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I am from Syria. I traveled to a Schengen country legally, as a student, and after one month that country, received a temporary residence permit (long term: 1 year). I know I can travel to any other Schengen country using that resident permit.

My question is: can I apply for asylum in a country that is different from the country that I have got the residence permit from?

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    Under the Dublin Regulation you can generally only apply for asylum from the first EU member state you entered. In this case, the state in which you have temporary residence. Though, because of the current migrant crisis some member states have suspended the Dublin Regulation (which is one reason why so many people are trying to go to Germany). Because you already have residence, though, this may not help you. As noted above, you should ask on Expatriates.
    – Michael Hampton
    Oct 12, 2015 at 23:03
  • Further, you might have a temporary travel ban imposed on you if you apply for asylum, preventing you from travelling to other Schengen states while your application is being processed. If you intend to continue your studies at the same university, you will definitely want to apply for asylum in the same country you are now living, so that you can continue to attend university while your application is being processed.
    – Michael Hampton
    Oct 12, 2015 at 23:10
  • Finally, you should also name the country in which you are resident, because each member state handles things somewhat differently.
    – Michael Hampton
    Oct 12, 2015 at 23:18
  • Refugee is not a very attractive status. Is there any chance at all you could continue your studies and renew your permit and/or transition to another status? You should definitely look into that.
    – Gala
    Oct 13, 2015 at 8:32
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    Also, the Dublin system has been effectively dead for months now, it's not clear what “suspending it” actually means and officials, e.g. in Germany, seem to change their mind every other day about this. The main issue right now are people who enter irregularly and aren't registered in EURODAC as they should be under the Dublin system, which is why destination countries have very little success sending them back to the country of entry. But, political posturing aside, a Dublin request might still succeed for a clear-cut case like a residence permit.
    – Gala
    Oct 13, 2015 at 8:36

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You can always apply wherever you find yourself. But in the EU there is a great chance that the country you apply to will try to use the Dublin regulation to force you to go back to the country that issued your residence permit (it's called a “take charge” request). If that happens, you would still be an asylum seeker and have a shot at refugee status, but in Spain. This system was specifically intended to prevent people in your situation from getting asylum in another EU country than Spain.

Now, the Dublin system has been under a lot of stress recently and, depending on the specifics, that might or might not be possible in practice but it's a risk. By leaving the country for an extended period of time (even if that's to wait to hear whether your asylum application will be processed) and failing to progress in your studies, you might also jeopardise your status as a student so if there is any chance that you could remain a student and transition to another status later on, you might risk that as well by going to Norway.

And Spain/Norway is not a very good combination for your purpose. Spain isn't under pressure to the level that Italy, Hungary or Greece are at the moment, consequently they accept most Dublin requests (unlike Italy) and still receive many (unlike Hungary, because everybody knows asking Hungary is futile, or Greece, because the conditions are so bad that European courts ruled that sending an asylum seeker back there was not acceptable). And while there is much discussion about the future of the Dublin system, I also haven't heard anything suggesting Norway could stop using it while it lasts.

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