You must have legal residence in Norway, and cannot wait for an answer to your application for protection (asylum) or have had the application for protection (asylum) rejected.

The application can be for a residence permit for work, studies or family immigration.

You must fulfil three requirements in order to be able to hand in your application to the police in Norway, rather than at an embassy. 

• you can document that you are a skilled worker
• you have legal stay in Norway. This means that you either
  • hold a residence permit in Norway, or 
  • already have a visa for Norway or another Schengen country, or 
  • do not need a visa to visit Norway and have been in the Schengen area for less than 90 days when you hand in the application to the police in person, or
  • hold a residence permit in another Schengen country and have been in Norway for less than 90 days when you hand in the application to the police in person.
• you are not awaiting an answer on your application for protection (asylum) and your application for protection (asylum) has not been rejected.

As long as you met the three requirements above at the time you submitted your application to the police, you may continue staying in Norway until you receive an answer to your application.

Please note: due to the time you have spent staying in Norway, either because you do not require a visa or you have a visitor visa, it may be that you no longer have the opportunity to travel to other countries in the Schengen area.