The period taken to process a case is calculated from the day you submit your application to the police or at a Norwegian embassy or consulate until the day the UDI takes a decision on the case. Applications from which important information is missing take longer to process, and such applications may, in some cases, be rejected due to missing information or documentation.
Please be advised that the police and embassies/consulates also process some types of application to work and reside in Norway. The police process nearly all applications for residence permits under EU/EEA/EFTA regulations. Most applications for renewal of permits are also processed by the police. However, the police cannot reject applications and therefore send applications to the UDI if they are in any doubt about what decision to make.
If your application is to be processed by the police or an embassy/consulate you should ask at the place you submitted your application when you can expect an answer. The case-processing times vary from place to place.
Prioritisation: The Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion (AID) has decided that applications for work permits and family immigration with migrant workers are to be amongst those prioritised.
| Type of case | Number of months |
|---|
Application for a skilled worker/ specialist permit
or an employee in a multinational company: |
First-time application from within Norway | 2 |
First-time application from abroad | 2 |
Family of a skilled worker/ specialist
or employee in a multinational company | 2 |
Application for a worker necessary
to carry out a contract | 2 |
| Application for a seasonal work permit | 2 |
| Application for an au pair’s work permit | 3 |
| Application for a trainee’s work permit | 2 |
| Other applications | 2 |
| Appeals against rejection | 2 |
Application for a residence permit for people
from the EEA – standard rules: |
First-time application | 3 |
Family of an EEA citizen | 4 |
Application for a residence permit for people
from the EEA – transitional rules: |
First-time application | 4 |
Family of an EEA citizen | 3 |
| Other applications | 4 |
| Appeals against rejection | 1 |
The table is updated every two months as case-processing times change. By way of illustration, an increase in the number of applications may lead to longer processing times as the queue becomes longer. This means that the case-processing time for your application may change after you submit it.
- Check that you meet the conditions for the permit you are applying for (read more – fact sheet).
- Make sure you provide all the documentation required. The requirements for documentation vary from nationality to nationality. Ask at the place you submit your application, at the police station or at the embassy or consulate (read more – fact sheet).
- Be sure to fill in all the necessary fields on the application form.
- If you meet the requirements to obtain the permit for which you are applying and submit a fully completed application and all the documentation required, the UDI will usually process your application within the period stated in the table at the time.
Applicants abroad must submit their application to the nearest embassy/consulate in the country of which they are citizens or in which they have been legally resident for the last six months. Applicants located within Norway and with a right to apply from within the country must submit their application to their local police district. Applications that are to be processed by the UDI are sent to the UDI by post and this can take time in some cases. Case Procedure - Work.
When the UDI receives the application it is recorded in the archive and then sent on to the unit that is to process the application.
The unit then examines the application and checks whether the applicant meets the relevant conditions, whether the form has been filled in correctly and whether all the documentation is in place.
Incomplete applications may be sent to the local police district or the embassy/consulate in order to obtain more information or documentation. The UDI may also contact parties who have been granted power of attorney (power of attorney form) or employers in order to obtain more information. If important information is missing it can take longer than the specified case-processing time to process an application.
Once a decision has been taken, the official processing the case writes a notice of decision and sends it to the police district where the application was submitted or where the applicant intends to live. The police pass on the decision to the applicant. If you applied from an embassy or consulate, the UDI will send a fax or a letter containing information about the decision in your case. The embassy or consulate will then pass on the decision to the applicant. In the case of the granting of citizenship, the decision is sent directly to the applicant, whereas the letter conveying citizenship is sent to the police, who will pass it on to the applicant.
It takes a few days or weeks from when the UDI takes a decision until the applicant is informed of the decision. The length of that period is dependent, amongst other things, on the postal service and the workload of the police or embassy/consulate that is to pass on the decision. For those requiring visas it may also take some time before the visa can be issued as a result of the workload of the embassy/consulate.
Application form: work permit
Application form: renewal
Power of attorney form
