Guest researcher at UiB

If you are a citizen of a Nordic country there are no requirements if you are staying less than six months.

If you plan to stay and live in Norway for more than six months, you must visit a tax office for an ID check and submit a notification of change of address no later than eight days after your arrival in Norway. Follow the steps at skatteetaten.no to book an appointment at the tax office.

If you are an EU/EEA national and your intended stay in Norway is more than 90 days, you need to register with the Norwegian authorities.This includes an online registration and an in-person meeting. This registration cannot be started before you arrive in Norway.

Step 1 - Online registration

The online registration should be done as soon as possible after your arrival in Norway.

1. Start the registration at registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals who has their own funds and choose your Nationality.
2. Study the displayed information carefully, then click "How to register".
3. In the next step, type what municipality you will live in, normally "Bergen".
4. Read through the steps and click "Go to the application form". This will take you to the UDI Application Portal. Create a new user if you do not already have one.
5. Go through the introduction and rights and duties information. 
6. Fill in your personal and contact information. You will be asked to provide an address in Norway. If you do not have an address at this point, you can use the address of the UiB department/unit that you are visiting.
7. In the "Basis for residence" step, choose "I have enough funds to support me and my family".
8. In the Meeting point section, choose "Bergen" as the municipality and then choose "Vest police district, Service center for foreign workers in Bergen" (SUA). If you will be living outside of Bergen contact Euraxess@uib.no for advice.
9. After reviewing and submitting the application, you can book an appointment with the police at SUA to hand in the required documents in person and finalise the registration.

For those who have short stays in Norway and are unable to find an available appointment with the police at SUA before you leave, you will not be facing any consequences for not registering.

Moving with family

If you are coming to Norway with your family and they are also EU/EEA nationals, they should also register at UDI. If they are not EU/EEA citizens, they can apply here. 

Step 2 - In-person meeting

To finalise your registration you must have an in-person meeting with the police and Tax Administration at SUA:

• Get your registration certificate (Police)
• Apply for a tax deduction card (Tax Administration)

For your appointments at SUA you must bring: 

• Passport or National ID card approved as a travel document in the Schengen Area.
• If you are not formally employed by the UiB you must bring an invitation letter from your department stating the purpose and the length of your stay and documentation that you have enough money to support yourself and any accompanying family members. You must also bring documentation of private health insurance or your European Health Insurance Card. 

Guest invitation

If you need a Schengen visa or a residence permit to visit us, an official invitation letter is required. 

The written invitation should include the official letter head of the inviting department/unit of the university, explaining who will be coming, how long they will be staying in Norway, and the purpose of their stay. It should also be made clear if the inviting department will be financial responsible for travel costs, accommodation or other costs.

The invitation letter is for processing the visa, and the immigration officers need to understand the scope of the visit to process the application.

There is no requirement for universities to submit a guarantee declaration. Any financial responsibility should be well documented in the invitation letter.

Apply for a residence permit

If you are planning on staying in Norway for more than 90 days, you need to apply for a residence permit; read more information here about staying less than 90 days. Start the process early! Please note that, as a rule, one is not allowed to start working in Norway before the residence permit has been granted. Applying for residence permit should be done well in advance of arrival in Norway.

Registration process step-by-step

To start the registration process, follow the instructions on webpage Want to apply to visit or live in Norway (udi.no) of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI). Here is some specific advise to help you along the way:

1. On the initial webpage Want to apply (udi.no), follow the instructions and choose the Work immigration track.
2. In the next step, choose the  Vocational training and research  track and then Researcher with own funds. Press How to apply
3. In the next step, you are asked if you are already in Norway and wish to hand in the application here. Choose Wish to apply from abroad and enter the country in which you are legally residing. Note: Only under very special circumstances non-EU/EEA nationals may apply for a residence permit from Norway. 
4. Print out the Checklist for researchers with own funds
5. This will take you to the UDI application portal. Create a user if you do not already have one. Tick the disclaimer and press the button Go to application form.
6. In the Where are you submitting the application section, choose the country in which you are legally residing 
7. Make a note of where you must submit the documents.
8. Fill in the personal information.
9. In the Contact information section you are asked to indicate your planned address in Norway. If this is not yet clarified, use the address of your UiB department/center.
10. The next steps should be straight forward until you come to the Information about your work section. Here you are asked to provide the organisation number of UiB which is 874 789 542.
11. On how long you like your residence permit to be valid for, you enter the length of the research stay agreed upon with the university spelled out in the invitation letter.
12. Check the information, tick the boxes, pay the application fee and follow the instructions on how to book an appointment for submitting the documents. Make sure to bring all the documents required in the checklist to this appointment.
13. Depending on your nationality, you might need a visa to enter Norway. This visa will be issued automatically when the residence permit has been granted.
14. As soon as you have submitted the documents, you proceed to the next step by following the instructions under Arriving in Bergen, registration with Norwegian authorities. As part of this procedure, you book a new appointment for getting the residence card. Note that you can only prebook appointments 7 weeks ahead. Do the booking well in advance of moving to Norway and choose one of the first available timeslots after your planned arrival in Bergen. Book the appointment at the Service Center for Foreign Workers in Bergen.