Norway · Work authorisation

Residence permit for jobseekers (recent graduates and researchers)

Issued by The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI). It is checked against conditions rather than scored, so the question is whether you meet each one, not how many points you gather.

Basis
Checklist
Steps
4
Possible outcomes
3
Last checked
2026-08-09

Conditions

What this permit
asks of you.

Which desk decides

The authority, exactly

This is not an entry route from abroad. UDI grants it only to someone who already holds one of a closed set of Norwegian residence permits and applies before that permit expires — not to someone applying cold from outside Norway with a foreign qualification and no prior Norwegian permit.

Qualification

What it wants from your degree

You must currently hold, and apply before it expires, a Norwegian residence permit as a student who completed your programme in Norway, as a participant in additional education, as a researcher with your own funding, or as a skilled-worker permit holder doing research work. Once you find a job offer, the same qualification levels as the skilled-worker permit apply: a completed higher-education degree, a completed vocational programme of at least three years, or special qualifications built on long professional experience.

The procedure

4 steps,
in the order they happen.

Prepare your documents

  1. Confirm you hold one of the qualifying prior permits — student (having completed your programme in Norway), additional-education participant, researcher with your own funding, or skilled-worker researcher — and apply before it expires, ideally around a month ahead.
  2. Show you can support yourself for the search period. UDI states this as at least NOK 28,448 a month, that is NOK 341,373 for a full year; a lower figure of NOK 85,344 applies if you held a PhD-researcher permit. The funds generally have to be your own, typically shown in a Norwegian bank account.This is a self-support requirement, not a salary offer — check the current figure with UDI before relying on it, since UDI does not publish it with a stated review date.

Get your qualification assessed

  1. You may work full-time or part-time while you search, including in roles that do not themselves require your qualification level, but you may not be self-employed or run your own business.

Register and start working

  1. Apply online and pay the application fee.

Cost and time

What it costs,
and how long the authority says it takes.

Fees

Application fee
NOK 6,300, the fee UDI's schedule publishes for residence permits for work generally — not broken out separately for this permit on UDI's fees page

Timeframes

Processing time
Not published as a fixed figure — check UDI's current waiting-time tool before applying.

Published processing times, not a prediction about your case.

Both halves together

Guides that use this permit.

Each one takes a profession into Norway and runs the recognition branch and the authorisation branch side by side, including what your country of qualification adds.

Evidence

Every claim on this page, and where it came from.

2 official pages, each with the jurisdiction it speaks for and the date a human last opened it. The oldest is 2026-08-09, and that is the date this page is only as fresh as.

Is this the right permit for you?

That depends on where you qualified.

The planner compares every route Norway opens to your country of qualification, and adds the recognition branch when your profession has one.

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