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 Embassy of Norway 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:

We handle visa applications from: Benin, Burkina faso, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Applicants that can use another country's visa service:

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

Our visa process explained

Norway works with a global visa service provider called VFS Global. All applicants are normally required to appear in person to provide their fingerprints and have their photo taken. This biometric data is mandatory for processing your application. VFS Global collects and checks all visa applications before sending them, along with your documents and ID, to the responsible Norwegian embassy.

Norway has some embassies that are responsible for more than one country. This means one embassy may handle visa applications from several countries. When the embassy gets your application, their staff will look at it. They might approve it right away, or ask you for more information. This could include fingerprints, a DNA sample, an interview, or other details. If more information is needed to complete your applications, you will receive a request from either the embassy or VFS to continue the process.

When the embassy finishes your applications—whether your visa is approved or not—they send the result back to the same VFS office where you applied.

Visitor’s visa and residence permit

Important update:

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:

Applicants that can use another country's visa service:

Visitor's visa

Residence permit

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