Seasonal worker

Requirements of seasonal workers

• You must pay an application fee.
• You must be at least 18 years old.
• The circumstances in your home country must indicate that it is likely that you can return home when you have completed your work in Norway.

Please note! Because of the circumstances in your home country, it may be difficult for applicants from your country to get a residence permit as seasonal worker. We will always consider whether there is something specific with your situation that means that you can get a residence permit even though you, as a general rule, cannot get a permit as a seasonal worker.

Requirements relating to the job offer

• You must have received a concrete offer of full-time employment. You can have more than one employer, but you must then have received a concrete offer from each employer.
• If you are applying on your own from abroad, your employer must submit confirmation of the job offer before you can submit the application form. You will receive a code from your employer that you must enter in the application form. If you have more than one employer, only one of them must submit a confirmation form.
• The job you are to do must either be seasonal work or work as a holiday stand-in.
• The pay and working conditions must not be poorer than is normal in Norway. You must be guaranteed a minimum hourly wage.

Requirements of the employer

• Your employer must obtain confirmation from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) that it is not possible to recruit enough workers from Norway or the EEA to perform the job.
• If the work is in the agriculture or forestry industry, it is not necessary to obtain confirmation from NAV.

Required length of stay outside of Norway between seasonal worker permits (disqualification periods)

• If you have held a permit as a seasonal worker for six months, you must stay outside Norway for six months before you can be granted a new seasonal work permit. You cannot stay in Norway as a seasonal worker for more than six months out of twelve months.

  Examples:
  • If you have held a seasonal work permit for three months, you can be granted a new permit for three months immediately afterwards. 
  • If you have held a seasonal work permit for two months, you can be granted a new permit for four months.  

Rights and obligations

• If you later wish to apply for a permanent residence permit, the period you have this permit does not count towards the residence period required for eligibility for a permanent permit. 
• You family is not entitled to residence permits to come and live with you in Norway.