1. Firstly, you must make a concrete offer of employment to the employee. As a general rule, it must be for full-time employment (although the employee may have more than one employer). The pay must not be less favourable than provided for by a current collective agreement. For occupations and industries where no such collective agreement exists, the rate of pay shall be equivalent to what is normal for the place and occupation in question. (Please note: The employee may not commence work until he/she has been granted a residence permit.)
2. You must then fill in a confirmation of employment form. (If the employee has already received a contract of employment and it has been signed by both you and the employee, it is sufficient to fill in and sign item 5 in the confirmation of employment form.) In item 5, you must confirm that the wages and working conditions are in compliance with the conditions in the Immigration Act and Regulations, see item 1 above. In your capacity as employer, it is your responsibility to be aware of what rate of pay is stipulated in the applicable collective agreement or what is the normal rate of pay. Supplying incorrect information in this context may entail criminal liability.
3. Once the confirmation of employment form has been completed, the applicant must take it with him/her to the Norwegian embassy in his/her country of origin or to the local police station in Norway to apply for a residence permit. You may also apply on behalf of the employee.
4. If you are going to apply for a residence permit on behalf of an employee, the employee must fill in a power of attorney, which you must take with you to the local police station. You must also submit a completed application form and enclose a passport photo of the employee, a completed confirmation of employment form, a contract of employment if one exists, and a copy of the employee’s passport.
5. The police process most cases. If they are in doubt as to whether the requirements are satisfied, they will forward the application to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) for processing. If the employee applies through an embassy, the embassy will send the application to the Directorate of Immigration for processing.
6. Once the application has been processed, the police will inform you of the outcome of the application. If you have applied on behalf of an employee, the employee will have to go to the police station in person and present his/her original passport to obtain the decision on the residence permit. Together with his/her passport, the decision will constitute proof that the employee has permission to reside in Norway.
7. Once the employee has been granted a residence permit, he/she may commence work.
8. Within seven days of commencing work, the employment must be registered in the Employer/Employee Register (the EE register). In your capacity as employer, it is also your responsibility to ensure that the employment meets the requirements of the Working Environment Act (e.g. that the employee has a contract of employment, cf. the Working Environment Act section 55), the Immigration Act, the Taxation Act and other legislation (e.g. that any required authorisation is in order).

Application forms, confirmation of employment forms and power of attorney forms can be obtained from Norwegian foreign service missions and the police, or they can be downloaded from the internet: http://www.udi.no/.