The statement “blood is thicker than water” is found in many European languages, including Norwegian. Descent predicated upon blood has been, and continues to be, an important marker for inclusion and exclusion – on a personal, ethnic and national level. I compare the relevance of blood in contemporary Norway in attitudes towards two groups of recent immigrants : children adopted by involuntary childless couples from countries in the South and eastern Europe and labour migrants and asylum seekers from roughly the same parts of the world. I argue that while the adoptees are fully integrated into Norwegian society and culture due to the kinning process that they undergo which transcends blood, other immigrants remain ambiguous outsiders.