Norwegian Minister of Migration and Integration Sylvi Listhaug, who presented a bill to the Norwegian parliament today on asylum seekers

Migrants in Norway with 'obviously groundless' asylum claims could be jailed for up to 72 hours to stop them escaping into the criminal underworld while their cases are processed.

The plan is part of a bill proposed today by Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug and aims to stop claimants evading the authorities if they know they will be rejected.

Since 2004 Norway has used a so-called 48-hour procedure where asylum claims of migrants from safe countries are processed within that time.

But this new plan empowers police to arrest and detain migrants with unfounded claims, reports The Local.

Speaking to state broadcaster NRK, Listhaug said: 'We can see that unfounded asylum seekers disappear while the police are processing their applications.

'This will prohibit them from running off and eventually getting involved in criminal activity.

'Now we will know where we have them, get their applications processed and then return them.'

The Minster added that 90 of the 537 asylum seekers whose cases were processed under the 48-hour procedure in 2015 disappeared, and that the locations of 90 per cent of those are still unknown to the authorities.

It is thought that Listhaug's plan is supported by the Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats which would give the government - a coalition between the Conservative Party and Listhaug's anti-immigration Progress Party - a parliamentary majority.

Also included in the asylum bill is a proposal to give unaccompanied minors only temporary residence until they are 18 and can become permanent residents.

The bill also increases the number of years that an asylum seeker must stay in Norway before becoming a permanent resident from three to five.

But the controversial plan to deny asylum seekers family reunification until after they had been employed or in education for four years was scaled back to three years.

Minister of Integration Sylvi Listhaug (L) next to Justice Minister Anders Anundsen. It is thought that Listhaug's plan is supported by the Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats to give a majority

The United Nations Refugee Agency expressed concern when in November Norway began sending migrants back to Russia until Moscow requested Norway stop due to security reasons.

But Prime Minister Erna Solberg insisted that none of the plans in the bill would break international conventions. 'We are on solid ground,' she told news agency NTB.

In 2015 Norway saw 35,358 people claim asylum compared with just 11,480 in 2014.

But official figures show that only 942 have sought asylum so far this year, down from 1,670 in the first three months of 2015.