SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

OSLO

How Oslo plans to cut work permit waiting times down to three days

Oslo will trial a scheme which aims to reduce the time it takes for a foreigner to be cleared to work in Norway down to three days.

Pictured is the opera house in Oslo, which sits on the Oslo fjord.
Oslo will aim to cut the time it takes to receive a work permit down. Pictured is the opera house in Oslo, which sits on the Oslo fjord. Photo by Delia Giandeini on Unsplash

Those from outside the EEA typically need a work permit to come from overseas to Norway for work.

To apply for a work permit, one must typically have a full-time job offer on the table and then wait to be granted a residence permit by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) to begin work. In some cases, the employee may be granted permission to start the job before residence is granted.

The downside to the current system is the time it takes for a work permit to be granted and for foreign workers to access other things, such as their identification number and bank account.

It currently takes around 37 weeks from when an employee who needs a work permit signs a contract until they have everything they need to participate in Norwegian society, according to Oslo Municipality.

“We see that many Norwegian businesses, especially in Oslo, find it difficult to get international workers approved. It is a huge challenge,” Rina Mariann Hansen, Vice Mayor for Business Development and Public Ownership at the City of Oslo, told Norwegian business news publication E24.

Oslo Municipality will trial a new digital solution that will aim to cut down the time it takes from around nine months to three days. The project is a collaboration involving the city, Oslo Business Region, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, Bank ID, the University of Oslo, the police and the Norwegian Tax Administration, among others.

The system called the Kompetansespor (the competence track), will see the employer verify the candidate’s identity through the employment contract. The employee will then have all the relevant paperwork uploaded to their “digital wallet” for the authorities to access.

According to Oslo Municipality, the digital portal will not require legislative changes or require new rules for residence permits to be created.

The pilot scheme’s first phase is being trialled and will be finished in September. The initial phase involves manually testing how to speed up the time it takes for new hires from outside the EU/EEA to be cleared for work.

The results of the first phase will be publicly presented during Oslo Innovation Week in late September. Only selected employers chosen by the municipality are participating in the pilot scheme. It currently isn’t clear when the digital wallet will be launched to employers.

The criteria for firms to join the Kompetansespor scheme have not been defined and will be decided by the authorities. The criteria will be made publicly available when the solution has been tested and is ready for rollout.

It isn’t possible for those looking to come to Norway to sign up for the scheme either.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

OSLO

Everything you need to know about Oslo’s public transport network

Buses, trams, ferries and a metro system all make up Oslo's public transport system. Here's what you need to know to get about the Norwegian capital.

Everything you need to know about Oslo's public transport network

Being the Norwegian capital, it’s no surprise that Oslo has a robust public transport network. You can use a public transport ticket for everything from ferries and buses to trams and trains.

One company, Ruter, handles public transport for the city and the surrounding Akershus area.

Thankfully, you’ll only need a single app or travel card to get around the city. This applies to the different forms of public transport, too. You can go from a bus to a tram to a ferry without having to use a different app or purchase a different kind of ticket.

The Ruter app is the only place to buy tickets digitally, and it is available in English. This app also has integrated map features so you can find the best way to get where you need to be and what zones your ticket will cover.

When it comes to the zones themselves, there are five. The cost of a ticket increases as you travel across zones. However, the main thing to know is that zone one covers the entirety of Oslo itself, and the other zones extend into the surrounding areas of Oslo.

Furthermore, some sections of the public transport network, such as the metro, only operate in zone one, so you don’t need to worry when buying tickets.

Tickets

Ruter offers tickets for single journeys, 24 hours, a week, 30 days, or a year. For those commuting inside and out of Oslo, you can add additional zones to the ticket.

The single ticket currently costs 42 kroner for an adult travelling in one zone . There is a flexible scheme currently in place which makes single tickets cheaper the more frequently you buy them.

This discount resets every 30 days. There are also discounts for children, pensioners, and those in the Norwegian Armed Forces.

A single ticket is valid for 60 minutes and allows unlimited transfers. The ticket duration is extended for every extra zone one travels through. For example, this is handy if you are taking a regional train from the airport to the city centre.

Meanwhile, a 24-hour ticket costs 127 kroner, a monthly ticket is 897 kroner (but will soon be reduced), and an annual ticket is 8,996 kroner. The longer the duration of the ticket, the more money you will save.

Those caught travelling without a ticket will typically be fined 1,470 kroner, or 1,200 kroner if the fine is paid on the spot.

The different transport options

There are two kinds of buses in Oslo: the red ones that operate solely in the city and the green ones that shuttle people in and out of the greater Oslo region.

You can get on the red buses at any of the doors, and some of the green ones need you to show your ticket at the front door.

Buses don’t operate 24/7. However, some of the most important routes will have a nighttime schedule.

There are also six tram lines in Oslo, with around 99 stops and 130,000 daily passengers. The trams are suitable for those with mobility issues as the doors open at pavement level. Most lines remain within Oslo, but line 13 ends in Bekkestua in Bærum, one of the municipalities that borders Oslo.

Oslo’s metro, or T-bane, is popular with both commuters and leisure travellers. There are five metro lines, and all lines converge in the city centre via a shared tunnel. The metro line is particularly good at connecting the city to its forested areas, with plenty of hikes and trails branching off from metro stops.

Passenger ferries connect the city to the islands in the Oslofjord. These ferries are a stone’s throw from Oslo town hall at Aker Brygge. There are also commuter ferries connecting Oslo and towns like Nessoden and Drøbak.

Several commuter train lines exist in Norway. In recent years, these have been plagued by punctuality issues.

Regional trains in Norway carry the R designation (the R11, for example), and you can use Ruter tickets for this. An example is using a Ruter ticket to take the cheaper regional trains from the airport to Oslo rather than the express service.

SHOW COMMENTS