Hi! First of all, apologies for the rant if it sounds too harsh.
I’ve been going through work visa extension process recently and I wonder if anyone else had experienced similar issues to me.

Having lived in 4 countries before as an expat, I never ever I stumbled upon such an attitude and service level. Here in Norway, I applied for my skilled worker visa extension in August 2021 and here I am now, exactly 7 months after, still waiting for it to be processed.

This is my most expensive visa, I paid exactly 750 USD equivalent to obtain it. I have collected all the docs and there were no questions during application process. Whenever I call UDI call center (did it about 10 times already), after waiting for 40 minutes on the line, I hear only “nothing we can do” mumbling with no deadlines given whatsoever. “Your case is still processed, I can’t give you any details” is their whole vocabulary. And by the way, they stopped the callback service also. Apparently they are too lazy to even call you back now. In fact, one lady in the call center told me the following: “I’d rather process cases than talk to you for 30 minutes over the phone”. Imagine – same folks that process cases are answering the phone at the same time. Efficiency at its best.

Speaking about deadlines, they have the infamous waiting times section on their website. Funny enough, it is always shifted. When I first applied, it was 3 months. When I called after 3 months to complain about missed deadlines, it became 4 months. Now it’s 6 months. I swear to God, if I call now, they will immediately change it to 7. If you don’t believe me, you can check it yourself here:
[https://www.udi.no/en/word-definitions/waitingtime/](https://www.udi.no/en/word-definitions/waitingtime/)

Will I ever get my visa? I have two dependants which are also locked as their visas fully depend on me We are stuck in the country for 7 months without any possibility to come back in case I leave. What in the world are these guys in UDI doing? Are they even operational? Maybe it’s time to fire them all and hire a bunch of contractors that can do the job better and faster? Is there any place I can complain besides this useless chat with their call center?

I have never been so close to leaving as I am now. I have never felt so helpless either. It looks like this country doesn’t need high skilled workers that are paying half of their salaries in taxes.

7 comments

  1. Now don’t get me wrong UDI is a toxic waste dumpster fire on a good day, but waiting times right now are actually one of the few things that are understandable. I get your frustration and your feeling of helplessness, but you need to remember that

    1. we’re just coming into something resembling “normal” post-covid restrictions and covid did a walloping on wait times.
    2. in addition to the regular influx of immigrants, there has been a larger than normal influx of refugee/asylum seekers from places like Afghanistan, Syria, and now Ukraine. Those types of cases will always (and rightfully so) take priority over other types of cases.
    3. UDI has always been slow to approve things (but are usually quite fast about rejecting things). For now, take it as a good sign that you’re still waiting.

    If you find waiting for your permit is long, wait until you need to get a bank account. Every immigrant I’ve ever spoken to has said that it’s an absurd amount of waiting for that to be approved (and hey, nearly everything is connected to your bank account).

  3. With my experience they are brainless imbeciles!

    Never before have I been so angry I have scolded someone in a customer service before (our Northern Norwegian cursing is quite colorful)
    I was so angry I was shaking from rage, at the end I had to tell this person I have to hang up before I would mentally explode 🤬

  4. Get a lawyer. A friend of mine found an office right in front of UDI. The lawyer wrote a note with 2 paragraphs in Norwegian. The guy at UDI answered right away. The official papers came a few weeks later.

    By the way, if you have sent the documentation and is waiting for an answer you can leave the country. Once back you show them you have a visa request being processed and it should be fine. Anyways, get a lawyer.

    Same happened to me. Had to wait for 7 months to get one of my kids card. I only got it solved because my manager (Norwegian) called them and asked what was going on.

    Edit: typos.

  5. I mean you’re quite literally lucky it’s a skilled worker residence permit. All the other types of permits are much much worse. UDI pretty much prioritizes skilled workers over other types of immigrants. Even people married to Norwegian citizens on a family immigration permit have a much harder time.

    At any rate you should have applied for permanent residence when you had the chance instead of extending skilled worker permit.

  6. Hello, Sorry to jump on your question but I am also a skilled worker that needs to extend her 1 year visa to 3 years. My visa ends in july – do i need to apply for an extension now to not have problems working?

  7. My dad was facing deportation from UDI, they gave us 3 weeks from the date of reading the letter to form a complaint and send it to them.
    It took UDI close to – if not over – a year for them to send a reply letter back, telling us he would still be deported, however, he could complain once again and still stay in the Country until a reply was given.
    Half, or three-quarters of, a year later, they replied that the case would be taken up by the UNE and that we would hear from them later.
    UNE sent us a letter requesting any additional information that might not have already been provided about our case, informing us that he could continue staying in the country until the case was done.
    Several months, and a phone call later, I was told that if he wanted to reapply for a residency card, he should do it soon.
    Then a few weeks later, after having already booked an appointment at the police station to reapply for the residency card, we got a letter from UNE approving his continued stay in the country, informing us that UNE had found that UDI had failed to send a letter to my dad at some point in time with information about certain things regarding the residency permit and that because of that, the deportation case against him was dropped.

    So, yeah. TL;DR: Don’t expect an answer from UDI within a year or so, and always complain, and complain again if you feel like there is something wrong, in the hopes your case might get taken up by UNE.

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