Moving to Norway – What you need to do

Are you interested to move into the beautiful country of Norway? Then you can start your journey with a legal residency. The legal residency will let you live, work and study in Norway. A residency of 3 years in the country can lead to your being eligible for a permanent residence visa.

You must pass many criteria to become a resident of Norway. These criteria and rules differ for EU/EEA and non-EU/EEA nationals.

Rules for EU/EEA nationals

Upon selection, irrespective of your nationality, you can live, work and study in Norway. Registration is required if you are going to stay for more than 3 months. It is important to register within 3 months of your arrival.

You can start working in Norway immediately after reaching the country. The registration process could differ based on the municipality you are living in. In the general procedure, you will need to get your personal identification done. You will also need to get an ansettelsesbevis. It is a certificate of employment from your employer in Norway.

The next step is to create a login on the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) portal. The login is necessary for you to fill the application form for residence. Then you should book an appointment via the portal with the police or service center for foreign workers.  The appointment request will depend on the area where you are living.

If you are looking for employment in Norway, you must report yourself as a job seeker to the police. This should be done within 3 months of your arrival in the country. The procedure to follow is the same:

• Log in to the UDI Application Portal
• Attend an appointment with the authorities
• Submit your application in person

Once you meet all the requirements, a registration certificate will be issued to you by the police. After this, you may change your job and work for multiple employers. Changing employers will not affect your registration status. If you are bringing your family to Norway, they should also get registered for the residency permit.

On completing a year of work in Norway, you will be allowed to stay as long as you like in the country. You can stay on even if you lose your job, though not through resignation. If you lost your job, you must register as an active job seeker.

Rules for students

If you are a student from the EU or EEA, you too could be granted residency. You must be admitted to either:

• An accredited educational institution, or
• An upper secondary school

If you are bringing your family along with you, you need to have either:

• Private medical insurance, or
• European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

You must be able to support the family members you bring along. You can work along with studies. To register, you will need a valid national ID or passport and proof of admission to the relevant educational institution. You will also need documentation of health insurance.

Rules for self-employed

If you are a self-employed person from the EU/EEA, you will follow the same process as other categories of people. You will register via the UDI application portal. You must plan to engage in long-term business activities in Norway. Your business must be your own sole proprietorship, as per the guidelines on the UDI website.

During registration, you must provide documentation of your business. The documentation can include combinations of:

• Budgets
• Contracts
• Invoices
• Tax documentation
• A transcript from the Norwegian Register of Business Enterprises

Other cases

Even if you are neither working nor studying in Norway, you could be granted residency. But you will need to prove that you have enough funds with you to sustain yourself. If you have family members with you, you will need enough funds to support them too. Money in a bank account or a pension can qualify as funding. You will register via the UDI Application portal itself.

Rules for non-EU/EEA nationals

If your nationality is that of a non-EU/EEA country, you can apply for residency in Norway in a variety of ways. These include:

• Family immigration
• Protection (Asylum)
• Work immigration
• Au Pair
• Study permit

Work immigration

You may migrate to Norway as a skilled worker, seasonal worker or a job seeker.

Skilled worker

To apply for residency as a skilled worker, you should have:

• Completed higher education or vocational training
• Received a job offer or have your own business

Your vocational skill qualification must be proven by documents of

• At least 3-years vocational training (for professions like carpentry, social care or nursing), or
• A university degree

The vocational training that you had must have a corresponding program in Norway. You must have a job offer for work that is full-time or close to full-time. The qualifications you have must be essential for the job offered. The pay and working conditions must meet Norwegian standards. Also, there should be authorization from relevant authorities (viz. Healthcare).

Residency permits can be granted from 1 to 3 years depending on individual circumstances.  It must be renewed if you are planning to stay longer in Norway. After a legal residence of 3 years in the country, you will be eligible to apply for permanent residency.

It is possible to apply for residency even before you arrive in Norway through the UDI portal. If you are in Norway, you can submit your application in person also. But make the appointment through the UDI portal. A fee of 6,300 kroner ($677) will be charged on applications for residency and renewal of permits.

Seasonal worker

Seasonal workers are those workers who arrive to work for a specific time of the year. They could also be acting as a stand-in for a permanent employee on leave. If you are a seasonal worker, you must have a job before you apply for your residency permit. You will apply for a residency as a seasonal worker. The fee applicable to you will be the same as for the skilled worker.

The job you must already be having should be in a place where the pay and working conditions meet Norwegian standards. You may have multiple employers too provided you have a concrete job offer from each. Also, your employer must get approval from NAV (Nye Arbeids- og Velferdsetaten) that you are fit to be hired as it’s impossible to recruit sufficient workers from Norway or the EEA to do the job. The notable exceptions from this requirement are agriculture and forestry industries.

6 months is the validity of a seasonal work permit in Norway. But you can't stay in the country as a seasonal worker for over 6 months during a 12-month period. You must re-apply to return to Norway. As a seasonal worker, you cannot bring your family with you to Norway.

An option to note for seasonal workers is that you can, in some cases, work in Norway without a residency permit. In this case, you will be working for no more than 3 months. This option is available for certain exempted professions. These include

• Medics
• Lecturers
• Researchers
• Athletes
• Photographers
• Business travelers
• Tour guides
• Religious preachers
• Flight crews
• Journalists

You can apply for residency from within or outside Norway through the UDI portal. You can submit the application in person also if you are in Norway. But you must make the appointment through the UDI portal.

Jobseeker

As a job seeker, you will have only a few exceptional cases where you may get a residency permit. In such a case also, you will have to look for work while staying in Norway. Australia is one of those countries that have arrangements to enable its citizens to visit Norway without a visa. As an Australian job seeker, you can apply for residency:

• If you qualify as a skilled worker
• If you have enough money to meet your expenses in Norway

The minimum amount you need to have is usually 20,521 kroner ($2,200) per month or 123,123 kroner ($13,225) for 6 months. The money must be deposited in a Norwegian bank account. An application fee must be paid too, which is same as other types of residency permits for non-EU/EEA nationals. If you receive a job offer, you can re-apply for the residency permit as a skilled worker.

You must apply for residency using the UDI portal either from Norway or abroad.

Study immigration

As a student trying to learn in Norway, you can apply for a study permit. The permit’s application fee is 4,900 kroner ($526).

When you apply, you must be able to show that you have enough funds to stay in Norway while studying. The college, university or other educational institution must be approved by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). As a study permit holder, you will have the right to work for up to 20 hours weekly.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or Migrate to Norway, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

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