There are various types of visa. 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 countries covered by the Schengen Agreement if the purpose of your trip is to travel as a tourist, to visit family, public business, business trip or study visit.
A visa for Norway and the Schengen area may be granted for up to 90 days. You may not stay in the Schengen area for more than 90 days during a six-month period. This means that any stay in the Schengen area in the past six months must be taken into consideration when calculating the duration of your visa. The duration of the visa, the first permitted entry date and the last permitted exit date will be stated on the visa sticker.
Use the UDI’s visa calculator to calculate the maximum duration of your visa.
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.
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 work permit requirement. They can work in Norway if they have a valid visa for Norway and the Schengen area. This applies to the following groups:
- Commercial and business travellers
- Researchers/lecturers
- Technical experts providing maintenance of or information about machinery (must submit a written notification to the police before entering the country)
- Any foreign national in the private service of persons visiting Norway
- Professional sportsmen and women
- Public servants paid by their home country, by agreement between their home country and the Norwegian authorities
- Journalists
- Tour guides accompanying foreign travel companies on visits to Norway
- Staff on foreign trains, aircraft, buses or trucks
- Security and maintenance crew on vessels laid up in Norway (must notify the police prior to entry)
- Some groups are exempt from the work permit requirement for employment lasting less than three months.
Visa application form
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
Visa with Limited Territorial Validity (VLTV visa)
You may be granted a visa with Limited Territorial Validity if you have a travel document that is not valid for entry into certain Schengen states.
The visa will only be valid for the valid countries in the travel document.
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
Transit visa (type B)
Persons subject to the visa requirement intending to travel through one or more Schengen states may be granted a transit visa that is valid for up to five days. This only applies if you enter from a country that is not a party to the Schengen Agreement and are travelling to another country that is not a party to the agreement.
Examples of persons who must apply for transit visas to Norway:
- Persons subject to the visa requirement who travel from Svalbard to a country outside the Schengen area (transit visa applications must be submitted to an embassy or consulate).
- Seamen who will be signing off or on a vessel in a Norwegian port, or drivers travelling through Norway to countries outside the Schengen area.
Visa application form
Visa for applying for / waiting for a decision on an application for family immigration (type D)
If you wish to obtain a permit for family immigration, you must, as a rule, have been granted a permit before entering Norway. However, in certain circumstances you may enter Norway before a permit has been granted. In such case, you must obtain an entry visa if you are subject to the visa requirement – a visa for applying for or waiting for a decision on family immigration. Such a visa will only be granted in exceptional circumstances.
The following persons may apply for an entry visa:
- The spouse of a Norwegian national who is living in Norway or plans to settle here.
- The spouse of a Nordic national who has lived in Norway for the past three years if the couple has been married for at least three years.
- The spouse of a foreign national who has a permanent settlement permit if the couple has been married for at least three years.
- The spouse of a foreign national who has an individual permit to work in a group if the couple has been married for at least three years.
- Spouse of a foreign national who has a work permit as a skilled worker or as a skilled worker in a multinational company.
- Children that you and your spouse have had together who are not Norwegian nationals (children you have had with previous partners (children of only one party)) must apply for family immigration via their country of origin).
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.
Being granted an entry visa has no bearing on the outcome of your application for family immigration.
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 seven days. You do not, therefore, need to also apply for a visa. You must contact the police during the seven days you are entitled to stay in order to obtain a sticker in your passport or travel document showing that you have a residence permit in Norway.
Information about residence permits in Norway
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.
If you do not have an offer of employment, you can also apply for a six-month permit for skilled workers in 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.
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
The organisation must apply for a visitor’s visa (type C) , and the visitor’s visa requirements apply.
Visa application form
Visa for recreational sailing in Norwegian waters
Persons subject to the visa requirement who wish to sail for recreation in Norwegian waters must have a visa and a special sailing permit issued by the UDI.
- A sailing permit is granted in the period 1 May to 15 September, and only once per year.
- You must submit a visa application to a Norwegian embassy or consulate no later than two months prior to the planned departure date. With your application, you must enclose a list of everyone taking part in the trip, and information about the vessel and the sailing schedule. This information should be given on a special form, which is available from the foreign service mission.
- All participants must have a valid passport or other travel document.
The time period for the trip, the name of the vessel and the ports of call are stated in the sailing permit. Calling at other ports is only permitted in the event of an emergency situation. In the event of an emergency, contact the police.
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
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.
