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Norway Work Authorisation: Skilled-Worker Permit (arbeidstillatelse) and EU/EEA Registration
Document Checklist
Pass
Valid passport
Required: Original passport whose validity covers the requested permit period. A copy of the biographical-page spread is uploaded through the UDI application portal. The permit is not granted for longer than the passport is valid.
Where to get: Already issued by the applicant's home country
Cost: Issued by the home-country passport authority
The original passport is presented at the Norwegian embassy or consulate-general at the documentary-handover appointment for first-time applications filed from outside Norway, or at the SUA or police district for first-time applications and renewals filed from inside Norway.
Arbeidskontrakt
Signed employment contract
Required: Contract signed by both the named Norwegian employer and the applicant, stating role, gross salary in Norwegian kroner, working hours, contract duration, insurance arrangements and start date in Norway. Employment terms must satisfy the relevant Norwegian standard: where a general-binding collective agreement (allmenngjort tariffavtale) covers the sector, the collective rate is the minimum; otherwise the published skilled-worker threshold or the residual not-poorer-than-normal test under utlendingsloven § 23 fourth paragraph applies.
Where to get: Issued by the Norwegian employer
Cost: Issued by the employer
Generic offers, recruitment-agency-only relationships and undefined start-dates fail the concrete-job-offer limb. The position must normally be full-time or at least 80 per cent of a full-time equivalent.
Tilbud om arbeid
Employer offer-of-employment confirmation
Required: Online offer-of-employment confirmation submitted by the employer through the UDI employer portal before the applicant submits the personal portion of the application. The system issues a registration code that the applicant enters into the application form.
Where to get: UDI employer portal (the named Norwegian employer files this directly)
Cost: No fee for the employer-side submission
The applicant cannot submit a complete application until the employer's offer-of-employment confirmation has been registered and the registration code has been issued. Plan the timing: the employer-side submission should precede the applicant-side submission by at least a few days to allow for the code to be issued and emailed.
Dokumentasjon på utdanning
Evidence of qualifications
Required: One of: a completed vocational-training programme of at least three years at upper-secondary-school level (the Norwegian fagbrev or svennebrev, or a recognised foreign equivalent); a completed degree from a university or university college; or special qualifications acquired through at least six years of work experience demonstrating competence equivalent to a recognised three-year vocational programme.
Where to get: Original certificates issued by the educational institution. For foreign degrees, an academic-recognition decision from the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (Direktoratet for høyere utdanning og kompetanse — HK-dir, the agency that absorbed NOKUT's recognition function) is often required.
Cost: Issued by the institution; recognition decisions are issued by HK-dir at the published fee
For regulated professions in the health, education and legal sectors, the relevant sector-authorisation body issues the operational licence and recognition decision; the academic-recognition decision and the sector-authorisation decision are distinct. The work-permit grant does not require the sector-authorisation decision to be in hand, but the position must require the qualifications and the applicant must demonstrate a credible pathway to securing the authorisation.
Dokumentasjon på lønn og arbeidsvilkår
Evidence of salary and working conditions in Norway
Required: Documentary evidence that the offered salary clears the applicable threshold: the master's-degree threshold for positions that normally require a master's degree, the bachelor's-degree threshold for positions that normally require a bachelor's degree, the collective-agreement rate where a general-binding collective agreement applies, or comparable Norwegian-occupational evidence under the not-poorer-than-normal residual test (Statistics Norway wage statistics by occupation code; employer-sector salary surveys; recruitment-agency advertised ranges).
Where to get: Salary letter or pay-grade evidence from the Norwegian employer; collective-agreement extract from the relevant union or employer association; published statistics from Statistics Norway
Cost: Issued by the employer or the union
The salary-and-working-conditions limb is the route's gating test. Borderline cases benefit from a documented salary-benchmark exercise filed with the application rather than left for UDI to investigate.
Bekreftelse på bolig
Evidence of accommodation in Norway
Required: Documentary evidence of accommodation arrangements in Norway covering the initial period after arrival: a signed rental contract, an employer-provided-housing letter, or a hotel reservation pending longer-term arrangements.
Where to get: Landlord, employer or hotel
Cost: Rental costs are commercial; employer-housing arrangements vary by employer
Accommodation evidence is part of the documentary record for the residence-permit application and is also a precondition for the post-arrival population-register registration at Skatteetaten.
Utstasjoneringskontrakt
Foreign-employer contract and secondment letter (posted-worker route)
Required: Applicants under the posted-worker / service-provider permit under utlendingsloven § 24 must additionally show: the contract between the foreign employer and the Norwegian client (for the foreign-company-on-Norwegian-contract pattern); or the corporate-group secondment letter establishing the transfer from the foreign part to the Norwegian part of an international company (for the intra-corporate-transfer pattern). The foreign employer must retain supervisory authority and primary wage liability throughout the Norwegian posting.
Where to get: Issued by the foreign-end employer
Cost: Issued by the foreign employer
An ICT permit issued by an EU member state under the EU Intra-Corporate Transferee Directive does not transfer to Norway. Norway is an EEA-only state and is not bound by the directive. A fresh § 24 application is required for any move to Norway.
Forretningsplan
Business plan and financial projection (self-employed-person route)
Required: Applicants under the self-employed-person residence permit under utlendingsloven § 25 must show a business plan covering the Norwegian sole proprietorship together with a financial projection demonstrating that the business will produce profit (business income) at or above the published threshold. The route does not cover limited companies.
Where to get: Prepared by the applicant, often with input from an accountant
Cost: Professional-advice fees vary
The self-employed-person permit is distinct from the skilled-worker permit and from the posted-worker permit. The applicant must demonstrate the proprietorship requires their physical presence and active participation.
Inntektsbevis
Family-immigration income evidence (where family applies simultaneously)
Required: Where accompanying family members apply at the same time as the principal, the sponsor must demonstrate income at or above the current family-immigration income threshold over a documented reference period, together with marriage certificates, registered-partnership documentation or cohabitation evidence for the spouse or partner, and birth certificates for accompanying children.
Where to get: Employment-income documentation from the sponsor's employer; civil-status documents from the home-country civil registry
Cost: Civil-registry document fees vary by country; translation costs vary by translator
Family-member applications follow the same UDI application portal workflow with a per-person application fee. Family rights under the EU/EEA family-of-an-EEA-national track are stronger and the residence card is issued free of charge.
Bekreftet oversettelse
Certified translations of non-Scandinavian or non-English supporting documents
Required: Translations of any supporting document (qualifications, civil-status records, supporting letters, contracts) issued in any language other than Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Where to get: Authorised translator (statsautorisert translatør) — the certification stamp must be visible on the translation
Cost: Varies by translator and document volume
UDI accepts only translations carrying a recognised certification mark. Plain agency translations without certification are routinely rejected.
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