If you have sought protection in Norway after fleeing the war in Ukraine, the Norwegian immigration authorities will decide whether your application is to be processed as part of a group of applications or individually. Group assessment of applications is undertaken for the sake of granting collective protection, whereas individual assessment is carried out to assess applications for protection (asylum) in line with standard procedure.

It may already be evident during the registration process that your application does not fulfil the eligibility requirements for collective protection. If this is the case, your application will be immediately rerouted for standard processing.

In other instances, it may not become apparent until a later stage that the requirements for collective protection have not been met. These applications will then be transferred for processing according to the standard procedure for applications for protection.

If your application was initially assessed for collective protection but later transferred for processing as a standard application for protection, we will send you a letter by post to notify you of this change.

The first thing UDI will do is to check whether you have applied for protection or resided in another country. If this is the case, we will consider whether you should instead return and apply for a residence permit there. If this applies to you, we'll let you know as soon as we have looked at your application. You do not need to do anything until you hear from us.

If you have not applied for protection or have resided in another country, we will process your case according to ordinary protection regulations. Here you will find information about the conditions for obtaining ordinary protection.

If you want your application to be processed as an ordinary asylum application, you do not need to do anything. Your application will be processed as soon as we can, but you should expect it to take time before you get an answer. Unfortunately, we do not have more information about the waiting time for these applications now.

If you do not want your application to be processed as an ordinary asylum application, you must withdraw your application. You will find instructions for how to withdraw your application for protection here.

Information about the rights and obligations you have when granted ordinary protection is available here. (In Norwegian and English only.)

While being an asylum seeker, you can only work if you have been granted a work permit. You can read more about how to apply for a work permit while you wait for a response to your application for protection here. (In Norwegian and English only).

You can find information about the waiting times for collective protection and applications for individual protection here.

You can find information for persons who live in private housing and have been told that their application will be processed as an application for ordinary protection here.

Here you will find information about what will happen when we process your application for ordinary protection. (Only available in Norwegian and English.)

Here you can read about the conditions for being granted ordinary protection. (Only available in Norwegian and English.)

If you do not want UDI to process the application individually, you must withdraw your application. You will find instructions for how to withdraw your application for protection here. You can any time request that the application be resumed. Here you will find information on how to send the letter to UDI. (Only available in Norwegian and English.)

If your application is rejected, or if you choose to withdraw it and you do not have valid residence in Norway on other grounds, you are generally obliged to leave. That means you have to travel out of the country.

Due to the war in Ukraine, the obligation to return to Ukraine is temporarily suspended. This means that if you have fled the war in Ukraine, you can stay in Norway even if you do not have legal residence here. If you have the right to stay in another safe country, this exemption does not apply to you. If this exemption does not apply to you, and you have to return to the country where you are allowed to stay, UDI will notify you.

It is important to know that you will have fewer rights in Norway if you stay here without a valid residence permit. For example, you do not have the right to work or to be settled with public assistance in a municipality.

To withdraw your application, you must write a letter to UDI in which you clearly state that you are withdrawing your asylum application. The letter must include your DUF number and your signature. You can find your DUF number on your residence card or on case papers from UDI.

Send the letter to UDI by post to:

Utlendingsdirektoratet 
Postboks 2098 Vika 
0125 Oslo

When we receive your letter, we will remove your application from consideration. You can apply for protection again later if your other residence permit loses its validity.

As long as the duty to return to Ukraine is suspended, Ukrainian citizens can apply for all types of permits from Norway. UDI will process all applications that Ukrainians submit from Norway now due to the crisis in their home country, even if this would not be possible under normal circumstances.

If you have a residence permit in another safe country to which you have the possibility to return, we will not accept that you apply from Norway for a residence permit.

You must assess which residence permit may be relevant for you to apply for. If you have family here, you may be able to apply for family immigration. Another possibility may be to apply for a work permit.

You will find an overview of all residence permits you can apply for here. (Only in Norwegian and English.)