Norway Skilled Worker Visa for Nurses

A Rewarding Nursing Career in Norway

Norway’s hospitals and care homes need qualified nurses, and nursing pays well with excellent working conditions and a strong work-life balance. Nurses from outside the EU and EEA can work there with a skilled worker permit from the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), based on a nursing bachelor’s degree and a job offer. But before you can work as a nurse, you need Norwegian authorisation, and for nurses educated outside Europe this includes learning Norwegian and passing extra courses and tests. It takes time and effort, but it leads to a stable, long-term career in Norway.

What You Need to Qualify

You need a bachelor’s degree in nursing and authorisation from the Norwegian Directorate of Health, which charges a processing fee of NOK 1,665. If you studied outside the EU or EEA, you must also pass a Norwegian test at B2 level in all parts, a course on Norwegian health services and society, a course in safe handling of medicines, and a two-day nursing proficiency test. You pay the costs of these extra requirements yourself, and you have three attempts to pass each course and test. For the work permit itself, you need a job offer with Norwegian pay and conditions, and the UDI fee is NOK 6,300 for applicants over 18.

How to Get Started, Step by Step

First, start learning Norwegian as early as possible, because the B2 level takes time and the authority recommends beginning before you apply. Next, apply for authorisation to the Norwegian Directorate of Health with your diploma, transcript and passport, and complete the extra courses and tests it asks for. Then search for nursing jobs on Arbeidsplassen and FINN Jobb with terms like “Sykepleier”, “Sykepleier sykehus” or “Nurse Norway”. Finally, when an employer offers you a job, they submit a job offer confirmation and send you a code, which you use to apply for your skilled worker permit on the UDI website. Emig can also help you improve your CV and prepare stronger job applications.

Check if you qualify →