FAQs About Norway Permanent Residence Permit

General FAQs About Norway Permanent Residence Permit

Q:        When and where do I have to apply?

A:        The application for permanent residence permit will have to be submitted to the local police and this application will have to be submitted at the least a month prior to the expiration of your work permit or residence permit. When you submit the application time, then you are at liberty to stay in Norway while the application is processed, yet your stay will be under the pre-set stated conditions.

Q:        How long will it take to process my application?

A:        The application processing time for these particular applications may vary. You can receive the latest information in Norwegian and English language by making a phone call at the directorate’s department of information regarding applicants.

Q:        Do I have to pay any fee while submitting the permanent residence permit application?

A:        The fee for the application is Kr. 1600. This fee is deposited with the police while submitting the application. The fee can be paid in cash or via bank card. It can also be deposited directly into the bank (through bank transfer). Under the situation you can attach the receipt of payment with the application and submit it either personally or dispatch it via postal mail. You can get the account number from the police department.

Q:        If my application has been rejected, can I file an appeal against the decision?

A:        Yes! If you file an appeal against the decision, then your case will be processed by the UDI – Directorate of immigrants. And concurrently if the directorate sticks to its prior decision than your application case will be forwarded to the Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board – UNE, where it will be processed. There is no fee for filing an appeal.

Q:        Which condition do I have to fulfill?

A:        The basic principle is that you should be a continued legal Norwegian citizen for the past three years under the auspices of a work permit or residence permit. Also that this permit should make you a contender for the permanent residence permit. It should also be made clear that in particular cases and situations a stay of more than three years may also be demanded, for example if you may have been imprisoned for some crime. By ‘continuous’ it is meant that during the stay of three or more years you must have been receiving the same permit and that all the conditions pertaining to that permit were being fulfilled during that time. It is essential that either by a mishap or mistake you should not have spent a total time period of more than three months without a permit. The time without permission is calculated as the time period, which elapsed during the expiration of the permit to the time of submission of a permit renewal application.

            Apart from this it is also essential that during these three years you should not have spent a period of more than 7 months outside of Norway. Applicants belonging to some specific groups can stay in Norway for up to 15 months while their right to apply for the permanent residence visa expires. This rule is applicable to person whom have been given the permit based on some professional skill and capability; or for the persons given visa after being appointed to the post of a professor or any other functional post (permit issued based on the Norwegian Rules of immigration 3S, part 2, word a or d). In such cases the condition is applied that private travelling and tourism should not exceed the seven months, and any other trips should have been made in a professional context or to fulfill duties pertaining to execution of professional duties. Apart from some of the exempt cases and situations, the condition that is applied is that the persons who were issued their first work permit or residence permit after the dates of 1^st September, 2005 should have essentially completed the Norwegian language course. Persons being given their work permit prior to these dates are not essentially required to fulfill this condition. This rule is only applicable to people who required to complete their Norwegian language education under the rules and regulations set out in the introduction laws.

Q:        From when onwards the stay duration is calculated?

A:        Usually the stay duration is calculated from the date that the first residential permit was issued to you. If this permit was issued to you prior to your visit to Norway, then this duration will be calculated from the date you first informed the police of your arrival in Norway. Asylum seekers who have been granted asylum can calculate their duration from the time they submitted the application for asylum. On the contrary, such applicants who have applied for residency visa on humanitarian basis, will have their duration of stay calculated from the date when the permit was approved. If the basis of your permit has been changed or you have spent some time in Norway without your permit having any basis, than the duration of your stay will be calculated from the time when the latest permit was issued or when the basis of the permit was reissued.

Q:        Can my permanent residency permit be revoked in any case?

A:        Although a permanent residence permit grants the right to stay permanently in Norway, Yet the condition applies specifically to those that you must actually be residing in Norway. If you have been living outside of Norway for two years out of the four year duration then your permit will be revoked. If for some authentic reason you need to spend long period of time outside of Norway then you can submit an application to be exempted from this rule.