After so many questions from expats in Norway about living and working, I have really wanted to make a guide to be able to help answer some of those questions. I am by no means an expert on these things, but I am an expat who lives in Oslo, Norway and have done some thorough internet research to answer some of the most common questions I get on this blog about moving to, living in or working in Norway.
The expatriates guide to living and working in Norway will be a series over probably the next few months to cover many common topics that people have asked me questions about. I hope it helps, and you enjoy it!
This series will include:
- Introduction
- Moving To Norway? How To Prepare For Your International Move
- What To Wear In Norway (The Climate And Seasons)
- Visas, Residence Permits And Immigration
- Getting A Visa To Norway
- Learning Norwegian
- How much does it cost to live in Norway? Including Utilities (Electricity, Gas, Water) & Communications (Telephone, Post, Internet, TV)
- Finding a job in Norway
- Housing in Norway / Buying or Renting Property in Norway
- Education and Schools
- Banking
- Taxes
- Insurance
- Doing Business
- Healthcare and Medical Treatment
- Social Security
- Driving and Public Transportation
- Eating, drinking and partying
- Leisure, Entertainment and Sports
Just to start things off, I thought I would share some fast facts about Norway. These are from the Norwegian Ministry of Affairs published in 2007.
Do you have any experience with being an expat who lives and works in Norway? Please share it with us in a comment below!
19 responses so far ↓
1 Mats - Notes about the World // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I believe there is an organization for expats in Norway that is set up by businesses bringing over employees, and Norwegian businesses hiring non-Scandinavians. They are supposed to be very helpful with all sorts of practical stuff, but I think they are run as a business and are quite costly (I don’t know, though). Have you heard of them?
2 Kristie // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:37 pm
@Mats - Notes about the World: No I haven’t heard of them. But if they are a business in Norway, I’m sure they would be pretty costly! Plus for people like me (not coming over via business) its not really an option! But I would still be interested in knowing the name of that company. Anyone??? :)
3 Mats - Notes about the World // Jul 7, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Ah! I found it, it is called INN - International Network of Norway. I think this might be their website: http://www.careerinnorway.no/index.php?cmd=inn
There’s also another organization called Norway International Network (NIN). Their website is here: http://www.ninside.org
4 Mats - Notes about the World // Jul 7, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Hm, for some reason my last reply disappeared. Probably because I added some urls. The organization I was thinking of is called International Network of Norway.
5 Kristie // Jul 7, 2008 at 5:27 pm
@Mats - Notes about the World: Thanks for the links! I will be checking them out so I can put it in future posts in this series. Thanks for helping out!
6 RennyBA // Jul 8, 2008 at 1:14 am
Mats contributions is great. As a local, may I ad a recommendation for LinkedInNorway: http://www.nettverket.org counting about 800 members.
And of course, while I’m at it: The Norwegian Computer Society for IT-professionals (http://dataforeningen.no/FgdLS4k.ips)
Looking forward to your posts :-)
7 Karen // Jul 8, 2008 at 3:18 am
I am looking forward to this series! (What is an expat?)
8 Kristie // Jul 8, 2008 at 1:18 pm
@RennyBA: Thanks for the suggestion Renny! I just might join myself :)
9 Kristie // Jul 8, 2008 at 1:19 pm
@Karen: An expat is a person who lives in a country that is not their home country. :) I guess I should have explained that! :)
10 Cathy // Jul 9, 2008 at 4:02 am
I’m moving to Norway at the end of the month and wish you had started this back up a few months sooner! Hoping to pick up some tips in the next couple weeks anyway.
11 Marcea // Jul 9, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I’m with Cathy! And I’m really excited to see what you write, It’ll be helpful in my move to Norway too :)
12 Ole // Jul 24, 2008 at 10:31 am
Oslo is again ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/companies/7522544.stm
13 Kristie // Jul 25, 2008 at 12:44 am
@Ole: Thanks for the link. I think that will be great to help me write the post about the costs of living in Norway. Let me know if you have any other helpful information!
14 Irish James // Aug 3, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Hey guys,
i just arrived in Oslo on Friday. I’m working for a UK based company here. I have no experience of Oslo prior to this but am lucky in the sense that I already have a job and have a beautiful apartment provided by my employers.
However, despite much effort I cannot seem to find any expat clubs (sport/social/cultural/even drinking!) advertised online other than the Oslo American Women’s Group.
This leaves me slightly stumped, as being neither a woman, nor an American, I feel I do not quite fit the profile there!
I want to try and initiate social life as quickly as possible, and in my other expat experiences, always found local clubs very very helpful in this respect.
Can anyone here direct me, as I would dearly like to meet some people soon!
Bests to all here, and thank you for a very informative blog.
James
15 Kristie // Aug 3, 2008 at 11:11 pm
@Irish James: Hi James, I sent you an email with some information…let me know if you DONT get it!
16 Irish James // Aug 4, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Hi Kristie,
Unfortunately I didnæt get your mail. I received anotification from the site that you had responded to my post, but nothing else.
Bests,
James
17 Kristie // Aug 4, 2008 at 8:59 pm
@Irish James: Hi James, I sent it again….check your spam box maybe it got stuck in there the email I sent it from is “kjd1127…” Please let me know if you dont get it again!
18 Sarah // Jul 15, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Hi! I am already living here in Norway and, although the adaptation is being very very very difficult, I have to go on making the best out of this and think like “tomorrow it will be a better day than today” and things like that on a daily basis… otherwise I will just go mad here.
I would like to know if someone can tell me how much a cleaning lady takes per hour in Norway if she is working on her own. That is a really important thing for me now. Thank you :)
19 Cathy // Jul 17, 2010 at 1:42 pm
In an ex-pat group I follow there was recently a discussion about cleaning people and one was recommended who charges what was considered to be a very reasonable 100kr/hour. Hope this helps.
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