perform did not require any proficient skills. UNE held this position in decisions of 7 April and 2 May 2016
On 6 of April 2016, me and my wife, Nina Red, were ordered to leave Norway. We filed several complaints and requested “deferred implementation” but these documents were not accepted. (I believe that it was illegitimate. At that time my work has been exhibited at the National Museum Of Cultural History in Oslo, and their recommendation letter could have been useful it has been accepted)
Eventually we have made an appeal regarding the validity of UNE's decision to Oslo District Court on 3 June 2016. At the same time we have requested a temporary extension of our legal stay until the case was finally settled. The request was not accepted.
Knowing that our decision may lead to complications, we decided to stay in Norway and wait for the court hearing. I knew that international civil law allows it, and even though Norwegian authorities disagreed, I believed that I was doing a right thing at the moment. The police was fully aware of the fact that both me and Nina were staying in the country and they did not take any action until the day after the open court hearing. I believe that one of UNE’s case workers got offended by our stubbornness and incited the immigration police to arrest us without explaining them the complicity of the situation. Well… Let’s get back to the facts.
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| At Oslo District Court, 28 of November 2016 |
After the court hearing on 28thof November 2016, we got arrested on 1stOf December and on 2ndof December locked in Trandum prison for a few days without valid warrant.
The thing that shocked me most was the fact that the whole police squad was sitting in the ambush near my workplace for a few days, waiting for me to pass by… I saw 2 cars with 4 people in each car, parked across the street from Lucky 7 Classic shop. This information is confirmed by a few witnesses, who saw these cars standing there – a day before and two days before my arrest. In the same time as I have been holding public speeches doing interviews, being absolutely open about my whereabouts - living at the registered address and meeting my lawyer daily! Bloody morons. What a waste of time and tax money!
UDI ruled the expulsion based on a fact that me and Nina refused to leave the country within the expiry date of 6thof April 2016. The fact that we were currently participating a court case and should have been protected according to international civil law was ignored.
I have to mention that while detained in Trandum, even though we were treated really well by the staff, we were misinformed by prison administration about the situation. They have misquoted our testimonies and refused to accept a complain about it, while hiding the fact that a few mass media companies were trying to get an interview with me and were refused to enter or access any legal documentation supporting our arrest. Now I see that these documents have never existed, and these people were just protecting themselves by misguiding and misinforming us.
So, we were escorted to Moscow by immigration police squad, handcuffed, without documents and warm cloths on 5thof December 2016.
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| 5th of December, 2016. I secretly took this photo while calling my lawyer, otherwise I was not allowed to use my phone or camera. |
I believe that I should mention the fact that Nina had a horrible panic attack in jail, that left her dysfunctional and unable to walk or think straight for a few days, (we had to drag her in a wheelchair through the layover in Amsterdam) and I had my blood thinning medicine confiscated in prison, which affected my my health condition after the landing in Moscow. Not having my prescription did not help either. Thank you guys.
After that I have stayed in Russia for a short while and went on tour all over Asia and South Pacific, painting, hosting seminars and judging at tattoo conventions. Nina joined me as a photographer and filmmaker.
Now we are located in New Zealand.
After the main hearing, Oslo District Court ruled on 12 December 2016 with a decision:
1. The case shall be dismissed.
2. Costs are not recognized.
In January 2017 I have filed an appeal against this verdict.
Now it gets interesting!
Apparently, during the appeal proceedings, the state has requested that the case should be dismissed. They said that I no longer had a legal interest in seeking of my residence permit renewal! I have learned about this from the verdict and I’m happy that the Court Of Appeal did not accept their request.
The case was promoted by the Supreme Court of Appeal on July 19, 2017. The Court placed particular emphasis on the expulsion decision based on the fact that I have stayed in the Norway without permission. But, according to the verdict, if the refusal of residence permit is invalid, this, as the Court of Appeal considered it, may be of importance to the review of the expulsion decision.
The Court of Appeal had a full competence to test weather UNE’s decisions were correct, and after open court hearing on 26thof April 2018 they signed a verdict.
So. After all, I had the right to stay in Norway, under the Immigration Act section 25 and the Immigration Regulations section 6-18, cf. § 6-1. At the time of the refusal, I worked as a self-employed tattoo artist for several years and it had solid economic basis for my business. The studio that I worked from, is approved by the relevant public authorities. The judges were unanimous that I have the competence of a skilled specialist, equivalent to upper secondary school level:
“UNE has interpreted and applied the Immigration Regulations section 6-18 wrong. An individual assessment of his independent business activities must be made. He works exclusively with individually developed and custom tattoos at a high artistic level, and he uses his professional competence in this work. It is not relevant to look at whether other tattooists need professional competence at his level in their businesses.
The Court of Appeal agrees that the relevant assessment topic is the work of the self-employed person's own business, not in the industry in general.
…
The Court of Appeal's conclusion is that the UNE has interpreted and applied the Immigration Regulations section 6-18 wrong, and that this error has affected the outcome. UNE's decision of 2 April 2016 and the two subsequent decisions are invalid.”
I have won the case and the state is obliged to pay all the expenses, including two court’s costs and fees, my lawyer’s salary and my financial compensation.
I have absolute victory on all points, unanimously supported by three judges of the Supreme Court Of Appeal, Oslo, Norway.
Of course, it won’t instantly bring me back to Norway, but it will open the door to do so in the future.
This decision will benefit self-employed international artist in Norway and Scandinavia, and I’m happy to say thatit won’t be bringing any new rules and regulations into tattoo industry!This was one of my biggest concerns, and I’m happy to see that such high authority as The Supreme Court Of Appeal of Norway, have recognized the fact that our professional skill level can’t be measured by common standards and should be treated differently and separately from other crafts.
I will consider returning to Norway, but I can’t say anything for certain at the moment. This fight have been draining my energy for years, and I have to make absolutely sure that it’s really over and won’t ever happen again.
There is a Justice. Victory is mine.
Come what may. I'm done with this.
Nick Morte. May 2018
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