Let Palestinian student Mujahed Khallaf continue his Master in Norway

Mujahed Khallaf is a master student at NTNU, Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art in Trondheim since one year. He has recently received a rejection to his application for residency in Norway for the next academic year by the UDI (the Norwegian Department for Visa and Immigration). This means that he will be unable to complete his master studies at NTNU during the coming academic year.
The ground for rejection of his application are based upon an assessment of his economic circumstances, but as a Palestinian he carries the Nationality „stateless“ and has, as other international students might have, no resource to scholarships or other forms of study support.

According to the Norwegian law and the UDI, Mujahed has to prove within the next two weeks that he owns an amount of 10,000 Euro [100,920 NOK], in order to finance the next academic year. Other students,from European countries for example, do not need to have proof of their financial situation in order to continue being a resident. It is only due to his Palestinian background and to his "stateless" Nationality that the law works differently for him. In case Mujahed cannot prove the amount of 10.000,-Euro in his bank account within the next two weeks he will have to leave the country by August 31st, 2016.

But the proof of this money might not be the only way to convince the Norwegian authority to accept his resident permission, even as a „stateless“ person.

Lawyers, colleagues from the Trondheim Kunstmuseum where Mujahed is working and friends are now trying to help investing in his case and started the idea of this petition.

We are therefore asking you for your action to sign.
If we collect a meaningful amount of names and signatures, we can give a sign to the UDI that rejecting to give residency permission to a student as Mujahed, only based on his financial status, is not fair and does not happen in our name. Also, we ask the UDI to give him more time then the ironically given two weeks, in order to appeal against his case.

Mujahed is
an engaged, innovative and committed artist and student who plays an active
role within the faculty and institute of NTNU Art Academy, and also within the broader context of Trondheim's cultural fields. He has quickly established his
status as a resourceful person and an invaluable partner for those with whom he
has cooperated. He has constructively grasped the opportunities afforded by an
international master study in Norway. Why would Norway now eliminate the
advantages gained by the investment that has been made in Mujahed Khallaf over
the past year? At a time of global uncertainty and instability, initiatives
like the International Master Programs at NTNU offer a positive model for
transnational and intercultural co/operation, foundation stones for a better
global future.