Visitor's visa

• You may submit your application up to six months before the start of the intended visit, or up to nine months for seafarers, and no later than 15 calendar days before the start of the intended visit. Due to the courier sending of documents in some countries, we recommend that you apply at least 4 weeks prior to your planned departure.

• A visa is only intended to allow a foreign national to visit Norway and the Schengen area for a limited period of time (maximum of 90 days). If you wish to reside in Norway for an extended period of time (exceeding 90 days), you need to apply for a long-term visa (Student and Work Permit and Family Immigration).

Applicants who wish to apply for a visa are requested to kindly read the information on this site carefully. The guidelines listed on this site are to help you prepare your documents accurately and will reduce the risks of your application being incomplete or that the procession time will be longer than necessary. 

Who can apply for a visa?

Please note that only applications where Norway is the main destination of the travel may be submitted at the VFS Global Visa Application Centers.

In order to apply for a visa from Türkiye, Iran, Kosovo, Ukraine, Serbia or Azerbaijan you must either be a citizen of the country you apply from or legally reside there. Applicants who are not nationals or residents of any of the countries we are responsible for, must document that they are legally in the country where they apply from and must provide justification for lodging the application to the Norwegian Embassy in Ankara

Syrian citizens
Syrian citizens can apply from VFS Global Ankara only if they have an ID-card for foreigners or a registration card for Syrian refugees from Turkish authorities.

Iraqi citizens
It is the Norwegian Embassy in Amman (Jordan), which is responsible for Iraq. Therefore, persons residing in Iraq must apply at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Amman. THe Norwegian Embassy in Ankara do not make any exemptions to this rule, as an application as a main rule will be rejected if handed in from a country the person is not residing in. 

Please follow the links below, and read the information carefully and make sure you have all the documents you are going to submit before coming to the Visa Application Centre.

Visa applicants must ensure that certain documents, according to the relevant checklist are in English or Norwegian. Applicants who do not submit translated documents will risk longer processing time or a rejection of the application.

Please note that the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ankara has updated the checklists for visa applications from Turkish citizens. The Embassy is now requiring some documents with barcodes.  

Checklists Türkiye 

• Checklist for C-visa
• Checklist for third country nationals

Checklist Iran

• Checklist for Business
• Checklist for Visiting family/friends
• Checklist for Tourism

Checklists Kosovo 

• Checklist for third country nationals

Checklist Azerbaijan

• Checklist for C-visa

Checklist Serbia 

• Checklist for third country nationals

Checklist Ukraine 

• Checklist for third country nationals

Checklist for family member of EU/EEA national (all countries)

• C-visa for persons who are travelling with, or visiting, a family member who is an EU/EEA national

Invitation form for visit of familiy or friends

• The invitation letter should come from the main person that you are going to visit. Examples: Biological familiy member, spouse/fiancee, bofriend/girlfriend. For more information click here.

Financial guarantee (sponsorship)

• If you are visiting family or friends, the person you will be visiting will normally have to provide a financial guarantee. For more information click here.

Power of attorney

• If you want someone to act on your behalf in connection with your application, you must authorise this person to do so. For more information click here.

Before you can hand in your passport and other documentation, you must register your application online and pay the fee. If this is the first time you are registering an application in the portal, you will need to create a user account first.

Once you have completed the application form online and paid the fee, you will receive confirmation by email with a copy of your application form (schengen.pdf), application summary and payment receipt attached. You need to print the application form (schengen.pdf) and submit it together with the other required documentation

Application fee

The visa fee is EUR 80. Children under six years do not pay a fee. Children from the age of six years and below the age of 12 years shall pay a visa fee of EUR 40. Please visit the UDI website for information about other groups exempted from the visa fee.

Please note that you pay the fee when registering the application in the portal. Applicants exempted from the visa fee requirement will have the fee refunded.

If you are a applying for a visa as a family member to an EU/EEA citizen you are not required to pay the application fee.

Information regarding visa fees (UDI)

Visa fee at the Visa Application Centre

In Türkiye, Iran, Kosovo, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Serbia applications are received by the external service provider VFS global, which charges a service fee.

Information regarding visa fees (VFS)

Certain additional services offered by VFS are not included in the service fee. Please note that these services are optional

Single- or multiple-entry visa?

Cover letter

The cover letter must be signed by the applicant. Cover letter for minor children must be signed by one of their parents or a legal guardian. An application without a cover letter cannot be submitted.

You must bring with you:

• a printout of the application form (schengen.pdf) received by email;
• the checklist and the documents listed.
• Your passport (must be valid for at least three months after your planned departure from the Schengen area)
• Photograph (must comply with international standards)
• Your travel health insurance policy
  • You should be covered for at least EUR 30 000, including expenses in connection with repatriation for medical reasons, treatment in medical emergencies and/or emergency hospital treatment, and death
  • Your insurance should be valid in all Schengen countries
  • It should cover the whole of your planned stay in the Schengen area
  • It should as a rule be purchased in your home country. If this is not possible it may be purchased in another country.

The application process will start once all the required documents have been submitted.

You need to book an appointment at one of our Visa Application Centers in

Türkiye: Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya or Izmir.

Iran: Teheran

Serbia: Belgrade

Azerbaijan: Baku

Kosovo: Prishtina

Kazakhstan - Astana or Almaty. 

Please find contactinfomration to VFS Global here: 

Webpage VFS Global:
For Türkiye: www.vfsglobal.com/norway/turkey

For Iran: | vfsglobal - vfsglobal
For Azerbaijan: www.vfsglobal.com/norway/azerbaijan
For Kosovo: www.vfsglobal.com/Norway/Kosovo/                                                 

For Serbia: www.vfsglobal.com/Norway/Serbia 

For Kazakhstan | vfsglobal - vfsglobal

The waiting time to get an appointment is normally not more than three days, and you will be given an appointment within two weeks.

Please note that it is a requirement to give biometrics when handing in Schengenvisa-application. The biometric date are to be collected every 59 months, starting from the date of the first collection. 

Note: Please do not send any documents, including invitation letter, guarantee letter etc., directly to the Embassy. The applicant has to bring all the necessary documents to the Visa Application Centre.

The processing time for applications is normally up to 15 calendar days after the embassy or consulate has received the application. In some cases, applications are sent to the Directorate of Immigration (UDI), and the processing time in these cases may be up to 45 calendar days.

• According to Visa Code Art 23 1st paragraph, the normal processing time for a visa application is 15 days. However, according to Visa Code Art 23 2nd paragraph, that period may be extended up to a maximum of 45 calendar days in individual cases, notably when further scrutiny of the application is needed.

  This is excluding the day of submission at the Visa Application Centre and transport to and from the Embassy. From VFS Türkiye to the Embassy you should allow for 4 extra days in transportation both ways, excluding weekends. For visa applications from Azerbaijan, Kosovo and Ukraine to Norway you should plan for a processing time for up to 25 days (up to 10 days for case-processing time and up to 15 days for two way courier to Ankara).

• Please note that when citizens of certain countries apply for a visitor visa, we must consult other Schengen Member States before granting a visa. This process may take up to seven days and applies no matter where you currently live. Please visit UDI.no for detailed information on which nationalities countries must undergo a consultation process as part of the visa application.

For more information on processing times, please click here.

The Embassy's handling time for appeals is 2 months. For further information on handling time for appeals please check UDI's website here.

After the visa application is processed, the embassy will return the passport to the Visa Application Centre the you applied from, where you can pick up your passport.

Track the status of your application on the VFS website using the reference number indicated on the receipt issued at the Visa Application Centre.

If the applicants choose to pay for cargo, VFS will send the  passport by cargo to the applicants.

If the applicants choose not to use cargo, then the applicants have to track their passports whereabouts and pick up their passport at the VFS Application Center.

If you have been granted a visa, a sticker will be placed in your passport. Please check the duration of stay specified on the sticker. The duration of stay indicates how many days you are allowed to stay in the Schengen area.

If your application has been rejected, you will receive a written explanation as to why it was rejected. You can appeal the decision.

Period of grace

If you are granted a single-entry visa, an extra 15 days will normally be added to the period you can make your travel - a "period of grace". Still, you can not stay longer than the number of days you are granted.

For example, if you are granted a visa for 90 days from 01.01.2017, an extra 15 days are added, so that the period you can travel is from 01.01.2017 - 16.04.2017 (105 days). This does not imply that you can enter 01.01.2017 and stay until 16.04.2017, as this involve an overstay of 15 days.

When you cross the border into the Schengen area, you will have to present:

• your passport with the visa sticker
• proof that you have enough money to support yourself during your stay (e.g. cash or a credit card). If you have a guarantee form, you should also bring a copy of this with you.
• documentation showing the purpose of your visit, such as an invitation, hotel reservation, etc.
• a return or round trip ticket if you are visiting the Schengen area for tourist purposes or private reasons

You may be asked to provide fingerprints by the border control officer, in which case these will be compared with the fingerprints provided when you applied for your visa.
As long as your visa is valid, you can travel around freely in the Schengen area, or in the specific Schengen countries covered by the visa. If you leave the Schengen area, for example to visit the UK or Svalbard, you will need a multiple entry visa.

Please do note that a mere posession of a visa does not confer an automatic right of entry and so holders of a visa are requested to present proof that they fulfil the entry conditions at the external border, according to Article 5 of the Schengen Borders Code.

When you cross the border into the Schengen area, you will therefore have to bring:

• Travel medical insurance
• Valid return ticket (especially when the purpose is tourism or private visits. However, we recommend all travellers to bring a print out of the ticket).
• Coyo of invitation/Guranteee Form 

For journeys undertaken for other purposes than visiting family or friends, please click here for information on additional supporting documents to verify the fulfilment of entry conditions.

Please don't forget to make copies of documents above for yourself before applying.