In 2015, 31.00 of the 1,2 million refugee and asylum seekers in Europe, found their way to Norway. During a few autumn months, more than 5500 asylum seekers crossed the northernmost Schengen border in Europe, from Russia to a small municipality in northernmost region in Norway. The municipality, Sør-Varanger, have 10 000 inhabitants. During one month, 3000 refugees arrived. The flow of immigrants posed a huge challenge to the local government. Nor the national or the local authorities were prepared for the unpredictable arrival numbers of people. Our project investigates how young migrants and refugees was met and settled, many of them into small rural places in the north of Norway. Fluctuations of refugees are likely to have great impact on small, rural societies as a whole, socially, economically and politically. Many of the places where the refugees were settled had long experienced significant outmigration. New inhabitants might represent new opportunities for challenged communities; halt population decline and increase municipal economic space of action. Coming to small places in the north, the northern and marginal edge of Europe, from urban areas and places in the south represent great changes for the refugees. How they are received by the authorities and the local people are of course of great importance. Our project explores into everyday life practices of refugees and examine what role local communities, as well as local schools, playes in their integration. The empirical material is mainly based on fieldwork and qualitative interviews with refugees teachers and local volunteers started activities for refugees in the local areas. The project builds on two key theoretical approaches; the socio-economic development of rural localities: resilience; and integration and sense of belonging. Preliminary results show that local integration is challenged by structural factors such as lack of educational and work opportunities, few and expensive transport options, busy everyday lives and experience of local social practices. Many refugees come from urban areas where social practices and their use of the local area are more informal and characterised by an outdoor life which can clash with local social life being more formalised in associations and limited by the cold climate. Local integration and belonging seem to be stimulated by other migrants in the areas, refugee children going to school as well as active local people helping newcomers to navigate in their new everyday life.

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