Skilled worker with an employer in Norway

Requirements of the employee

• You must pay an application fee.

• 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 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. For example, suppose you have work experience as a painter. In that case, you must present detailed work certificates from previous employers that show that you have learned and can do the same as a person with a professional education as a painter. It takes a lot to get permission in such cases. Many applications are rejected.

We have experienced many incidents where documentation submitted along with applications from certain countries is fraudulent or contains incorrect information. On this background, 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. This currently applies in particular to applications for work as a chef, car mechanic, carpenter, painter, bricklayer, or hairdresser where the documentation submitted to attest to educational qualifications or the like were issued in Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Kosovo, Nepal, Pakistan, Türkiye or Vietnam.

• You must have received a concrete job offer from one specific employer in Norway.
• 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. If you have more than one employer, only one of them must submit a confirmation form.
• The job must normally be full-time. If you have been offered at least an 80% position, we will accept this. 
• The job you are offered must require qualifications as a skilled worker. You must have the qualifications that the job requires.
• The pay and working conditions must not be poorer than is normal in Norway.

• 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. For example, authorisation for health personnel from the Norwegian Directorate of Health (external website).
• 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. The staffing agency must be registered in the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority’s register (external website).

• The duration of the residence permit you are able to get depends on the position you have been offered:
  • 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. If we need to check more frequently that you still fulfil the requirements, for example because you are going to work through a staffing agency, you will only be able to get a residence permit for up to one year at a time.
• After three years, you can apply for a permanent residence permit in Norway.
• Your family can usually apply to come and live with you in Norway. If your family members apply at the same time as you, you will receive the answer to your applications at the same time. 
• 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. The pay and working conditions must not be inferior to what is normal in Norway, and you still must meet the requirements for your residence permit as a skilled worker with an employer in Norway.
• If you are later going to start in a new type of position you must apply for a new residence permit, no matter if you are staying with the same employer or changing employers. You cannot start in a new type of position until you have been given a new residence permit. 
• 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. Your residence permit must still be valid for the duration of this period.
  • If you get a new job, but are going to work in the same type of position as before, you do not need to apply for a new residence permit, but you must notify the police where you live within seven days after you start the new job.
  • If you get a new job, where you are going to have a different type of position than before, you must apply for a new residence permit. You cannot start in the new type of position until you have been given a new residence permit.
• You are not allowed to work remotely unless it is part of the job you have been granted a residence permit to do.

Waiting times

Due to a large number of applications received, as well as challenges with the control of educational documents in applications that concern work at a vocational level, it may take longer to process such applications. This includes, for example, applications related to work as a cook, car mechanic, carpenter, painter, bricklayer and hairdresser.

Here you can read information about waiting times.