Work permit
The waiting time for work permit cases is 20 months
This means that we process most work permit cases within 20 months. The waiting time starts running from the date your case is received by UNE. You will be notified as soon as we have considered your appeal.
Which work permit cases do we prioritise?
We prioritise seasonal work cases. Such cases often concern offers of short-term employment, and UNE's goal is to ensure that your appeal is decided before the period of work begins. Not all cases are decided before then, however, for example if the case was sent to UNE just before or after this date, or because we are waiting for information from you as the appellant or from other agencies.
As regards other types of work permit cases, we usually consider the oldest cases first. However, we make exceptions if that is more efficient. Sometimes, we see that there are several cases involving the same employer, or that several cases concern the same issue. It may then be more efficient to consider these cases at the same time. Some cases may therefore take less than three months to process.
We rarely prioritise cases when someone asks us to. That would require very special circumstances.
What can you do to ensure your case is processed as quickly as possible?
You can ensure that we have all the documents we need to consider your case. UDI has a checklist for the documents required in work permit cases (external link). You don't need to send us the same documents that you have already submitted to UDI.
It is also important that you read UDI's decision and its reason for rejecting your case.
If you have received an offer of higher salary or more working hours, you must send us a new offer of employment form. Both you and your employer must sign this form. If you have new or additional documentation of your qualifications, you can send this to us as well. In order for us to consider documents that are sent to us they must be translated into Norwegian or English by a translation agency.
When do we spend more time than estimated?
Sometimes it takes more time than normal for us to consider a case. There is usually a reason for this, for example that we are waiting for information from you as the appellant or that we need information from other sources, such as an embassy, the police or UDI.
Waiting times may change
We will update the information on this page once a month.
Spørsmål og svar
We rarely prioritise a case simply because someone asks us to. There must be something quite exceptional about your case. If you believe there are special circumstances in your case that mean we should prioritise it, you can send us a written explanation.
If you believe that your income is in line with what is normal for your workplace and the tasks you perform, you must send us the applicable collective agreement and highlight your pay level. If no collective agreement exists, you must enclose documentation showing that the salary you have been offered corresponds to what is normal in your profession. We require thorough documentation of this. Examples of such documentation include:
- employment contracts for other employees in the company with the same tasks and qualifications
- wage statistics from a trade body, for example a trade union federation or trade union.
We assess every case individually. Even if you have submitted all the information mentioned above, you are not guaranteed a permit. In many cases, the income is too low for us to grant a skilled worker permit. This may, for example, be the case where the salary corresponds to the pay for unskilled work. The appendix to these guidelines, UDI 2010-129V (udi.no), sets out what constitutes sufficient pay when there is no collective agreement and normal pay has not ben substantiated.
If you wish to work, you must apply for a temporary work permit. The application must be submitted to the police where you live. It is a condition that you have a valid passport from your home country. Read more about how to apply on the UDI’s website.