Questions and answers
Temporarily laid-off cross-border workers
- What rights do I have?
- Where do I apply for unemployment benefit?
- How long does it take to process my application?
- When will I start receiving unemployment benefit?
When you are temporarily laid off, you are entitled to 14 days’ written notice from your employer. After the layoff has taken effect, your employer is required by law to pay you your normal wages/salary for 5 working days.
Temporarily laid-off workers must have their working hours reduced by at least 40 per cent in order to obtain unemployment benefit.
If the layoff is due to lack of work or other circumstances over which the employer has no control, you will be entitled to unemployment benefit.
You apply for unemployment benefit at your local NAV office where you have been residing in Norway.
You should normally not have to wait for more than 21 days from the time you submit your application until you receive your first benefit payout. This is assuming, however, that you have accumulated the requisite number of waiting days (three whole days during which time you are wholly unemployed, and for which you receive no wages from your employer or unemployment benefit), and that you have remembered to send in your employment status form in time.
Cross-border workers and non-cross-border workers
- What do I do when the company I work for goes into bankruptcy?You can apply to NAV for an advance on your unemployment benefit while awaiting payment from the Wage Guarantee Scheme.
- I am unemployed. Am I allowed to travel to another EEA country and apply for work?Yes, you may leave as a jobseeker for a period of up to three months without losing your Norwegian unemployment benefit. This assumes, however, that you meet the required terms and conditions. See “Applying for work in another EU/EEA member state while drawing Norwegian unemployment benefit.”
- I intend to move to another EEA member state. What should I bear in mind?This brochure will tell you some of the important things you should bear in mind with respect to being covered by the social security schemes in another EEA member state, and to becoming unemployed or falling ill while seeking employment in another EEA member state.
- I have moved to another EEA member state. What rights do I have?You will find some information in this brochure on what rights you can take with you from Norway. As for what rights you have in the country you have moved to, it is up to you to check with the appropriate government authorities there. As for the terms and conditions for social and national insurance benefits, this brochure lists the appropriate government offices in each EEA member state (as well as those countries covered by the Nordic convention.
- I will be applying for an PD U1. What do I need to enclose with my application?You must ask the employers you have had in Norway to verify your periods of employment. For this you need form NAV 04-02.05, which you can get from your local NAV employment office or from the Internet at www.nav.no. You must also enclose certificate(s) of pay and tax deducted by your Norwegian employers for the past year – alternatively for the last three calendar years. If you do not have such certificates, you may enclose pay slips.