🇳🇴 Norway Freelance / self-employed visa

All requirements in detail

Official name

Residence permit for self-employed persons (sole proprietor), Immigration Regulations §6-18 — Norway has no dedicated digital-nomad visa for the mainland; Svalbard is visa-free under the 1920 Svalbard Treaty

Visa type

Freelance / self-employed visa

Status

Active

Income requirement (original currency)

27,117 NOK / month

Income basis

Freelance income

Legal basis

Self-employed permit: the business must be likely to generate at least NOK 325,400/year before tax (the UDI subsistence level 'as of May 2025', tied to ~2.5x the National Insurance basic amount G; figure re-stated each May). NOK 325,400/12 = NOK 27,117/month. Converted at the current rate ~NOK 11.06 = EUR 1 (0.09045 EUR/NOK, 15 Jun 2026): ~EUR 2,453/month, ~EUR 29,433/year. This is required *future business profit*, not a foreign-salary threshold. The Svalbard route has no published numeric income figure — only a general 'sufficient means to support yourself plus secured housing' test — so it is left null at program level.

Family surcharges

No separate published self-employed-permit income surcharge for family; family members apply under family-immigration rules with their own (higher) sponsor-income requirement, set separately by UDI. (Distinct figure from the permanent-residence self-support amount, which UDI lists at NOK 341,373 before tax over the last 12 months.)

Working for local clients

Allowed

Path to citizenship

Via permanent residence

Where to apply

Embassy / consulate, In country, Online

Processing time

8–24 weeks

Tax residency trigger

183 days

Insurance requirement, verbatim intent: Norway does not publish a private-insurance coverage minimum for the self-employed permit because residents are enrolled in the public National Insurance Scheme (Folketrygden). Membership is compulsory for anyone intending to reside in Norway for more than 12 months, giving access to public healthcare; for the gap before registration, or for stays under a year, private/international health insurance is advisable. On Svalbard there is no folketrygden-equivalent public health-insurance scheme and the local hospital handles acute/emergency care only, so private international health insurance (with medevac) is strongly recommended there, but it is not a formal visa condition.

Tax notes: No special expat or digital-nomad tax regime. Per Skatteetaten you become tax-resident if you stay in Norway more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or more than 270 days in any 36-month period; once resident you are in principle liable to Norwegian tax on worldwide capital and income (subject to tax treaties). General income is taxed at a flat 22%, plus a progressive bracket tax (trinnskatt, 2026 brackets from NOK 226,100, rising to 17.8% at the top) on personal income and National Insurance contributions (trygdeavgift), so effective marginal rates on labour/business income are considerably higher than 22%. Self-employed persons pay a higher National Insurance rate on business income. Tax residency only ends once you take up permanent residence abroad, do not stay in Norway more than 61 days in the income year, and have no available dwelling here (and, after 10+ years of residence, only after three consecutive such years).

Beyond the visa

Norway — the rest of the move

The visa is step one. Here is the rest of what it takes to live here — each researched and sourced.