• Who can apply for a group work permit?
• What requirements are there regarding employment?
• How do I apply?
• What must the application include?
• How long will it take to process my application?
• Permit holder’s entitlement
• Can the permit be extended or renewed?
• Can I appeal against a decision?
  
  
  

Who can apply for a group work permit?

• The employer or client in Norway may apply for a group work permit.
• If the employer does not have a place of business or permanent representative here, the client with a place of business in Norway must assume responsibility. 
• The employer or client with a place of business or permanent representative in Norway must be responsible to the immigration authorities. This means being responsible for ensuring that the requirements regarding the work, the composition of the group, the members’ expertise and wages and working conditions are met.

What requirements are there regarding employment?

The contract

• The contract must be limited in time, and apply to one or more specified workplaces. 
• The contract must employ at least six people, including the necessary manpower for any shift work and for replacements. 
• As a rule, the application must relate to full-time work.

The group’s members

• The group must comprise a specified number of people, minimum six. They must not take part in the ordinary business of the company.
• The group’s members must have specialist training or have special qualifications (skilled worker/specialist requirement). 
• Specialist training in this context means vocational training to at least the level of further education. In Norway, vocational specialist training normally takes four years. Training from abroad must always be a minimum of three years. The police must be shown documentation of the specialist training, including a statement regarding the length of the training. 
• If one or more members do not have specialist training, the specialist requirement may be considered to have been met if the person(s) have special qualifications in the form of work experience and courses or other training. A concrete assessment of any work experience must be carried out, and such experience must be documented with references. The references must state the duration of the work experience and the various duties of the individual. Courses or other training must also be documented. The work experience must, as a rule, be considerably longer than formal training in the field. 
• If an individual does not meet this requirement, the application may still be granted if the person in question is necessary in order for the group to function. 
• Group members must be at least 15 years old. Those aged between 15 and 18 must have consent from their parents or others exercising parental responsibility. 
• The group members must have lived outside Norway for at least one month before the group’s entry date. This does not apply if he/she has had an individual permit to work in a group which is being downsized.

Other requirements:

• Housing must be ensured
• The wages and working conditions must not be worse than the applicable tariff agreement, wage scale or normal standard for the location and profession
• It must be the case that domestic labour is unavailable for this contract
• As a rule, the application must relate to full-time work. The extent to which the job is a full-time post must be assessed based on what is normal for the professional group in question.

How do I apply?

• The employer or client must submit the application for a group work permit.
• For onshore contracts, the application must be submitted to the head office of the NAV employment service in the county where the contract will be carried out or where the majority of the group will be working. The same applies for contracts which involved both onshore work and work on the continental shelf. In the case of a contract on the continental shelf, the application must be submitted to NAV Stavanger, the head office for Rogaland County.  
• NAV will assess whether there is available manpower in Norway or the other EEA/EFTA countries with the necessary expertise.  
• Once the county head office of NAV has completed its assessment, the case is sent to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration for processing.
• Once a decision on the case has been made, the employer or client will be informed of the outcome. The employer or client must notify the police about each individual employee’s personal details in good time before his/her arrival and must, on a monthly basis, provide an updated list of the employees in the group. This is because the group work permit only specifies the number of participants. 
• An individual permit to work in a group is given by the police. The permit must be noted in the foreign national’s passport.
• After their arrival, each member of the group must register with the police in their district of residence no later than one week after entry into the country. As part of the registration procedure, they must be able to document their specialist training or special qualifications. If someone in the group does not have such qualifications, it must be demonstrated that he/she is necessary for the group to function properly. 
• Once the contract has been completed and the employees have left Norway, the employer or client must notify NAV and the police. 
• Foreign nationals subject to a visa requirement must have a visa. In this case, the employer or client must submit a list of names to the relevant embassy once a permit has been granted by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration.

What must the application include?

• The person who is responsible to the immigration authorities. The information required is the name of the responsible Norwegian employer or their permanent representative, along with their address, company registration number and fax number. If the employer does not have a place of business or permanent representative here, the client with a place of business in Norway must assume responsibility.
• A satisfactory description of the nature and duration of the contract. 
• Workplace(s)
• The professional expertise of the foreign employees in the group and the number of employees.
• An overview of the wages being offered, clarifying that they are in line with the applicable tariff agreement, wage scale or normal standard for the location and profession. 
• Information about housing. 
• It is not necessary to give the names of the various members of the group. It is also not necessary to fill out an application or “offer of employment” form for each individual member.

Permit holder’s entitlement

• The permit will last as long as the contract, up to a maximum of one year.
• The permit is linked to a particular contract at one or more specified workplaces, and applies to a specified number of employees. 
• The permit does not constitute grounds for a settlement permit.
• Family members may come to Norway under the rules for family immigration. If the family’s application is submitted at the same time as the application for the principal person, these will be processed together.

Can the permit be extended or renewed?

• Any application for renewal of the group work permit must be submitted by the employer to the relevant NAV county employment office.
• If any of the conditions on which the previous permit was granted have changed, a new group work permit must be applied for. 
• If it is documented that the group is being downsized, the permit may be renewed, even if it covers fewer than six people. 
• Any application for an individual permit must be submitted to the police in the district where you live.

A group work permit may be withdrawn