What are the minimum requirements for a visa?
To obtain a visa you must, among other things:
- Have a passport which will remain valid for at least 90 days beyond the period for which you are seeking a visa
- Have sufficient funds to cover your travel costs and stay in Norway. As a rule, you have to have NOK 500 per day that you will be staying in Norway, but if you are staying with family or friends, the amount is somewhat lower. In certain cases a financial guarantee for your stay and return trip issued by the person you are going to visit may be sufficient (guarantee declaration)
- Have a legal right to return to your country of origin or other country where you have a residence permit
- Intend to leave Norway when your visa expires. If the Norwegian authorities have reason to believe that you will remain in Norway or another Schengen country beyond the period for which you are applying for a visa, your application will be rejected
- Not be registered in the Schengen Information System (SIS) as a persona non grata (unwanted person) in any of the Schengen countries. This applies, for example, to persons who have been expelled from a country due to criminal activity
- Have a travel/sickness insurance that covers expenses for a possible return to the home country due to medical reasons as well as immediate treatment by a doctor or at a hospital. The insurance should be valid for all Schengen countries with a coverage of at least 30 000 Euro. Documentation of such insurance needs to be submitted when you apply for a visa.
Where do I apply?
You hand in your application at a Norwegian embassy or consulate. In some countries you will hand in the application to the embassy of another country. Check here where to hand in the application.
Find out if you can apply online
- If you apply through a Norwegian embassy you should register your application online.
- If you hand in the application at the embassy of another country you may not register your application online.
If you cannot apply online:
If you hand in the application at the embassy of another country you need to print out the application form and hand it in at the embassy.
Information to those travelling to more than one Schengen country
If you plan to visit several Schengen states in the course of one trip, you must submit your application to the embassy or consulate of the country where you will be spending the most time.
If you will be visiting several Schengen states for equal periods of time, you must submit your visa application to the first country that you will be visiting.
Please note that the EU countries of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Romania, Cyprus and Bulgaria are not part of the Schengen agreement. This means that there is passport control on journeys between Schengen and these countries. If the applicant is visiting one of these countries during the stay in Schengen, it is necessary to apply for two entries to Schengen.
What must be enclosed with the application?
The documentation requirements vary from country to country and they may change over time. You should therefore check which requirements currently apply by contacting the Norwegian embassy in the country in which you are applying.
If children under age of 18 travel alone or without both parents, a written consent from the remaining parent must be submitted.
Everyone must enclose the following documents:
- A passport photo/photo that meets specific requirements.
- Copies of all used pages in your passport.
- Written invitation from the person you are to visit in Norway (sponsor).
- Documentation of relationship, if you are to visit a family member.
- Documentation of own funds for the stay (NOK 500 for each day of your stay in Norway) or a Guarantee form for visits.
- Documentation of valid travel and medical insurance (minimum coverage of EUR 30,000).
- Translations of the documents to Norwegian or English if the documents are in another language.
- Fee (you must pay a case-processing fee regardless of the outcome of your application).
- If you want for someone to have full access to your case, and be able to speak with the UDI on your behalf, you must attach the power of attorney-form
- It may strenghten your application if you enclose documentation of your ties to your home country. Examples of documentation may be birth certificates of your children, a marriage certificate, a contract of employment and a proof that you own property.
More information about invitation and guarantee declarations.
Separate rules apply for foreign national who require a visa and who are covered by the EEA Agreement or the EFTA Convention.
Do you wish to give someone power of attorney?
If you want someone to have full access to your case, and be able to speak with the UDI on your behalf, you must give this person power of attorney. This person can for example be a business connection, a family member or a friend.
Without power of attorney nobody, not even your sponsor, will be able to get detailed information about your case from the UDI.
Fingerprint registration
As of 11 October 2011, we will register information from visa applications in a joint database for the whole Schengen area. This means that when you apply for a visa to visit Norway, you must visit the embassy in person and register your fingerprints.
The only people exempted from the fingerprint requirement are children under the age of 12, persons for whom fingerprinting is physically impossible and heads of state and their delegations in certain circumstances.
This system will be introduced gradually, and it initially applies to applicants who submit applications to the embassies in North Africa and the Middle East. This applies to the Norwegian embassies in Cairo, Rabat, Algiers, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon. Within the next two to three years, registration in this database will be introduced for all visa applicants.
Read more on the European commision web site
How is a visa application assessed?
Would you like to know which considerations the case officers make when they decide whether an application for a visa is granted or rejected? You can read about this here:
Who processes the application?
Most visa applications are processed at Norwegian embassies or consulates. In certain cases, applications may be sent to the UDI for processing. The UDI shall process an application if:
- The embassy or consulate does not have the authority to decide on an application.
- The embassy or consulate is in doubt about whether to grant a visa.
- You are a refugee, you are stateless or there is doubt about your citizenship.
- You have been expelled from Norway or another Nordic country or you are registered in SIS (Schengen Information System)
- You have applied for a national visitor’s visa
- The embassy or consulate has rejected your application and you have appealed the decision.
How long will it take to process my visa application?
See the at list of UDI’s expected processing times here. You must contact the embassy or consulate for information about their case processing times.
Requirements for obtaining a visa
Different requirements apply to different types of visa. More information can be found on the page Different types of visas.
You can appeal the decision
If your visa application is rejected, you may appeal the decision.
How do I apply for a visa extension?
You find information about applying for an extension of a visitors visa here.
Further information
If you have further questions about this topic, contact your nearest Norwegian embassy or consulate, the nearest police district or the UDI’s Information Service for Applicants.
