A let­ter of the Nor­we­gi­an aut­ho­ri­ty for for­eig­ners to Jason Roberts, Aus­tra­li­an citi­zen living in Lon­gye­ar­by­en, has crea­ted con­fu­si­on. Jason runs a Lon­gye­ar­by­en-based com­pa­ny assis­ting major film pro­duc­tions.

In 2009, Jason tur­ned his com­pa­ny into a share­hol­der com­pa­ny, for which other regu­la­ti­ons app­ly. The unfo­re­seen con­se­quence was that Jasons rou­ti­ne appli­ca­ti­on for for a work per­mit in Nor­way was tur­ned down. Jason needs such a per­mit only for occa­sio­nal work in Nor­way, but not in Sval­bard. Nevert­hel­ess, the for­eig­ners aut­ho­ri­ty infor­med Roberts that he has to “lea­ve Nor­way vol­un­t­a­ri­ly” and cont­act the Sys­sel­man­nen to dis­cuss fur­ther details. In the Sys­sel­man­nen, though, it was quick­ly clear that the let­ter had to be wrong. As all citi­zens of Spits­ber­gen trea­ty signa­to­ry count­ries, Roberts has auto­ma­ti­cal­ly equal and unli­mi­t­ed rights to live and work in Sval­bard wit­hout any appli­ca­ti­ons or per­mits. The for­eig­ner aut­ho­ri­ty said the let­ter was “some­what mis­lea­ding”. Roberts hims­elf made rather clear that he was not amu­sed.

Source: Sval­bard­pos­ten

The Japa­ne­se zoo Nihond­ai­ra has appli­ed for a fema­le polar bear from Spits­ber­gen to be deli­ver­ed to Japan, for exhi­bi­ti­on tog­e­ther with a male bear that alre­a­dy lives in the zoo, and to pro­du­ce off­spring.

The Sys­sel­man­nen in Lon­gyear­ben reac­ted reluc­tant­ly, say­ing a good reason could not be seen to catch a polar bear in Spits­ber­gen for deli­very to a Japa­ne­se zoo, and that the mat­ter is not rea­li­stic. Polar bears are com­ple­te­ly pro­tec­ted in Spits­ber­gen sin­ce 1973.

Source: Sval­bard­pos­ten