Screening ensures that initial checks are carried out when no regular border check has taken place. This page explains how we process your information.
What is screening?Screening is a process with common time limits for carrying out initial checks on citizens of countries outside the EU/EEA (third-country nationals) who, for various reasons, have not undergone a regular border check on arrival in the Schengen area. Screening consists of identification or verification of your identity, carrying out security checks, and carrying out an initial health and vulnerability check.Frontex (an EU agency responsible for supporting EU Member States and Schengen-associated countries in the management of the EU’s external borders) provides
.Who is screened?As a third-country national, you will undergo screening if you are not authorised to enter a Schengen country under the Schengen rules and if you:
are apprehended in connection with evading border checks,
apply for asylum at a border crossing point or in a transit zone, or arrive following a search and rescue operation.
In these cases, screening is necessary to confirm your identity, check for any security risks and determine the correct procedure for your case. Screening is carried out as quickly as possible, no later than within seven days, and at a designated screening location. If you have been apprehended for crossing the border illegally, screening will be carried out within four days.In addition, as a third-country national, you must undergo screening if you are staying illegally in the Schengen territory and have not previously undergone screening or a regular entry check. In this case, screening is necessary to make up for the lack of a regular border check on arrival in Norway and to ensure that you are referred to the correct procedure. The time limit for screening this group is three days.Why are you screened?Through an agreement with the EU, Norway participates in border cooperation known as the Schengen cooperation. As a result, Norway is bound by the Screening Regulation (EU) 2024/1356.The purpose of screening is to ensure that basic checks are carried out on third-country nationals who are crossing or have crossed the common external border of the Schengen Area. The police carry out screening to establish your identity quickly and securely through an identit- and security check. One purpose of screening is to improve coordination between external border control and asylum and return procedures through the flow of information and prompt referral to the correct next procedure in your immigration case.You are also entitled to a preliminary health check and an assessment of whether you are in a vulnerable situation. The preliminary health and vulnerability check is carried out to identify any need for essential healthcare and any special adjustments required in the further processing of your immigration case. It is also carried out to identify whether anyone needs to be isolated for public health reasons.What information about you is processed?Screening involves the processing of personal data, including special categories of personal data such as health data and biometric data. In this context, biometric data means your fingerprints and a photograph of your face. These are taken by the police in connection with your immigration case and reused to carry out tasks that Norway is legally required to perform during screening. Read more about this here.If you are subject to screening, you must also be registered in the European Eurodac database. Your biometric data, identity information and other relevant information in necessary to use to
.Your identity will be verified or established on the basis of identity documents, travel documents or other documents, biometric data, and other information that you provide. Processing biometric data is therefore necessary to identify you securely, verify your identity and carry out security risk checks. For both identity checks and security checks, biometric data must be used to search EU information systems. The searches are carried out through a national search portal (NESP) and a European search portal (ESP). These searches are recorded in audit logs. Security checks also include searches of national databases and police records. Searches may also be made against Europol and Interpol information, including databases and records used in international police cooperation.The initial health and vulnerability check is carried out to identify any need for essential healthcare and any special adjustments required in the further processing of your immigration case. It is also carried out to identify whether anyone needs to be isolated due to any public health risks. The health check is carried out by qualified medical professionals.The information obtained during screening is recorded in a form. The form is sent to the relevant immigration authority.To prevent unauthorised persons from accessing information about you, information about all activity in our systems is stored in audit logs. This means that user activity relating to your case is stored together with your case reference number.Who is responsible for your information when you are screened?The Police has been designated as the screening authority in Norway. The Norwegian Police, represented by the National Police Directorate, is responsible for how your information is processed.If you have questions about how we use your information, you can contact the National Police Directorate by email at
or by post at PO Box 2090 Vika, 0125 Oslo.You can also contact the Police Data Protection Officer. The Data Protection Officer is independent and bound by a duty of confidentiality. You can contact the Data Protection Officer by email at
.The health service is responsible for carrying out the initial health check. The health service is therefore responsible for how your personal data is processed in connection with the health check.How long is your information stored?As a general rule, the Police will delete your information as soon as the screening has been completed. The exception is information that must be registered in the border and territorial control register. Information registered in the border and territorial control register is stored for 10 years.The information is sent to the immigration authorities before it is deleted. Read more about this below. Information about the processing of your personal data in connection with an immigration case is available in
must be deleted in accordance with the time limits in the 2024 Eurodac Regulation, and match reports produced after searches in Eurodac are stored for 10 years. Audit logs containing user activity and the case reference number are deleted one year after the other information about you is deleted. Audit logs containing information about searches carried out through the national and European search portals (NESP and ESP) are stored for no more than one year.Who is your information shared with?The Police is bound by a duty of confidentiality and may share information about you only where permitted by law. This means that your personal data may be disclosed to other authorities only when the Police has determined that doing so is lawful and necessary. Other authorities' refers to both other authorities internally within the police, meaning the sharing of information between the police in its roles as screening authority, immigration authority, border authority, and police authority, as well as external sharing, for example, with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) in its role as immigration authority.Among other things, the Police shares information from screening with the Norwegian immigration authorities. Information from the screening process is recorded in a form that is sent to the immigration authorities. The Police only discloses screening information that the immigration authorities need to carry out their duties, including information needed to process your case. The information disclosed includes health data and biometric data for registration in the national immigration register, as well as registration in Eurodac if this has not already been done. Information about the result of the security check is also disclosed to the immigration authorities so that they can assess your immigration case and make any necessary registration in Eurodac. If the security check finds that you may pose a threat to internal security, this may be
if other circumstances also indicate that it should be registered. The Police may process your personal data further only where this is permitted under applicable national law. If the security check reveals information relevant to preventing, detecting or investigating criminal offences, the Police may process the information further for these purposes. In some cases, the Police may also process the information further for other purposes if these are sufficiently closely related to the purpose for which the information was originally collected (compatible purposes).Your data protection rightsYou have several rights relating to the processing of your personal data. Read more about your rights
. Some rights apply only under certain conditions. The Screening Regulation contains two exceptions to the right of access. During screening, you do not have the right to know whether the security check produced a match in the records that were searched. Access to the information on which a possible match is based may also be refused.If your fingerprints and facial photograph have been taken in connection with your immigration case, you have specific rights under the law.
and stating that you want access to information about you in connection with your screening case.Once your case has been sent to the immigration authority for further processing, you can submit access requests directly to UDI.
.Complaint to the national supervisory authorityYou can use the information below to contact the national supervisory authority in Norway. You may lodge a formal complaint with the national supervisory authority if you believe that any of your personal data has been processed unlawfully.In Norway, you have the right to lodge a
You can find more information on the Norwegian Data Protection Authority's website.You can contact the Norwegian Data Protection Authority's guidance service by telephone on +47 22 39 69 00.LegislationThe Police processes your personal data to carry out tasks related to screening. The Police is required to carry out screening because this is laid down in the EU Screening Regulation (EU) 2024/1356. This EU legal act has been incorporated into Norwegian law through section 8 of the Border Act. The processing of personal data has a legal basis in Article 6(1)(c) and (e) of the General Data Protection Regulation, in addition to section 24a, first paragraph, of the Border Act, and Chapter 5 of the Border Regulations. Section 5-3, third paragraph, of the Border Regulations states that, as a general rule, the information must be deleted as soon as the screening has been completed.
Article 14(2) of the Screening Regulation and section 100, fifth paragraph, of the Immigration Act provide the legal basis for reusing fingerprints and a facial photograph already taken in order to carry out tasks that Norway is required to perform during screening.The legal basis for the security check is set out in Articles 15 and 16 of the Screening Regulation. Your personal data may be processed further only where this is permitted under relevant national law. For example, section 24a, second paragraph, of the Border Act states that information must be disclosed to the immigration authorities. Information may also be disclosed under section 5-5 of the Border Regulations.You can find the legislation at
