Skilled worker residence permit

Conditions you must meet

• Completed vocational training, higher education, or equivalent special qualifications

  You must have one of the following types of education/qualifications a completed vocational training programme of at least three years at upper secondary school level, for example as a carpenter or health worker. There must be a corresponding vocational training programme in Norway. completed education or degree from a university/ university college, for example a bachelor's degree as an engineer or nurse.

• Special qualifications normally need at least six years of work experienceThe third qualification route, and UDI warns it is hard: 'it takes a lot to get permission in such cases. many applications are rejected.'

  special qualifications are skills acquired through long professional experience, possibly in combination with courses and education. You must have as high competence as someone who has completed vocational education from upper secondary school. Generally, you must have at least six years of work experience.

• A concrete job offer from one specific employer in Norway

  You must have received a concrete job offer from one specific employer in Norway.

• The job must normally be full-time; 80% is accepted

  The job must normally be full-time. If you have been offered at least an 80% position, we will accept this.

• The job offered must require skilled-worker qualifications, and you must hold them

  The job you are offered must require qualifications as a skilled worker. You must have the qualifications that the job requires.

• Pay and working conditions must not be poorer than is normal in NorwayUDI states this qualitatively for skilled workers and publishes NO figure in this section. The salary numbers elsewhere on the page belong to other worker categories.

  The pay and working conditions must not be poorer than is normal in Norway.

• Hold any recognition or authorisation the occupation requiresUDI gives health personnel authorisation from the Norwegian Directorate of Health as its example.

  If you are going to work in an occupation for which recognition or authorisation is required (external website), you must have such recognition or authorisation.

Documents you must provide

• Working through a staffing agency requires a confirmed list of planned assignmentsThe permit is then limited to the assignment period, and the agency must be in the Labour Inspection Authority's register.

  If you are to work through a staffing agency, you must present a list of the assignments that the employer has planned for you. The assignments must be confirmed by the business/businesses you are carrying out the assignments for. It is only possible for you to get a residence permit for the period of time when you are carrying out the assignments on this list.

Steps in the process

• Your employer confirms the offer and gives you a code for the application form

  If you are applying on your own from abroad, your employer must submit confirmation of the job offer before you can submit the application form. You will receive a code from your employer that you must enter in the application form.

Government fees

• Pay an application feeNo amount: UDI states the obligation and publishes the figure elsewhere.

  You must pay an application fee.

Also stated by the authority

Not requirements in themselves. These are alternatives, exemptions, rights and warnings the authority publishes alongside the requirements — quoted here because they can change what applies to you.

• UDI applies extra scrutiny to certain trades and countries of issueUDI names specific trades and issuing countries following fraudulent documentation. Recorded as guidance, not a rule: it describes how applications are assessed, not a condition anyone can satisfy. Someone in those trades deserves to know before paying a fee.

  it may be difficult to obtain a residence permit to work as a skilled worker at a vocational level, particularly within the restaurant, automotive industry, and construction industries.

• Permit length depends on the qualification the position requiresAn outcome rather than a requirement, recorded because the difference — one year versus three — materially changes how often someone must reapply.

  If the position requires that you have completed a vocational training programme at upper secondary school level, you can get a residence permit for up to one year at a time. If the position requires that you have completed an education or degree from a university/ university college, you can normally get a residence permit for up to three years at a time.

• Changing employer in the same type of position needs no new permit; a new type of position doesUDI adds that starting a NEW type of position requires a new permit first, whether or not the employer changes.

  If you are later going to change employers, but work in the same type of position, you do not need to apply for a new residence permit.

• If you lose your job you may stay six months to find another, notifying police within seven daysRecorded because the seven-day police notification is easy to miss and the consequence of missing it falls on the applicant.

  If you lose your job, you can stay in Norway for up to six months to look for a new job. You must notify the police where you live within seven days.