Moving to Norway as Self-Employed person.

Hello everyone.

I'm a designer & web developer from Ukraine. For some time I was trying to find best country to move from Ukraine. Top reasons are low level of life in general and civil unrest that makes it very hard to work from here. I'm working remotely for US company. We don't want to move from US even as employer suggest that. We want to settle down in very calm small town in a country that is safe, with high level of life where nothing really happens - no war, revolutions, civil unrest, etc. We choose Norway after our honeymoon in Oslo.

As I already have a contract with US company and I don't want to change my job I probably need to register as self employed person. I would like to know how difficult it is to move that way. Maybe someone can share their experience?

Thanks!

Hei! Here is the link of the requirements for self-employed persons moving to Norway:

udi.no/Norwegian-Directorate-of-Immigration/Central-topics/Work-and-residence/Apply-for-a

I hope this helps you a bit.

Hello,

Are you planning to register as a company here and sell services to your US employer? I'm sure you are aware that the cost of living is much higher in Norway, so you would need an income of quite a lot of dollars to cover living expenses. Also be aware that if you are getting paid in dollars the amount you get in NOK will be subject to variations in the exchange rate. Probably you have already thought of these things, but I just mention them anyway.

Good luck,

David

Yes. You get it right. That's obviously the only way I can immigrate without changing my current job as far as I know. I'm aware about higher cost of living and taxes. I was just wondering maybe there is someone with same story here and can share experience.

Thanks for reply!

I'm based in Norway, working as the only employee of a foreign company. We looked into me being an independent contractor but it ended up being simpler and better for everyone involved if we registered the company as a NUF in Norway. I'm paid in NOK for exactly the reason dmcart points out, rather than the currency where the company is based.

I didn't need to use my job as a basis for my residency here so it was a bit simpler to take our time working all of this out.

Hi, the main down side to being self employed in Norway is that you aren't entitled to a lot of the normal benefits from the social security department that you would be in normal employment such as sick pay etc. So you'd need to factor in how much you are able to earn, cost of living, taxes, plus being able to save some money in case for whatever reason you are unable to work for any period of time.
It is very easy to register yourself as a business over here and the tax forms etc aren't so difficult unless you are registered as an AS (Ltd) company which you wouldn't need to be.
It is possible to buy a house for not a huge amount of money if you can be flexible with your location - which it sounds like you can be. That was one of the biggest reasons we moved over here from the UK. However day to day cost of living is expensive and there isn't a huge amount you can do about that. If you wanted to live around Oslo you would need to have significant earnings to be able to afford it.
I know a lot of expats from all over the world living here and I don't think any of them find it an easy place to particularly when both of them are 'foreigners'.

Good luck!

Hei. I had my own consulting company in Norway from 2001 to 2010. Things may have changed now but even though I had very healthy accounts from the UK it still took me 6 months to get a company registration and without the registration number I couldn't get a personal ID number. I also found when doing my tax returns there were so many things I couldn't claim for as compared to the UK. It is also believed that the Law of Jante - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante - is very much in play even today which makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to build a business in Norway - especially if you are a foreigner. It's also extremely expensive to employ staff. So my recommendation is unless there is a very big reason to move to Norway choose another country that is more cordial to foreigners and where it's more supportive of entrepreneurs. Good luck.

Hi,

Please anyone cam help me, how can  I register myself as a company here in Oslo.
What are the documents/formalities/expenses required to do the same.
Eagerly waiting the respone

Here is the information in English:
http://www.brreg.no/english/forms/

Thanks:)