A 23-year-old Nepali woman, Priyanka Thapa, was granted asylum in Iceland on humanitarian grounds after arguing that she would be forced to marry an older man she has never met if deported to Nepal.
After a meeting with Icelandic Minister of the Interior Ögmundur Jónasson this week the Directorate of Immigration decided to reconsider her case which had been earlier rejected.
“We reviewed the directorate’s policy and regulation framework when it comes to either granting or rejecting people’s applications for residency and there are obviously many things that must be improved,” the minister told Fréttabladid.
“I shouted because I was so happy,” Thapa said of her reaction to the news that her application would be reviewed. “It is such a relief. There is hope.” More than 13,000 people have declared their support for her case on a Facebook campaign site.
Thapa said she would rather stay in Iceland and continue with her education than moving back to Nepal. She works as a babysitter for a family of eight who have invited her to continue to live with them.
The Directorate of Immigration turned down her application because it was considered unproven that a forced marriage and inhumane treatment awaited her in Nepal.