Norway’s residence permit rules can make it quite challenging to be granted a skilled worker permit, as the conditions on the type of job, how it relates to your specific skill and factors such as working hours and pay are pretty stringent.

Additionally, Norway’s holiday visas do not give those coming to the country the right to work, nor do those visiting under the non-visa-free rules have the right to undertake work.

Luckily, Norway has a working holiday visa, which allows young adults from certain nations to travel to Norway to earn a wage during their visit.

These permits allow some nationals to come to Norway and live there for between one and two years while working.

They do require applicants to either have some form of savings to sustain themselves for their first free months in Norway or have a job offer on the table.

Depending on where one is from, they will need to be under a certain age, hold health insurance, not be likely to fall sick in Norway, and not work for the same employer for too long.

Who is eligible for a working holiday visa?

Young adults from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Argentina can obtain a working holiday visa to come to Norway.

The rules differ slightly for nationals from different countries.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many other options for other nationals from outside the EEA.

Those who are from EEA/EU don’t have a working holiday visa available to them. However, the Freedom of Movement rules are flexible and do allow nationals from these countries to work and live in Norway fairly freely.

Can anyone else get an extended visa to come to Norway?

Some people will be able to obtain a permit to come to Norway for nine months to visit a child. Furthermore, there are specific visas for employees of humanitarian and nonprofit organisations, artists and performers, people travelling under the Norec scheme, journalists on assignment, media personnel on assignment and those visiting for other cultural purposes.

The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) keeps an overview of all the non-holiday visas it offers on its website.