You have the right to work and to health assistance

• The permit for collective protection is granted for 1 year at a time.
• You are entitled to healthcare through public health services (eksternt nettsted).
• You have the right to work in Norway.
• Your children have the right to attend school and kindergarten. 
• If you are between 18 and 55, you have the right to take part in an introduction programme, including training in Norwegian and social studies. If you are over the age of 55, you may still have the right to participate in an introduction programme. The municipality in which you reside can answer questions about this.
• And family members of yours not covered by the scheme for collective protection may apply for family immigration to Norway according to the standard rules. 
• For the first 3 years, collective protection does not form the basis for permanent residency. After 3 years, however, you may obtain a temporary residence permit that forms the basis for permanent residency. After 5 years with a temporary permit that forms the basis for permanent residency, you can apply for a permanent residence permit if you meet the other requirements. This means there is a total of 8 years before you can apply for a permanent residence permit.
• You must tell the truth. If you have given us incorrect information or failed to mention matters of significance to the decision to grant you a permit, your permit may be revoked.

You are allowed to travel out of Norway

You have the right to travel in and out of Norway, but you must have a travel document.

If you return to Ukraine, there may be consequences for your residence permit. If you return to Ukraine, we may consider revoking your residence permit. You may travel back to Ukraine if you have a legitimate purpose for the trip. By legitimate purpose, we mean a short visit to do something strictly necessary, such as visiting a close relative who is seriously ill. You must be able to document that you have a legitimate purpose for the trip.

You keep your passport

You will keep your Ukrainian passport while staying in Norway. If you need a new passport, please contact the Ukrainian Embassy in Norway.

No. In general, you are not allowed to travel to visit Ukraine while under collective protection.

You may travel back to Ukraine if you have a legitimate reason for doing so, but there are very few reasons that are deemed acceptable.

Read more about what will happen if you travel to Ukraine.

The permit you are issued in connection with collective protection is valid for 1 year at a time.

You can be granted collective protection for up to 3 years provided that you continue to meet the permit requirements.

A law amendment enters into effect on 1 January 2025, allowing collective protection to be granted for up to 5 years. The Government has not yet decided whether this possibility for extension will apply to those who have fled the war in Ukraine. The question will be resolved before March 2025, when the first arrivals from Ukraine will have been in Norway for 3 years.

The collective protection scheme may be discontinued if Ukraine becomes safe again.

If the scheme is disontinued, you will still be allowed to stay in Norway up until your residence permit expires.

When granted collective protection, you have the right to follow an introduction programme, which includes Norwegian and social studies training.

You must contact the municipality where you reside to get information about your rights to participate in the introduction programme. The municipality will give you guidance on this.

You can find information about the introduction programme in English, Ukrainian and Russian on IMDi's website (eksternt nettsted).

If you find out that UDI has your details wrong when you received your Asylum seeker card, decision letter or residence card, please notify us by filling out a contact form or by phone.

UDI can update details about you in some instances even when they were registered in the National Population Register (Folkeregisteret). This is true in cases when the police or UDI have input the wrong information, for example, by misspelling your name during registration.

If you have changed your name, such as changing your family name through marriage, you will need to contact the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten) to update your information (eksternt nettsted).

Changes to the rules concerning collective protection enter into effect on 1 July 2024. These changes will affect persons who have been denied an extension or whose permit has been revoked, resulting in the loss of collective-protection status.

Your collective protection permit may be revoked if you

• have travelled to Ukraine for no legitimate reason
• have resided outside Norway for over 6 months in the course of a year

Information concerning those who are not eligible for an extension of their collective protection permit.

You do not have the right to be granted collective protection

If you lose your collective-protection status in Norway, you will no longer have the right to be granted collective protection again. This applies as of 1 July 2024.

If you apply for protection once again, your application will be assessed as an application for individual protection. This means that UDI will undertake an individual assessment to determine whether you still need protection in Norway. This will have multiple consequences concerning your rights in Norway, including:

• you will lose the rights you had in the municipality where you were settled.
• you will have the right to stay in an asylum reception centre while we process your application for individual protection.
• you will have to apply for a temporary work permit in order to be able to work while waiting for the outcome of your application.
• if you are granted individual protection, your right to settlement with public support will be rescinded, and you will have to find and pay for your own residence.
• if UDI determine that you do not meet the requirements for individual protection, your application will be rejected and you will have to leave Norway.

Stricter requirements for individual protection

In order to be granted individual protection in Norway, you must fulfil the relevant requirements for international protection, which are stricter than for collective protection. You will have to substantiate your fulfulment of the requirements.

In order to have the right to individual protection, you must

• have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of ethnicity, origin, skin colour, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or for reasons of political opinion, or
• face a real risk of being subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment upon return to your country of origin.

As part of the assessment of your need for individual protection, UDI will take into account whether the authorities in your home country can provide you with protection, and whether there are any areas in your home country where it is safe and feasible for you to return to.

In its guidelines, UDI has provisionally defined 6 counties in west Ukraine as safe: Volyn, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Rivne. We assess your need for protection on an individual basis, regardless of whether you are from these three or other counties. This is referred to as internal relocation, and means that UDI reckons you will be safe if you move to a different area of your country.

We will make an individual assessment in each case. The assessment of which areas are considered safe, is subject to change.

Can I apply for a different type of residence permit in Norway if I lose my collective-protection status?

If you intend to apply for a different type of residence permit in Norway, such as for work or family immigration, you will have to meet the standard requirements to be eligible to apply while in Norway.