Here are the benefits you will get if you work overseas in Norway

Norway is a wonderful country and is a great place to work overseas. Let’s check out the benefits of working in Norway.

Working hours and paid time off

In Norway, the daily working hours are 9 hours. The total weekly working hours comes to 40 hours. You get 10 public holidays if you work overseas in Norway. Besides these, employees have eligibility for 25 unpaid workdays. This is allowed as granted under the Holidays Act in Norway. Instead of paid leave, employees are granted holiday pay. This pay gets accumulated annually till the holiday is taken by the employee.

Average salary and taxes

As of 2021, an employee in Norway earns an average annual salary of around 612,000 NOK. The salary is determined by the employee’s experience, skill level, industry, and age.

There’s is no national minimum wage in Norway. Various industries have an understanding as to a fair minimum wage payable to their employees.

The income tax percentage based on salary is as follows:

Step	Annual income between	Tax rate
	NOK 0 – 184,800	0
1	NOK 184,800 – 260,100	1.7 %
2	NOK 260,100 – 651,250	4 %
3	NOK 651,250 – 1,021,550	13.2 %
4	NOK 1,021,550 and above	16.2 %

Maternity leave

Mothers are entitled to a 3-week leave of absence before she gives birth. Till the time a mother produces a medical document that declares that she’s in a better health condition and can continue to work, she has to take a 6-week leave of absence after giving birth.

Paternity leave

After childbirth, an employer who has become a father is entitled to a 2-week leave of absence. As per the National Insurance Act, this type of leave is unpaid. Also, it won’t qualify for financial assistance.

Caretaker leave

Employees are entitled to leave of 10 days every calendar year in case their child becomes sick. If an employee is caring for 2 or more children, this leave period will be 15 days. Employees taking sole responsibility for their children are entitled to twice the period of time off.

In case an employee’s child has a chronic or long-term illness/impairment, that employee is entitled to a leave period not exceeding 20 days per year.

If an employee is caring for a close relative with a terminal illness, such an employee is entitled to a leave of 60 days so that the patient can be taken care of.

Also, every calendar year, employees are entitled to a leave of absence of 10 days to provide much-needed care to a registered partner, spouse, or parent.

Social security and benefits

Employees who work overseas in Norway and pay taxes automatically become a part of the National insurance scheme. This scheme is run with the funds collected from social security contributions, the amount of which is determined by the Government of Norway. To this end, you may either get a Norwegian social security number or a temporary number called the D-Number upon arrival in Norway.

With a social security number, you get the following benefits:

• Family benefits
• Healthcare services
• Disability benefit
• Financial assistance and supplementary allowance
• Benefits for pregnancy, birth, and adoption
• Sickness benefits
• Work assessment allowance
• Unemployment benefit
• Care services
• Occupational injury and illness benefit
• Retirement pension
• Unemployment benefits

Once you start living and working in Norway, you take membership in the National Insurance Scheme and you are automatically covered against unemployment. In case you lose your job, you could have eligibility for unemployment payments.

When a layoff is in effect, employees are not required to report to work, and your employer isn’t needed to pay wages. But the connection between the employer and employee stays in effect until the temporary layoff is in effect. If it’s not temporary, the employee has to be given notice of the same.

A layoff has mandatorily to be due to factual reasons concerning the organization, and not the employee.

Sickness benefits

After working 4 weeks in Norway, and being unable to work after that due to an accident or illness, you are eligible to get sickness benefits till a year in the normal course.

If you are on sick leave for a long time, efforts will be made by NAV, doctors, and your employer to help you get back to work. NAV is accountable for this in case you aren’t employed.

If your inability to work extends beyond a year, you may have the eligibility to receive benefits like disability compensation or work assessment allowance.

You may get the eligibility to receive social security payments in case you are down with illness or injury due to working conditions and currently have an occupational injury that has been approved for consideration. The employer is obliged to report the accident to NAV within a year of the date of the injury.

If you are willing to migrate to work overseas in countries like Norway, you must take the guidance and services of expert immigration and overseas job consultants like Y-Axis. We are the World’s No.1 immigration & visa company. Click here to connect with us.

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