Visitor’s visa and residence permit

A visitor's visa allows you to stay in Norway or other Schengen countries for up to 90 days over a period of 180 days. A residence permit gives you the opportunity to work in Norway and to stay for more than 90 days.

Important update:

From the 31st of July 2025 the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi will be responsible for all applications for short stay visas and residence permits submitted in West Africa.

Applicants can submit their applications at VFS Global in Accra (Ghana), Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Dakar (Senegal), Abuja and Lagos (Nigeria) or Yaoundé (Cameroon) as before. Applications submitted up to the 30th of July 2025 will be handled by the Embassy of Norway in Accra.

Citizens of Ghana need to apply for a visitor's visa to enter Norway. If you plan to stay longer than 90 days, you need to apply for a residence permit to enter Norway.

Regional handling of applications:

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi is responsible for processing applications for visas and residence permits from Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, The Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South-Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. In addition, the Embassy receives applications for residence permits from Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Yemen, the Seychelles and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Applicants that can use another country's visa service:

Denmark represents Norway for visa and residence permit applications in Burkina Faso. Portugal represents Norway in applications for Schengen visas in Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Cape Verde.