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Immigration to Norway

Norway has become a popular designation for tourists and immigrants alike, who are intrigued by Norway's high standard of living and Scandinavian culture.

 

With the exception of 1989, Norway has had net immigration since the late 1960s. The annual average almost doubled from 6 300 yearly for the period 1986-1990 to 11800 for the period 1996-2000, and increased further to 13 600 for the period 2001-2005. From 2006 to 2007 there was an increase of more 16 000 persons in net immigration. The net immigration of 40 000 persons in 2007was by far the highest ever recorded.

 

Non-Nordic nationals who intend to work or who want to run their own business in Norway must as a general rule hold a work permit. EEA nationals need a residence permit when their stay in Norway exceeds three months, but this will change in 2009 with the implementation of the EU directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of their Member States. However, they will be required to register with the appropriate authority.

 

General immigration regulations apply for job-related work permits to third country nationals. Firstly, there must be a concrete offer of employment. Secondly, pay and working conditions must not be less favourable than those of relevant industrial agreements or which are prevalent in the relevant local labour market. Thirdly, as a general rule the employment offered must be of full time.

 

A work permit for skilled persons may lead to a permit for permanent residence in Norway. Such permits are granted to skilled workers, professionals and others with special qualifications. It is a condition that their competence is deemed necessary for the type of job being offered. Since 2000, new permits for skilled workers can be issued within an annual quota of 5000 without a specific labour market test being conducted.

 

With the enlargement of the EEA-area from 1 May 2004, transitional rules pertaining to the access of nationals of the new EEA member states in Central and Eastern Europe (EU8) to the Norwegian labour market came into force. Norway decided to prolong the transitional rules without amendments from 1 May 2006, and the same provisions have also been made accountable for workers from Bulgaria and Romania after their accession to the European Union in 2007. The main argument to keep the transitional arrangement have been that the provisions contribute to maintain orderly conditions in the labour market, and that a set of strengthened measures in order to prevent social dumping must be in place before the arrangement is phased out. The transitional rules for the nationals of the new Member States in Central and Eastern Europe (EU 8) will be lifted from 1 May 2009 at the latest. The transitional rules pertaining to workers from Bulgaria and Romania are under consideration.

 

It is difficult to obtain a complete picture of the total labour migration to Norway, as some work contracts are not well covered by the statistics available. In the 4th quarter of 2007, more than 35 000 persons from the other Nordic countries were registered as residents of Norway and in employment. In addition, a considerable number of Nordic citizens were working in Norway without being registered as residents, as this requires an expected stay of 6 months or more. Some are commuters on a regular basis while some stay for shorter than 6 months. The number of non-resident workers fluctuates over the year, but numbers from the 4th quarter 2007 show that more than 24 000 Nordic nationals were registered as working in Norway without being registered as being a resident. In total, nearly 60 000 persons from Nordic countries, both residents and non-residents, were registered as being employed in Norway in the 4th quarter of 2007.

 

The EEA-enlargement from 1 May 2004 has had a substantial impact on labour migration to Norway. The accession of two more members to the EEA-area from 2007, Romania and Bulgaria, has further contributed to this increase, although they represent a relatively small share of the total. In 2007, 54 900 new permits for employment were granted, and 88 percent (48 100) of these permits were granted to persons from the EEA-countries and 12 percent (6 800) to persons from other countries. The number of renewals increased significantly in 2007, reaching 43 000. In 2007, a total of 77 700 permits were granted to persons from the 12 new members to the EEA-area, while the number for 2006 was 56 300.

 

On the first of October 2008 there were 104 000 valid work permits in Norway, and 66 per cent of these were held by persons from the EEA-countries. This share is un-changed from 2007.

 

During the first nine months of 2008, 21 per cent of the work-related permits to citizens of the 12 new EEA-countries were issued to women. The proportion of women being granted EEA-permits has been relatively stable for the same periods in 2007 (20 per cent) and 2006 (22 per cent), and declined from 27 per cent in 2005. The high proportion of men is directly related to the fact that a large proportion of foreign workers are employed in building and construction activities, sectors which recruits a male-dominated work force.

 

Before 2006, the major category of work permits granted to nationals from countries outside the EEA-area was for engaging in seasonal work. However, after the EEA-enlargement in 2004, work permits for seasonal work dropped significantly as the seasonal workers from the new EEA-countries now could work on the basis of an EEA-permit, cf. diagram 4.2. In both 2006 and 2007 there were more permits granted to skilled workers than for seasonal work undertaken by third country nationals. In 2007, 2 600 work permits were issued for seasonal work, an increase of 700 from the year before.

 

In 2007 and 2008 there was a significant increase in the number of permits issued to skilled third country nationals, cf. diagram 4.3. Still, the numbers are much lower than the ceiling of 5 000 permits that may be granted without any labour market needs test. In 2007, 2900 permits for skilled work were issued, up from 2000 in 2006 and 1200 in 2005. During the 9 first months of 2008, 2500 permits for skilled work have been issued. The main country of origin for the skilled workers is India with more than 470 permits issued in the first 9 months of 2008. For immigrants from each of the countries of Russia, USA, the Philippines and China, more than 200 permits were issued to skilled workers in this period.

 

Persons staying in Norway for a period of less than six months, and persons commuting across the border for work on a regular (daily, weekly) basis, are registered as "non-resident" and are not included in the register based statistics on employed per-sons, including immigrants. About 64 300 non-resident persons were registered as employees (self-employed persons are not included) in the 4th quarter of 2007, an increase of 16.2 per cent (9000 persons) from the 4th quarter of 2006. The largest group of employees not registered as residents came from the Nordic countries (more than 24 000 persons), while persons from the EEA-countries in Eastern Europe form the second largest group with 15 100 from Poland and 4 800 from Lithuania. Since 2004, the year of enlargement of the EEA-area, the increase of employed immigrants on short term stay has been 18 800 persons. Persons with Norwegian origin (for instance a Norwegian born person residing in Sweden and commuting to Norway) account for 4 400 of the non-resident employees.

 

Employment regulations are adhered throughout Norway, and although the entire process takes a certain amount of time and effort, living in Norway will prove to be a fruitful experience as you gain an insightful perspective of Norwegian life.

Source: Regjeringen

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