UDI 2010-144 Preparation of applications for residence permits for skilled workers

1. Introduction

The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) shall implement the refugee and immigration policy in cooperation with other areas of the immigration administration. To ensure high quality in case processing, this guideline sets out minimum requirements for the police and the foreign service missions’ preparation of cases involving residence permit applications pursuant to the Immigration Regulations section 6-1 first and second paragraphs.

This is also in accordance with the Immigration Regulations section 10-2 first paragraph, which states that ‘the body that receives the application must ensure that it has been filled in correctly, and that the application is accompanied by the necessary enclosures’.

The purpose of the guideline is to highlight the roles of the police and the foreign service missions in case processing, and to ensure that the applications are properly filled in and that all necessary documentation has been submitted before the applications are sent to the UDI. The goal is to reduce, as far as possible, the necessity of obtaining further information after the application has been sent to the UDI.

2. Applications for labour immigration

The guideline concerns guidelines for the preparation of cases concerning labour immigration for skilled workers etc. pursuant to the Immigration Regulations section 6-1 first and second paragraphs.

Reference is made to UDI 2010-018 concerning procedures and rules for case processing pursuant to the Immigration Act section 23 first paragraph and the Immigration Regulations section 6-1 first and second paragraphs.

As a rule, a first-time residence permit must have been granted prior to entry into Norway, cf. the Immigration Act section 56 first paragraph. This requirement does not apply to applicants with skilled worker qualifications, cf. the Immigration Regulations section 6-1 first paragraph. It is a precondition that the applicant has legal residence in Norway, cf. the Immigration Regulations section 10-1 third paragraph. Applications submitted in Norway must be submitted to the police in the district in which the applicant lives, or where his/her employer has his/her place of business if the application is submitted via the applicant’s employer by authorisation, cf. the Immigration Regulations section 10-3 first paragraph. Employers covered by the early employment scheme, cf. the Immigration Regulations section 6-8, may submit applications without authorisation from the employee as mentioned in section 6-1 first paragraph, cf. section 10-3 second paragraph. More detailed information about this scheme is provided in UDI 2016-003. Applications may also be submitted to a service centre for foreign workers. Applications that are not submitted in Norway must be submitted to a Norwegian foreign service mission, cf. the Immigration Regulations section 10-2 third paragraph.

3. Documentation requirements

The body that receives the application must make sure that the applicant has completed the relevant document list and submitted all documents in compliance with this list. The applicant shall be given a stamped copy of the document list as a receipt, confirming that the required documents have been submitted. The same applies if the application has been registered online through UDI’s application portal.

The document lists are available on UDI’s internet page:

• Skilled workers who are employed in Norway for Norwegian employers (external link) - These documents need to be handed in when applying for residence permit

3.1. Additional conditions that apply to special groups

More stringent qualification requirements or additional conditions apply to certain groups; see the following:

• UDI 2014-018 (applicants employed by staffing enterprises, section 3.2.5)
  
  
• UDI 2011-046 (religious leaders/teachers)
  
  
• Health personnel must present a licence/authorisation from the Norwegian Registration Authority for Health Personnel (SAFH). An approval from an official body must also be provided for other occupations when such approval is necessary in order to practice the profession. More detailed information is provided in UDI 2014-018 (skilled workers etc.,).

3.2. Applications for renewal

Pursuant to the Immigration Act section 61, renewal applications must include documentation from the applicant that the conditions are still met.

• Receipt of fee paid
  
  
• Completed application form
  
  
• New concrete and relevant offer of employment on a set form if the applicant’s offer of employment/contract has expired

3.3. Residence permit during the processing of an application

In cases where the police expect an application to be granted, a residence permit may, on the applicant’s request, be granted during case processing, cf. the Immigration Act section 57.

For information about the early employment scheme, reference is made to UDI 2016-003, see also section 2.

4. Registration in DUF

Registration in DUF (the computer system used for immigration and refugee cases) must be complete. The police are requested to follow the work processes in DUF and to register all relevant information provided in the application.

5. Special circumstances when the applicant has been expelled

Application for the lifting of a prohibition on entry or access to Norway for a short visit without the prohibition on entry being lifted:

Violation of the prohibition on entry is a punishable offence for a person who has previously been expelled and is subject to a permanent or temporary prohibition on entry (that is still valid), cf. the Immigration Act section 108 first paragraph letter a) and the General Civil Penal Code section 342 first paragraph.

A lifting of the prohibition on entry is a condition for being able to grant the permit, cf. the Immigration Act section 59. When a person applies for a residence permit via a foreign service mission, despite the fact that a prohibition on entry is still in force, he/she is also deemed to be applying for the lifting of the prohibition on entry or access to Norway for a short visit without the prohibition on entry being lifted, cf. the Immigration Act section 71 second paragraph.

An application is submitted by filling in the UDI’s form Application for the lifting of a prohibition on entry or access to Norway for a short visit without the prohibition on entry being revoked (external link to PDF), or by adding it as an enclosure to another application, for example a residence permit application. The form is available on the UDI’s website (external link), and from the foreign service missions. On application, an expelled foreign national may be granted leave to enter the realm, but, as a rule, not until two years have passed since the date of departure, cf. the Immigration Act section 71 second paragraph.

It is clear from the Immigration Act section 71 second paragraph that the main condition for lifting the prohibition on entry is the presence of new circumstances. Furthermore, it is stated that the main condition for being granted a short visit is the presence of special circumstances.

An important factor in the assessment of whether to lift the prohibition on entry and whether to grant a short visit is whether conditions have developed significantly differently than was assumed at the time the expulsion decision was made.

It also has a bearing on the assessment whether any changes are due to circumstances beyond the foreign national and the family of the foreign national’s control.

The foreign service mission must therefore expressly inform the applicant that any changes in his/her situation must be documented.

In addition to the completed application form, the following documentation must be enclosed:

• A copy of the applicant’s passport/birth certificate
  
  
• Documentation of the date of departure from Norway (for example by an exit stamp in the passport or tickets that indicate when the departure from the realm took place)
  
  
• Documentation of paid deportation expenses, if the person in question did not leave the realm voluntarily
  
  
• If the person in question has been expelled on the basis of criminal offences, the application must also include an up-to-date certificate of conduct from the home country and/or another country in which the applicant has resided following his/her departure from Norway.

The foreign service mission is requested to confirm that the application from the foreign national was submitted in person at the foreign service mission.