UDI 2013-007 Applying for a residence permit from Norway

1. Introduction

This circular regulates when a person can submit an application for a residence permit from Norway in accordance with the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1, cf. the Immigration Act Section 56.

The circular applies to all applications for a residence permit submitted from Norway, except applications for protection, cf. Immigration Act Section 56 second paragraph. For applications on new grounds and renewal, see sections 7 and 8.

1.1 Definitions

To consider an application on its merits: The case is taken under consideration and the case officer determines whether or not the conditions for the residence permit applied for are met.

Rejection on formal grounds: The application is rejected without the case officer having considered the case on its merits, which means that the conditions for a residence permit are not considered. For example, the application is rejected because the applicant has not submitted the application from the correct place or in the correct manner. Rejection on formal grounds does not mean that the applicant will be granted a refund of the case processing fee. Such a formal administrative decision is considered an individual decision pursuant to the Public Administration Act Section 2 (external link). The decision usually means that the applicant must leave Norway.

2. Where should the application be submitted (place of application)?

Foreign nationals who wish to stay or work in Norway for more than three months need a residence permit; see the Immigration Act Section 55.Some persons are exempt from the requirement for a residence permit to work in Norway; see the Immigration Regulations Section 1-1. The exemptions are described in more detail in UDI 2011-032 Exemptions from the requirement of a residence permit.

As a rule, applications for a residence permit must be submitted from abroad before the person arrives in Norway; see the Immigration Act Section 56 first paragraph. Exemptions can be made from the main rule, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1.

3. Case processing procedures

When a residence permit application is submitted from Norway, the immigration authorities must first check whether the applicant is entitled to submit an application from Norway, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1. The immigration authorities shall not start considering the application on its merits until it has been clarified whether the application can be submitted from Norway (read more about what type of documentation can nonetheless be requested in section 5.1.4)

3.1 The police’s responsibilities and duties

In cases where the applicant is entitled to submit an application from Norway, the police’s power of decision follows from the Immigration Regulations Section 13-1, cf. the Immigration Act Section 65 with clarifications in UDI 2010-089.

If the police receive an application from an applicant who is not entitled to apply from Norway, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1, the police must

• mark the case with ‘Section 10-1’,

• inform the applicant that, in principle, he/she is not entitled to submit an application from Norway and is also not entitled to stay in Norway while the application is being considered,

• inform the applicant that, even if he/she leaves Norway after submitting the application, he/she will not be entitled to have the application considered on its merits, but must submit a new application from his/her home country,

• ask the applicant to sign a form with information about the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1; see UDI 2013-007V1 Information form concerning general conditions (in Norwegian only),

• forward the case to the UDI for consideration as soon as possible (see section 5.1.4 on case processing deadlines), and

• consider opening an expulsion case if the applicant was staying in Norway illegally when the application was submitted (read about the assessment involved in the final paragraph of section 3.2)

The police can nonetheless not prevent someone from submitting an application, even if it appears that it should have been submitted from the applicant’s home country.

Grounds of reasonableness

If grounds of reasonableness are invoked, cf. the Immigration Act Section 56 third paragraph, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 fourth paragraph, the police must inform the applicant that such grounds must be documented. The police can give the applicant a short deadline for submitting such documentation; see section 5.1.4. The police can forward the case to the UDI before the documentation has been received and ask the applicant to send the documentation directly to the UDI. In such case, the police should mark the case with the deadline given for forwarding documentation.

If the police’s waiting times were the reason the application was submitted on a date on which the applicant no longer has legal residence, see section 5.1.5, the police shall inform the applicant of the possibility of being granted an exemption so that the application can nonetheless be submitted. This will constitute an assessment of grounds of reasonableness, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 fourth paragraph, and the police must therefore forward the case to the UDI for consideration. The police must then not open an expulsion case.

3.1.1 Guidelines for considering cases affected by COVID-19

In cases where the application was registered online while the applicant had legal residence, but was not submitted until the applicant was staying in Norway illegally, there is no doubt that the application can be considered on its merits if the reason for the illegal residence is the police’s waiting times that are obviously due to the COVID-19 situation (see section 5.1.6 first paragraph). In such cases, the police can consider the application on its merits. However, this only applies in cases where the police would otherwise have power of decision (can only grant applications in certain types of cases), cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 13-1, cf.  the Immigration Act Section 65 and UDI 2010-089. If the application was registered less than seven days before the legal residence expired, other grounds of reasonableness must exist in order for the application to be considered on its merits. In such cases, the police do not have power of decision.

3.2 The UDI’s responsibilities and duties

The UDI shall reject an application for a residence permit on formal grounds if the application has been submitted

• from Norway without the applicant meeting the conditions in the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1

• through an employer or principal authorised in accordance with the Immigration Regulations Section 10-3, but the applicant is staying in Norway and the conditions for submitting an application from Norway are not met

• from abroad and the applicant enters Norway while the application is still being considered, but does not meet the conditions in the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1; see the Immigration Act Section 56 final paragraph and section 6 below.

The application shall be registered in DUF as an ‘utfallssak’.

Deadline for leaving the country

The case officer shall make a decision requiring the applicant to leave Norway. In principle, the stipulated deadline for leaving the country when an application is rejected on formal grounds will be four weeks (three weeks + one week to allow for postal delivery time). In some cases, we will give a shorter deadline or no deadline. This mainly concerns situations where the applicant

• has illegal residence, in which case a deadline of two weeks (one week + one week postal delivery time) will be given

• has been expelled and the deadline in the case has expired, in which case no deadline will be stipulated, meaning that the applicant must leave Norway immediately

If two applications are processed in parallel, it is important that the deadline for leaving the country is coordinated so that the applicant does not receive two different orders to leave the country at the same time. Also see the guidelines for deadlines for leaving the country set out in the UDI’s internal notification UDI 2011-015 Stipulation of deadline for leaving the country (in Norwegian only).

4. What are the conditions for submitting an application from Norway?

In order for a person to be entitled to submit an application from Norway, he or she must:

• have legal residence in Norway (the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 third paragraph first sentence),

• not be staying here in connection with an application for asylum, unless the applicant is a spouse, cohabitant, child or adopted child or the parent of a Norwegian child (Section 10-1 third paragraph first and second sentence, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 first paragraph (e) and (f), and

• fall within the group of persons that follows from the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 first and second paragraphs

Children born in Norway

The requirement for legal residence, cf. the first bullet point above, does not apply to children born in Norway. For children born in Norway, we will consider the first application on its merits, regardless of the parents’ residence status. This is conditional on the child having stayed in Norway continuously since birth, and it does not apply to a subsequent application if the child is staying illegally in Norway after having received a rejection of a residence permit application.

4.1 Does the person have legal residence?

The following section regulates what is deemed to constitute legal residence conferring the right to submit a residence permit application from Norway, provided that other basic conditions are met. This has no bearing on what the term ‘legal residence’ means in other contexts. Sections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 must be read together.

4.1.1 Persons with legal residence in Norway

The following persons are deemed to have legal residence conferring the right to submit a residence permit application from Norway (the list is not exhaustive):

• persons holding a valid residence permit in Norway

• persons with right of residence pursuant to the EEA regulations

• persons on legal short-term stays in Norway, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 3-3 and the Immigration Regulations Section 3-9. This will be:

  • nationals of countries not subject to a visa requirement who stay in Norway during their visa-free period. These persons may stay in the Schengen area (including Norway) for a total of 90 days during any period of 180 days.

  • persons staying in Norway on a visa issued by a Schengen state within the visa’s period of validity

  • persons holding a residence permit in one of the Schengen states can stay for up to 90 days during any period of 180 days on the territory of the other Schengen states.

  • persons who are here by virtue of a bilateral agreement, or a visa-free stay following such a stay in another Schengen state

    • For more information, see UDI 2010-170 Calculation of the period of stay for short-term stays in the Schengen area.

  • persons who are entitled to stay here while their application in another case is being processed, except applicants who have applied for protection; see section 4.2 below. Examples:

    • persons who have already applied for a residence permit as a skilled worker, but who, while their application is being considered, choose to apply for family immigration with a spouse

    • persons who have been granted deferred implementation of a previous decision requiring them to leave Norway, while the appeal is being considered by the UDI or UNE

  • as a rule, persons who have been given a deadline for leaving Norway by the UDI, UNE or the police in another immigration case have legal residence until the deadline has expired. See section 4.1.2 for cases where this does not apply and the person is considered to be staying illegally after the final decision has been made

  • persons who have been granted deferred implementation of a decision requiring them to leave the realm, because legal proceedings have been initiated concerning the lawfulness of UNE’s decision

4.1.2 Persons without legal residence in Norway

The following persons are deemed not to have legal residence and are therefore not entitled to submit a residence permit application from Norway (the list is not exhaustive):

• Persons who

• have entered Norway illegally

• have been expelled from Norway cf. the Immigration Act Chapter 8

• have overstayed their visa-free period

• have overstayed the period of stay conferred by a Schengen visa

• hold a residence permit in another Schengen state, but have overstayed the period they can legally stay outside that country

• have received a rejection of another application and the deadline for leaving has expired. In some cases, the stay will be considered illegal from the date the UDI or UNE has made the final decision in the case. This applies to persons who are staying in Norway pending a deadline for leaving after having received

  • a final rejection of an application for protection

  • an expulsion order or a rejection decision

• a rejection on formal grounds. In the event of a formal rejection on the grounds of an illegal stay, the entire period during which this application has been under consideration will be considered an illegal stay.

• hold an expired residence permit. See also section 7.2 and section 8.1 if the person has submitted a new application on new grounds or for renewal following the expiry of the previous permit.

• have been denied deferred implementation of a decision requiring them to leave Norway

• are asylum seekers in another Schengen state

• are in prison, unless the person holds a valid residence permit or in other ways is staying in the country legally

For applications submitted at a time before the applicant has received a reply to a request for deferred implementation, the lawfulness of the stay at the time of application depends on whether or not the request is granted. Until the applicant has been granted deferred implementation, it cannot be assumed that the applicant has legal residence. One or a series of repeated requests for deferred implementation will not in themselves constitute grounds for legal residence. Even if the person was given a new deadline for leaving the country when the UDI decided on deferred implementation, the person is considered to be staying illegally from the first deadline given if the request for deferred implementation is rejected.

4.2 The applicant is not staying in Norway due to an application for protection

As a rule, an application for a residence permit cannot be submitted from Norway if the applicant

• has an application for protection under consideration by the UDI or UNE, or

• has received a final rejection and deadline for leaving the country following an application for protection.

4.2.1 When can an application for family immigration nonetheless be submitted from Norway while an application for protection is under consideration?

A spouse, cohabitant, child or adopted child and a parent of a Norwegian child as mentioned in the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 first paragraph (e) and (f) can nonetheless apply from Norway while their application for protection is being considered.

This does not apply after the application for protection has been considered, however, and the person is staying in Norway pending departure after receiving a rejection. For this group, the cut-off point for submitting an application for family immigration is therefore UNE’s decision date, or the UDI’s decision date if the applicant’s request for deferred implementation has been rejected.

See also section 4.3.2 for other conditions for submitting an application from Norway for these groups of family members.

4.3 More information about the groups of persons who can submit an application from Norway

A description of some of the groups of persons who can apply from Norway is provided below. For an exhaustive list of the other groups of persons who can apply from Norway, see the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 first paragraph (a) to (m).

4.3.1 A foreign national who is a qualified skilled worker

The decisive factor for whether the person can apply from Norway is whether he or she is a qualified skilled worker, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 6-1 first paragraph. Skilled workers can submit all types of applications from Norway, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 first paragraph (a). A skilled worker is a person with specialist training corresponding to at least upper secondary education level, who holds a craft certificate, has a university college or university degree, or who is deemed to have special qualifications. See UDI 2014-018 Residence permit for skilled workers section 3.2.1 for more information and documentation requirements.

The applicant must document in the application that he or she is a skilled worker in order for the application to be accepted for consideration pursuant to this provision.

4.3.2 Spouses, cohabitants and children

Spouses, cohabitants and children, cf. the Immigration Regulations first paragraph (e), must be included in the group of persons mentioned in the provisions on family immigration to be entitled to apply from Norway, and documentation of the relationship must be enclosed with the application.

For spouses and cohabitants, it is a condition that the basis for the stay is not a Schengen visa. The main reason for not letting spouses and cohabitants who are in Norway on a visa visit apply from Norway is to protect the visa arrangement.

If the applicant is a child as mentioned in the Immigration Act Section 42 second paragraph, documentation must be submitted conforming that the reference person has joint parental responsibility. If the reference person does not have sole parental responsibility, the other parent must have consented to the application for a residence permit for the child. The requirement for the other parent to consent to the application is stringent. This is based on the risk of child abduction.

For adopted children pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 42 third paragraph, the conditions for applying from Norway are only deemed to be met if the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs has given its consent before the child arrives in Norway.

Only applicants who apply for family immigration can use this as the basis for applying from Norway. This means, for example, that the spouse of a Norwegian national cannot submit an application for a residence permit as an au pair from Norway.

4.3.3 Foreign nationals covered by the EEA Agreement or the EFTA Convention

The provision covers both nationals of EEA countries and third-country nationals covered by the EEA regulations, cf. the Immigration Act Section 109 and the Immigration Act Section 110.

The decisive factor in deciding whether an EEA national has right of residence under the EEA regulations is whether he or she meets the material conditions for the right of residence. This means that inadequate registration does not necessarily mean that the EEA national is staying illegally in Norway. Persons with right of residence in Norway can submit all types of applications from Norway.

For a more detailed assessment of whether a person is covered by the EEA regulations, reference is made to the following guidelines:

•  UDI 2010-025 Family immigration with an EEA national

•  UDI 2011-037 Residence on an independent basis for EEA nationals

•  UDI 2011-035 Procedures for cases relating to the EEA regulations (in Norwegian only)

•  UDI 2011-038 Service providers (seconded employees) and business starters who are not EEA nationals

•  UDI 2011-016 Permanent right of residence (in Norwegian only)

About third-country nationals in particular

Third-country nationals can also apply for a residence permit pursuant to the ordinary regulations, as long as they have a basis for residence in Norway pursuant to the EEA regulations.

A third-country national who is here without a formal basis for residence, but who is covered by the EEA regulations, can also apply for a residence permit from Norway. This means, for example, that a person who is married to an EEA national, but who has overstayed the visa-free period, can apply for a residence permit from Norway.

4.3.4 Groups of persons mentioned in the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 second paragraph

The UDI is authorised to allow some groups to apply from Norway. The UDI has set out such guidelines in

 UDI 2010-001 Entry visa for some students, researchers and trainees and their family members section 2.

5. When can the application nonetheless be accepted for consideration based on strong grounds of reasonableness?

The case officer must always consider whether an application submitted from Norway in breach of the provisions of the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 can nonetheless be accepted for consideration based on strong grounds of reasonableness, cf. the Immigration Act Section 56 third paragraph and the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 fourth paragraph.

The assessment of whether strong grounds of reasonableness exist will always be a concrete overall assessment in each individual case. It follows from the preparatory works to the provision that it is an exemption provision and that circumstances that apply in a great number of cases should not lead to the case being considered on its merits. The provision is intended as a safety net for special cases where the conditions for submitting an application from Norway are not met, but where it would be unreasonable to reject the application on formal grounds.

5.1 Grounds that speak in favour of accepting the application for consideration

A description is provided below of various cases and elements that may indicate that grounds of reasonableness exist and that the application should be considered on its merits. The list is not exhaustive, but is intended as examples.

5.1.1 The applicant has previously held a residence permit

The fact that the applicant has previously held a residence permit in Norway may indicate that the application must be considered, even if the applicant is currently staying in the country illegally due to late submission of the application. A previous permit that forms the basis for permanent residence will be given more weight than a permit that does not form the basis for permanent residence. For more information about this assessment, see section 7 when applying on new grounds and section 8 concerning renewal.

5.1.2 Health-related factors

As regards medical conditions, special circumstances must exist in the case that sets it apart from other applicants in a corresponding situation.

The reference person’s illness or need for care will not, in principle, be regarded as strong grounds of reasonableness. On the other hand, serious illness that means that parents are unable to care for their small children can be a factor indicating that the application should be considered on its merits. Another example of grounds of reasonableness would be if it is documented that the reference person has a life-threatening illness or a short time left to live.

The threshold for the case being considered on its merits due to the applicant’s health situation is high. This is because circumstances relating to health condition apply in a great number of cases, and in order to avoid unnecessary strain on the Norwegian health care service from people without a residence permit.

In order for the applicant’s state of health to be considered sufficient grounds of reasonableness, it must be documented that the applicant is not capable of travelling, or that the applicant’s situation is so serious that it would be irresponsible for him or her to return to his or her home country. Cases where the applicant’s illness arose in Norway are given more weight than cases where the applicant was already ill when entering Norway.

If the illness is so serious that the conditions for being granted a permit pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 38 are met, this indicates that the case should be considered on its merits. See the guidelines in UDI 2013-020 Health claims in asylum cases (in Norwegian only).

5.1.3 Consideration for the child’s best interests

The best interests of the child shall be a fundamental consideration in all cases involving children; see the Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 3(1) (external link) and the Norwegian Constitution Article 104 (external link). The threshold for accepting the application for consideration on its merits  pursuant to the exemption provision shall be lower in cases involving children. If the case concerns a child in the applicant’s care, the impact the decision will have on the child must be taken into account.

Unless there are circumstances that cause the applicant to be expelled, the application will usually be considered on its merits if the applicant has the care of a female child who is at risk of female genital mutilation on return to the applicant’s home country, and there is reason to fear that the applicant will take the child out of the country.

See UDI 2015-011V2 Countries where female genital mutilation has been reported to occur (in Norwegian only) for an overview of countries where genital mutilation has been reported to occur.

5.1.4 Expectations that the application will be considered

The applicant may expect to be able to stay in Norway while the application is being considered if an application that is submitted in an incorrect manner is not rejected quickly on formal grounds and the case processing time is long. For this reason, the UDI will start considering the application on its merits when six months or more have elapsed since the application was submitted without it having been rejected on formal grounds. The police and the UDI should identify and classify these applications to ensure that they are considered within six months, and cannot leave applications on hold waiting for the cases to get old enough to be considered on their merits.

If the application is rejected because the applicant entered Norway before a permit was granted, the period of six months is reckoned from the date on which the UDI became aware that the applicant had entered Norway.

Obtaining information in the case

The applicant may also expect the application to be considered if the immigration authorities have obtained information from him or her and thus started considering the application on its merits. In such cases, the case officer shall, as a rule, not reject the application on formal grounds.

However, it will be possible to obtain information to be able to consider the formal conditions, without this meaning that the application must be considered on its merits. For example, it may be relevant to obtain up-to-date documentation of the applicant’s state of health. It is therefore important that, in the letter regarding the collection of information, the case officer clarifies that the UDI has not yet decided whether the application can be submitted from Norway, and that the UDI is collecting information in that connection.

Nor has the fact that a case officer has obtained information electronically through eSamhandling given the applicant expectations, and is therefore not in itself a basis for considering the application on its merits. In these cases, the UDI may reject the application on formal grounds even if the case officer has stored information in the case.

5.1.5 About applications registered via the online application portal

When an application is registered electronically, the application will not be deemed to have been submitted until the applicant subsequently appears in person at the police. This follows from the Immigration Regulations Section 10-2 fifth paragraph; see also UDI 2013-018 Procedure for applying for a residence permit section 2.3 (in Norwegian only).

It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the application is submitted while he or she still has legal residence.

In some cases, the application was registered online while the applicant had legal residence, but the date on which the applicant appears at the police is after the legal residence has expired. In such cases, the case officer must consider whether the late appearance is due to circumstances beyond the applicant’s control. The application must be considered on its merits on grounds of reasonableness if the reason for the late attendance is beyond the applicant’s control.

If the online application was registered at least one week (seven calendar days) before the legal residence expired, but submitted in person after the expiry date, the police’s waiting times may be the reason why the application was submitted too late. In such cases, the UDI assumes that the late appearance is due to circumstances beyond the applicant’s control, and that there are thus strong grounds of reasonableness indicating that the application should be considered on its merits. However, a concrete overall assessment must be made. If there is information in the case indicating that there were other reasons why the application was not submitted on time, for example that the applicant did not have all the documents ready or that the applicant had not accepted the first available appointment, this will not be considered circumstances beyond the applicant’s control.

If the application was submitted online less than one week before the legal residence expired, the applicant did not have a legitimate expectation of an appointment to appear in person while he or she still had legal residence, and this is deemed to be circumstances within the applicant’s control. These applications will be rejected on formal grounds, unless other grounds of reasonableness exist.

5.1.6 About applications submitted during a period of illegal residence due to COVID-19

If an application has been submitted during a period of illegal residence, and the reason for the illegal residence is the police’s waiting times that are obviously due to the COVID-19 situation, this will constitute grounds of reasonableness indicating the application should be considered on its merits. By ‘obviously due to the COVID-19 situation’ is meant cases where the police have had reduced capacity for public services due to COVID-19 restrictions, resulting in long waiting times to book an appointment to appear in person. For such applications to be considered on their merits, the application must have been registered online at least one week before the legal residence expired. If the application was submitted less than seven days before the legal residence expired, there must be other grounds of reasonableness for the application to be considered on its merits.

5.2 About skilled asylum seekers in particular

For asylum seekers who are skilled workers, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security has stated that a certain degree of flexibility can be expedient, so as to avoid completely unreasonable rejections. A condition for making exemptions for asylum seekers who apply for residence as employees should be that they are skilled workers, that their identity is known and that they have not concealed important matters or provided incorrect information in the asylum case. In order for the application to be accepted for consideration on its merits, strong grounds of reasonableness must also exist.

5.3 Grounds that speak against accepting the application for consideration

Even if strong grounds of reasonableness speak in favour of granting an exemption from the conditions for being able to submit an application from Norway, there may be other weighty circumstances that speak against accepting the application for consideration. Examples of such circumstances include:

• a long illegal stay

• doubts about the applicant’s identity

• the applicant has provided incorrect information

• other immigration control considerations

Typically, the fact that it is impractical, inconvenient or expensive for the applicant to go back to his/her home country to submit a new application will not constitute strong grounds of reasonableness. The fact that an illegal stay is of very short duration is not in itself enough for the application to be considered.

In principle, the fact that the conditions for the residence permit applied for appear to be met will not have a bearing on whether strong grounds of reasonableness are deemed to exist. However, other grounds of reasonableness may indicate that the application should be accepted for consideration.

6. Persons entering Norway while their application is being considered

If the applicant does not meet the conditions for applying from Norway, but nevertheless enters Norway before being granted a residence permit, the case officer must consider whether the application should be rejected on formal grounds; see the Immigration Act Section 56 sixth paragraph.

However, for persons who have submitted an application outside Norway and enters Norway while the application is being considered, a concrete assessment must be made of whether there are grounds of reasonableness indicating that the application should be considered on its merits, cf. the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 fourth paragraph.

The case officer will then consider whether the applicant intends to continue to stay in Norway beyond the period he/she can legally stay here pursuant to other provisions in the Act.

For persons who are going to visit close family members (covered by the Immigration Act Chapter 6) in Norway, this means that a national not subject to a visa requirement who comes to Norway to visit during the application period in a family immigration case may stay here in accordance with the visa-free entry provisions. The case officer must not consider rejecting the application on formal grounds until the visa-free period has expired. The same applies to persons visiting close family members in Norway with a valid Schengen visa issued by Norway during the application period. It is only when the person is staying in Norway after the Schengen visa has expired that it can be established that the person intends to stay permanently in Norway.

For people who do not have a particular connection to Norway and who, for example, have applied for a permit as an au pair or to attend Bible school, entering Norway on a visa-free stay or a stay where a visa is required usually means that they intend to stay here to start the stay they have applied for. In such cases, the case officer must reject the application on formal grounds because the person has entered Norway before being granted a permit.

7. How to apply the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 in relation to applications for residence on new grounds

How the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 should be applied in cases where the applicant is already in Norway and applies for a residence permit on new grounds follows implicitly from the Immigration Act Section 61 seventh paragraph.

The Immigration Act Section 61 seventh paragraph regulates which persons applying for a residence permit on new grounds are entitled to or may be granted residence on the same terms until the application has been finally decided. Persons who are entitled to stay in Norway until the new application has been finally decided also have the right to have this application considered on its merits.

In order to be entitled to submit an application from Norway, the applicant must have

• had legal residence pursuant to a previous permit for the past nine months and submitted the application no later than one month before the permit expires

  • In cases where an application was registered online at least one week (seven calendar days) before the deadline of one month, but submitted later than one month before the permit expired due to the police’s waiting times, we will generally assume that the application was submitted in time.

• or submitted an application under the Immigration Act Section 40 no later than one month before the permit expired while staying in Norway on a six-month permit pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 48.

  • It is not a prerequisite that the permit the applicant already holds can be renewed.

If the application is submitted later than one month before expiry or the person has not had legal residence for the past nine months, the applicant may be granted a stay on the same terms, cf. the Immigration Act Section 61 seventh paragraph, and may thus also be entitled to apply from Norway. In these cases, the case officer must make a concrete assessment of whether the application should be considered on its merits.

If the application is submitted later than one month before expiry, we will generally accept that the application is submitted from Norway pursuant to the ‘may’ provision, provided that the person applies before the previous permit expires and has held a residence permit for the past nine months. In some cases, strong immigration regulatory considerations may indicate that we will nevertheless not accept an application from Norway if it is submitted too late. If the applicant’s permit has expired, see section 7.2.

If the applicant has not held a permit for the past nine months, we will generally not accept an application submitted from Norway pursuant to the ‘may’ provision.

If the applicant is not granted the right to apply from Norway pursuant to the Immigration Regulations Section 61 seventh paragraph, the application must be considered in relation to the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1. As long as the applicant holds a valid permit, the applicant may submit an application from Norway if he or she is included in the group of persons mentioned in the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 first and second paragraphs. If the applicant is not included in the group of persons who can apply from Norway, strong grounds of reasonableness must exist in order for the case to be considered on its merits. See section 5 and, if applicable, section 7.2.

7.1 Application on new grounds when the person holds a permit pursuant the Immigration Act Section 47

If follows from the Immigration Regulations Section 10-26 that persons with a residence permit pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 47 are not entitled to continued residence on the same grounds as before, cf.  the Immigration Act Section 61 seventh paragraph. Furthermore, a permit issued pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 47 requires the applicant to return to his/her home country after the visitation period. This means that if a person applies for a permit on new grounds from Norway while holding a residence permit pursuant to the Immigration Regulations Section 47, the application must be considered pursuant to the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1. The applicant must then be included in the group of persons who can apply from Norway in order for the application to be accepted for consideration.

7.2 Application on new grounds when the previous residence permit has expired

When the permit expires, the applicant no longer has legal residence in Norway and and is in principle not entitled to apply for a permit on new grounds from Norway.

If strong grounds of reasonableness exist, the application may nonetheless be accepted for consideration. Among other things, the following factors will have a bearing on whether the application can be considered on its merits:

• the length of the applicant’s previous stay with a permit in Norway

• the length of the illegal stay

• whether the applicant has met the conditions for the previous permit

• whether the previous permit formed the basis for permanent residence

• the reason for the late submission of the application

• in a family immigration application, it will be of importance how well-established the relationship with the party in Norway is

• the child’s best interests if any children are affected

• if the applicant applies for a permit that requires the applicant to have had a previous permit in order to meet the conditions for the new permit, that will be a consideration indicating that the application should be considered on its merits. An example of this can be if the application for a permit is submitted pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 52 and the Immigration Act Section 53

• the police’s waiting times for appointments to submit an application. If the application was registered online one week/seven calendar days before the deadline, cf. the Immigration ActSection 61 seventh paragraph (i.e. five weeks before expiry), but was submitted in person after the permit expired due to the waiting times, the application will as a rule be accepted for consideration.

8. Application for renewed residence on the same grounds

An application for renewal of a residence permit on the same grounds must be submitted one month before the residence permit expires, cf. the Immigration Act Section 61 sixth paragraph . An application for renewal submitted before expiry will usually be considered on its merits. If the application is submitted after the permit has expired, this will have some consequences for the applicant.

This may

• result in a higher fee for submitting the new application

• have a bearing on when a subsequent application for a permanent residence permit, and for Norwegian citizenship, is granted

• have a bearing on whether the applicant can work on the same conditions and, if applicable, receive benefits from other public bodies

• be considered illegal residence in Norway, which is a violation of the Immigration Act and may lead to expulsion from Norway.

8.1 When should an application for renewal be treated as a new first-time application in the event of late submission?

An application on the same grounds will in principle be considered an application for renewal if it is submitted within six months after the previous permit expired. After that, the application will usually be treated as a new first-time application.

However, the case officer must make a concrete overall assessment of whether the application should be treated as an application for renewal or a first-time application. If the conditions for the granted permit have not been met for the duration of the period after the previous permit expired, this is a strong argument for not treating the application as an application for renewal, even though the application was submitted less than six months too late.

A factor that may speak in favour of treating the application as an application for renewal even if more than six months have passed is whether the applicant holds a permit pursuant to the Immigration Act Section 42 and, in the case of an application for renewal, has reached the age of 18. If the application is considered to be a new first-time application, the conditions for obtaining a permit will no longer be met as the applicant is over the age of 18. We will then, on the basis of a concrete assessment, be able to treat the application as a renewal.

If the application is treated as a new first-time application, it must be considered whether there are strong grounds of reasonableness indicating that the application should nonetheless be accepted for consideration. If the applicant has held a permit in Norway and the conditions for a new permit on the same grounds are still met, it will in some cases be unreasonable to require the applicant to travel to his or her home country to submit the application.

Children who apply too late

The fact that the applicant is a child constitutes grounds of reasonableness indicating that the case should be considered on its merits in the event of late submission, unless the parents receive a rejection under the Immigration Regulations Section 10-1 together with the child. This is because the child cannot be blamed for submitting the application too late, and because we do not sanction children who are staying illegally.