English-speaking jobs in Norway: where they are and how to get one

Yes, in part of the market. On 11 September 2026, 3,136 of the 14,230 ads on NAV’s arbeidsplassen.no listed English as a working language. Some of those also list Norwegian, since an ad can name several languages, so treat the figure as a ceiling: at most about one ad in five is open to you in English.

Norway’s official career guidance is candid about where the line falls. Jobs with clear, fixed tasks and good supervision, such as warehouse, cleaning, production, transport, hotel and restaurant or seasonal work, can have lower Norwegian requirements. Jobs that involve a lot of contact with customers, pupils or patients, meetings and close collaboration, or writing reports, records and letters, usually require good Norwegian. That covers most of health, schools, kindergartens, the public sector, customer service, administration and management.

Geographically, Oslo dominates with 818 English-language ads on arbeidsplassen.no on 11 September 2026, followed by Vestland (438, the Bergen region), Akershus (370) and Rogaland (326, around Stavanger). By category, the largest groups were sales and service (607), skilled trades (517), office and finance (462), tourism and food (435), industry and production (319), building and construction (232), transport and warehouse (221) and IT (209).

That mix surprises people who expect English jobs to be all tech. 1,393 of the English-language ads had no formal education requirement, while 994 asked for a bachelor’s degree and 722 for a master’s. In other words, English opens doors at both ends: practical and service roles where the team is international, and specialist roles where the employer recruits across borders.

Research is the other big English-speaking field. In Norway, PhD candidates are normally employees rather than students, so PhD and research posts are advertised as jobs, and most universities and colleges post them on Jobbnorge.

Search the same channels Norwegians use, filtered for English:

• arbeidsplassen.no: tick “Engelsk” under working language (arbeidsspråk). You can save the search and get alerts.
• FINN.no: search for “English” or “engelsk”, which official guidance recommends for both portals.
• Jobbnorge: universities, research institutes and much of the public sector, including PhD and postdoc posts.
• LinkedIn and company career pages: EURES notes that many Norwegian vacancies are advertised on employers’ own websites and on social media, particularly LinkedIn.
• Staffing agencies such as Manpower, Adecco, Temp-Team and Dedicare, which place workers with many companies.

Search wider than your exact job title. Karriereveiledning.no suggests trying tasks, tools and skills as search terms, looking at related roles (a project manager might also search coordinator, adviser or consultant) and approaching employers directly with an open application.

An English working language rarely means an English-only life. In practice, expect some meetings, internal documents and HR systems to be in Norwegian, and customers and public services to address you in Norwegian first. Ny i Norge also notes that Norwegian skills matter for permanent residence and citizenship, where passing a Norwegian test is often a requirement.

Treat an English-speaking job as a starting point and keep learning. Karriereveiledning.no recommends telling employers you are learning Norwegian, because many value the honesty and motivation. A sentence like “I attend a Norwegian course and practise every day” in your application or interview reassures a hiring manager that you will grow into the team.

List every language you can work in, with a level. Norwegian job ads use phrases such as “må beherske norsk” (must master Norwegian), “ingen krav til norsk” (no Norwegian required) or “gode norskkunnskaper” (good Norwegian), and some name a CEFR level such as B1 or B2. Match that vocabulary: give your CEFR level and the test that proves it.

Norway’s official test is Norskprøven, run by HK-dir, which covers A1 to B2, with a separate C1 test at higher academic level. “Norwegian: A2 (Norskprøven), B1 course in progress” is worth writing even at an early stage. Our Norwegian CV guide shows the full layout.

Adult immigrants aged 18 to 67 may have a right to free Norwegian tuition, an obligation to take it, or both, depending on their residence permit; your municipality can tell you which applies. Refugees generally have a free right and obligation. Under the Integration Act, non-EU skilled workers whose permit can lead to permanent residence have an obligation without a right: Norwegian until they reach the minimum level or complete 225 hours, plus 75 hours of social studies, and they pay for it themselves.

• Municipal Norwegian schools: most municipalities run courses with or without public funding.
• Folkeuniversitetet: most A1 and B1 course modules in its autumn 2026 calendar cost NOK 6,390 each, online or in Oslo.
• Universities: many offer Norwegian courses for international students and employees.
• Free options: NTNU’s Norwegian on the Web, language cafés and volunteer schemes such as the Red Cross’s language training, and your local library.

Use Norwegian every day in small doses: set your phone to Norwegian, watch Norwegian TV with Norwegian subtitles and ask colleagues to repeat things more slowly. Karriereveiledning.no even suggests the phrase “Kan du si det en gang til, litt saktere?” (Could you say that again, a bit slower?) for dialects.

An English-speaking employer still has to meet UDI’s conditions if you are from outside the EU/EEA. You need a concrete offer from one employer, normally full-time (UDI accepts at least 80%), in a job that requires your degree or vocational qualification, with pay no lower than normal in Norway. For jobs requiring a master’s degree that means at least NOK 624,700 a year before tax; for bachelor-level jobs, NOK 545,400.

That rules out many of the practical and service roles in the English-language ads: 1,393 of them had no education requirement, and a skilled worker permit needs a job that requires skilled qualifications. If you need a permit, concentrate your search on skilled roles and on employers that have sponsored internationals before, and see our Norway work visa guide for the full conditions.

Expect more competition for English-language roles, since most internationals in Norway are chasing the same slice of the market. What sets candidates apart is specificity: a CV tailored to the ad’s requirements, results with numbers, and a clear line on your right to work or permit route. If you will need a permit, know the salary floor before the interview.

Use the network route in parallel. Karriereveiledning.no notes that many private companies hire on tips from their own employees, so talk to people already working in your field, go to meetups and career fairs, and send open applications to companies you have researched. Before you send anything, run your CV against the ad with our free ATS score checker to see which requirements you have not yet evidenced.