There are various types of visas. The type of visa you need to apply for depends on the purpose of your stay in Norway.
Visitor’s visa for Norway and the Schengen area (type C)
You must apply for a visitor’s visa to Norway and the other Schengen countries when the purpose with the visit is tourism, family visit, official assignment, business, study visit.
The visa can be valid for maximum 90 days in the course of a period of 180 days. The period is calculated from the date you first crossed the external Schengen border. The visa’s validity period, first possible day of entry and the day you must leave the Schengen area are written on the visa sticker.
A visa is generally granted for a single entry. If you plan to travel outside the Schengen area and return within the period covered by the visa, you must tick the ‘two or multiple entries’ box when you apply for a visa. You must also explain why you require multiple entries.
If you have a special need, you can be issued a visa that is valid for multiple entries during a period for up to five years. Such visas are only available for certain categories of applicants, e.g. business persons, truck drivers, seafarers, family members of persons with a valid residence permit in Norway, family members of Norwegian citizens living abroad, persons residing in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblast, etc
If you need an extra entry after you have arrived in Norway, you must apply for this through the police in the same way as for an application for a visa extension. You must document your need for an extra entry, e.g. for a business meeting or to visit family outside the Schengen area.
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.
A visa does not entitle you to work or carry out any business activities during your visit. If you wish to work or stay for an extended period in Norway, you must apply for a specific permit for this.
Some groups are exempt from the residence permit requirement. They can work in Norway if they have a valid visa for Norway and the Schengen area.
Here you can find information about how to apply for a visitor's visa
Visitor’s visa for Norway
If you cannot obtain a visitor’s visa for the whole Schengen area, a national visitor’s visa that is only valid in Norway may be granted under certain special circumstances.
A national visitor’s visa is only granted when it is required for humanitarian reasons or national considerations or under international commitments. The UDI decides on applications for national visitor’s visas, but you must nonetheless submit an application to an embassy or consulate.
Visa application form
Emergency visa
If you are subject to the visa requirement and arrive in Norway without a visa, you may be granted an emergency visa on arrival if unforeseen circumstances so indicate. Emergency visas are only granted in exceptional circumstances and are granted subject to strict requirements. This means that many persons who arrive in Norway without a visa are sent out of the country immediately.
Persons who are subject to the visa requirement who arrive in Norway without a valid visa must contact the police at the border to apply for an emergency visa. It is the UDI that decides on the application after being contacted by the police.
Emergency visas are issued as ordinary visitor’s visas if the requirements for a visitor’s visa are met.
If the requirements for an ordinary visitor’s visa are not met, an emergency visa may be issued as a national visitor’s visa if particular grounds of reasonableness so indicate. Examples of particular grounds of reasonableness:
- You are notified that a close family member in Norway has been involved in a serious accident, but the Norwegian foreign service mission is closed that day and you must leave for Norway immediately.
- You are to participate in events in Norway at short notice, but the Norwegian foreign service mission is closed that day and you must leave immediately.
- You are a seaman signing on or off a vessel in Norwegian waters, but the Norwegian foreign service mission is closed that day and you must leave immediately.
Visa application form
Visa for applying for / waiting for a decision on an application for family immigration (type D)
If you wish to come to Norway through family immigration you must, as a rule, have been granted a residence permit before entering Norway. However, in certain circumstances you may enter Norway before you have been granted a residence permit. In such cases, you need an entry visa if you are subject to the visa requirement – a visa for applying for or waiting for a decision on an application for family immigration.
It is only the following family members who may apply for a type D visa:
- the spouse of a Norwegian national who is living in Norway or plans to settle here, and any children they have together
- the spouse of a Nordic national who has lived in Norway for the past three years, and any children they have together
- the spouse of a foreign national who has a permanent settlement permit, and any children they have together
- the spouse or child of a foreign national who has an individual permit to work in a group, and any children they have together
- the spouse of a foreign national who has a work permit as a skilled worker, and any children they have together
You may only get such a visa if the embassy believes that it is very likely that you will be granted a residence permit. If, for example, the sponsor does not fulfill the income requirement , the embassy cannot give you such a visa.
In order to apply you must therefore hand in a visa application form as well as all the necessesary documentation for a family immigration application (if you have not already handed in this documentation). You hand in the application at the nearest embassy that handles applications for residence.
You can apply for an entry visa before, at the same time or after you have applied for a family immigration permit.
If you get such a visa you can travel to Norway and hand in your application for family immigration to the police or wait for a decision on an application for family immigration which you have already submitted at the embassy.
If your application is rejected by the embassy, you can appeal to the UDI, who will look at your application again.
Please note that if you are granted an entry visa, this is not a guarantee that you will be granted a family immigration permit.
If you have not applied for and been granted a temporary work permit, you are not entitled to work during the visa period. Nor are you entitled to schooling, Norwegian language tuition and certain other benefits while you are waiting for your application to be processed.
Fiancé permit (residence permit to marry in Norway)
If you wish to marry and live with a person who already lives in Norway, you can apply for a residence permit to marry (fiancé permit). This permit is not a visa, but a residence permit. The rules that apply to this permit are described in more detail under family immigration.
Parental permit (residence permit for up to nine months to visit own children in Norway)
If you have children in Norway and wish to visit them, you can choose whether to apply for a visitor’s visa for Norway and the Schengen area or a residence permit that is valid for up to nine months. The rules that apply to this permit are described in more detail under family immigration.
Visa for persons who have been granted residence permits
If you are granted a residence permit in Norway, you automatically also receive an entry permit, which entitles you to stay in Norway for 30 days. You do not, therefore, need to apply for a visa as well.
You must contact the police within seven days after entry to Norway/Schengen to order a residence card. A residence card is a plastic card in the size of a credit card, proving that you have a residence permit in Norway.
Read about residence cards
Visa for skilled workers (entry visa)
If you qualify as a skilled worker, you may be granted an entry visa if:
- You have already been granted a residence permit.
- You have received a concrete offer of employment in Norway and wish to apply for a residence permit in Norway. This also applies if you have already submitted a residence permit application for processing.
- Your employer in Norway has been given a provisional confirmation that an application for a residence permit has been completed. This entitles you to work before the application has been processed (so-called early employment scheme). You must confirm your application when you report to the police for an identity control within seven days of entering Norway.
Visa application form
Residence permit for medical treatment
If the purpose of your visit is to have medical treatment in Norway, you must apply for a residence permit even if the duration of your stay will be less than 90 days.
Foreign nationals who have been offered medical treatment at a treatment facility, can be given a residence permit for a total of one year. It is a requirement that the foreign national
a) Has an arrangement with the treatment facility that the treatment will be financed by private means or public means from the home country, and
b) can hand in a statement from the treatment facility which states that the treatment will not be to the displacement of patients living in Norway.
Visa application on behalf of artists
Some organisations may apply for a visa on behalf of performing artists. This applies to:
- Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
- The Norwegian National Opera
- The Bergen International Festival
- Førde Folk Music Festival
- Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
- Rikskonsertene
- Mela-festivalen
The organisation must apply for a visitor’s visa (type C) , and the visitor’s visa requirements apply.
Visa application form
Option for visa and sailing permit for recreational sailing in Norwegian waters closed
The regulations for recreational sailing in Norwegian waters no longer apply. Foreigners who wish to visit Norway on a recreational sailing trip must apply for a normal visitor’s visa.
Airport transit visa (type A)
Nationals of countries that are not included in the Schengen Agreement who stop en route in Norway need a special airport transport visa. The airport transit visa entitles the holder to stay in the airport’s international transit area, and it does not entitle the holder to enter Norway.
Overview of persons who need an airport transit visa (in Norwegian)
Visa application form
If you have further questions on this topic, you can contact your nearest Norwegian embassy or consulate or the UDI’s Information Service for Applicants.
