How to find a job in Norway as a refugee

Only with a temporary work permit from UDI. Working without one violates Norwegian law and may affect your application for protection. You can be granted the permit if you have had your asylum interview (unless you are from Yemen or a Uyghur from China, where the interview condition does not apply), you have a valid passport, or had one when you handed it to the police, and you have not received an answer or have been granted deferred implementation while UNE considers your appeal.

You cannot get the permit if your case is a Dublin case, if your application has been rejected, or if you have received an expulsion letter or advance notice of expulsion. Syrian citizens and stateless persons from Syria may only get it after their asylum interview. Apply on UDI’s form for asylum seekers who want a work permit and send it by post to the police where you live, not by email and not to UDI. It is free, unless UNE has already rejected your application.

The permit lets you work; it does not find you a job. UDI says you must find work yourself. Your D number, which you get when you register as an asylum seeker, lets an employer pay you once you have a tax deduction card.

Under the Immigration Act, a residence permit gives the right to take work anywhere in Norway unless another rule says otherwise, so once you are granted protection you do not need a separate work permit. You are given a national identity number. Most refugees are settled in a municipality by agreement between IMDi and the municipality; if you settle on your own, the municipality may still offer you the introduction programme.

Anyone living in Norway legally can register with NAV as a job seeker, which gives you an assessment of the guidance you need. In some municipalities NAV also runs the introduction programme, while in others it is a separate service. Either way, it is your main route to Norwegian, qualifications and your first Norwegian employer.

It is a full-time, paid education programme, 30–40 hours a week, that prepares you for work or further education. Refugees aged 18–55 who are settled in a municipality by agreement with IMDi have the right and obligation to take part, as long as they have lived there less than two years, and family members reunited with a refugee may also be included. The municipality must offer you a place as soon as possible and no later than three months after you are settled.

You and your programme adviser draw up an integration plan with an end goal, and you sign an integration contract. You receive an introduction benefit, which is taxable, and absence must be approved or your payment is reduced. If you already have a job or an offer of at least 30 hours a week, you have neither the right nor the obligation to take part; if that job ends within your first two years in the municipality, the right returns once.

How long it lasts depends on your education. With upper secondary education or higher, the programme lasts up to 12 months and cannot be extended. Without it, a programme that qualifies you for work can last up to two years, and longer if your goal is to complete upper secondary school. If you are between 55 and 67, the municipality may choose to offer you a place, and the programme then aims at work.

If your goal is work, the programme must be work-oriented: at least 15 hours a week on average of work-related activity, from the fourth month if you have upper secondary education or higher, and from the seventh month if you do not. IMDi lists what that can be: a work placement (praksis), part-time work, short vocational or industry courses, NAV labour market measures, or other activities in or close to working life.

IMDi also tells municipalities to use the workplace as a place to learn Norwegian, and notes that more participants are now expected to start a placement or work while their Norwegian is still basic. Employers can get financial support for hiring through wage subsidies (lønnstilskudd) and mentor grants, which is worth mentioning when you ask a workplace to take you on.

• Pick placements where people in your target job actually work. A month in a warehouse only helps if you want a warehouse or logistics career.
• Agree concrete tasks at the start so there is something specific to put on your CV and in the reference.
• Keep a short weekly note of what you did and learned. It becomes your CV lines and your interview answers.

Refugees aged 18–67 are entitled to Norwegian tuition in the municipality where they live, and keep that right if they move. How long you can study for free depends on how many years of school you had in your home country. Programme participants must complete the tuition and take a final test, which the municipality offers free for writing, reading, listening and speaking. Ny i Norge points out that this matters if you later apply for permanent residence.

Put your level on your CV precisely: “Norwegian B1 (oral and written), B2 course in progress” tells an employer much more than “some Norwegian”. Tuition can also take place at a workplace or placement, which is often the fastest way to learn the Norwegian of your trade.

For most professions no authorisation is needed and the employer decides whether your qualifications are enough, but a recognition makes that decision easier. HK-dir’s general recognition states whether your foreign degree corresponds to a Norwegian bachelor’s, master’s or PhD. Expected processing is 4–6 months once all documents are in.

If your documents were lost in flight or cannot be verified, you are not stuck. HK-dir’s UVD procedure, aimed specifically at refugees and people in a refugee-like situation, replaces the paperwork with a written exam and an interview with an expert committee in your field. You reach it by applying for ordinary recognition first. If you do not qualify for either route, HK-dir may offer a Qualifications Assessment instead: a statement of your education, work experience and languages, valid for three years, which you can use when applying for jobs.

Regulated professions such as nurse, doctor, health worker or teacher need authorisation from the relevant authority before you can practise. Our qualification recognition guide explains how that works.

Collective protection is granted for one year at a time, and you can have it for up to five years as long as you still meet the requirements and the scheme continues. You may not work while your application is being processed, and you cannot apply for a work permit in the meantime; you may work once collective protection is granted. Check udi.no for the version of the rules that applies to you, because they have changed several times.

Under rules UDI updated on 13 January 2025, people whose last permanent home was in a region Norway considers safe, including Lviv, Kyiv province (not the city), Vinnytsia and Zakarpattia, are assessed for individual protection instead, unless an exception applies such as close family already having collective protection. UDI says the list of safe areas may change. Your permit will not be extended if, for example, you have been outside Norway for more than six months during the last year or hold another permit.

Temporary rules also apply to integration. From 1 July 2026 until 1 July 2028, people with collective protection have a right but not an obligation to one year of Norwegian tuition, and no social studies. Because your permit is temporary, prioritise work that builds skills you can use wherever you end up living.

Use the standard Norwegian format; our Norwegian CV guide covers layout and length. Then solve the problems that are specific to your situation:

• Experience from home: translate job titles into the nearest Norwegian or English equivalent and add one line on the employer: sector, size, what it did. A recruiter in Drammen does not know a ministry in Kabul or a hospital in Aleppo.
• Gaps from flight: write one factual line and move on. “2021–2023: Relocated to Norway; introduction programme and Norwegian to B1” is enough. How much of your story you share is your choice; our career gap guide has more wording.
• Missing certificates: list the qualification with institution and year, and add “recognised by HK-dir” or “Qualifications Assessment issued” once you have it. Never inflate a qualification you cannot document.
• Norwegian references: put placements, part-time work and volunteering in the experience section with concrete tasks. Official CV guidance lists the introduction programme and work placements as experience worth showing.

NOAS, the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers, gives free legal aid in asylum, family immigration, permanent residence and citizenship cases, from its office in Oslo. Karriereveiledning.no offers free career guidance by chat, phone and email, with a job-search section for newcomers in Norwegian, Ukrainian and English, and each county runs a career centre you can book. For Norwegian practice, Ny i Norge lists free options including the Red Cross’s language training, language cafés and your local library.