The waiting time for work permit cases is 12 months

This means that we process most work permit cases within twelve months. The waiting time starts running from the date your case is received by UNE. You will be notified as soon as we have considered your appeal.

Which work permit cases do we prioritise?

We prioritise seasonal work cases. Such cases often concern offers of short-term employment, and UNE's goal is to ensure that your appeal is decided before the period of work begins. Not all cases are decided before then, however, for example if the case was sent to UNE just before or after this date, or because we are waiting for information from you as the appellant or from other agencies.

As regards other types of work permit cases, we usually consider the oldest cases first. However, we make exceptions if that is more efficient. Sometimes, we see that there are several cases involving the same employer, or that several cases concern the same issue. It may then be more efficient to consider these cases at the same time. Some cases may therefore take less than three months to process.

We rarely prioritise cases when someone asks us to. That would require very special circumstances.

What can you do to ensure your case is processed as quickly as possible?

You can ensure that we have all the documents we need to consider your case. UDI has a checklist for the documents required in work permit cases (external link). You don't need to send us the same documents that you have already submitted to UDI.

It is also important that you read UDI's decision and its reason for rejecting your case.

If you have received an offer of higher salary or more working hours, you must send us a new offer of employment form. Both you and your employer must sign this form. If you have new or additional documentation of your qualifications, you can send this to us as well. In order for us to consider documents that are sent to us they must be translated into Norwegian or English by a translation agency.

When do we spend more time than estimated?

Sometimes it takes more time than normal for us to consider a case. There is usually a reason for this, for example that we are waiting for information from you as the appellant or that we need information from other sources, such as an embassy, the police or UDI.

Waiting times may change

We will update the information on this page once a month.