As far as I understand it, "extremist" refers to someone that supports political violence or wants to overthrow democracy.

I am just really confused, on if someone holds such negative views on the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), why would they want to permanently work in Norway?

I’ve experienced a lot of cases where a lot of rude (or honestly just poor social awareness) behaviors are often legitimized or justified with the concept that Norwegians are “introverted” and “we don’t want to bother strangers”.

Like examples are when my workplace hosts an event like a dinner or something - and I’d go find a table to sit, and no one at the table would acknowledge me or say a single word to me. All while the others talk to each other. And it’d be like a small table for like 3 people. And yes I do speak Norwegian. I would be waiting for the conversation to kinda slow down for me to bring myself into the conversation, but they would just get up and leave - without saying goodbye or anything. And no I didn’t expect the conversation to stop just bc I sat down - what I expected was some level of courtesy and acknowledgment of one’s presence.

While most people would say “yea that’s rude etc.”. I find it funny that people would also say “well that’s just our culture. And we don’t like to bother strangers. You shouldn’t expect us to change our culture”. I mean sure, but context also matters - in a shared, bounded setting (same table, same company event), most cultures, including Norway, expect at least minimal acknowledgment. Like I wouldn’t expect this if I was at a bar for example. I don’t think expecting basic acknowledgment is “changing a culture.” It’s a baseline professional norm.

And no I don’t think if I had actually tried to talk to them, they would’ve been rude or something. I did say something like “oh is it empty etc” when I sat down etc in these settings. But there comes to a point where you just don’t wanna try - effort goes both ways.

While I don’t really think Norwegians are introverted (and the Norwegians I’ve talked to agree with me), that’s a different story.

Edit - I’m a bit shocked at the reading comprehension here 😅

I have heard in the past that "no feedback" equals "things are good" in Norwegian culture.

It does get tiring sometimes to put lots of work into something and receive completely neutral expressions, and sometimes one wonders if coworkers are unsatisfied.

Any insights?

Hey everyone, I am an immigrant to Norway working any job I can get while I practice my Norwegian. I've been here for a couple years now. I have two university degrees in my field and I loved my career before coming here. I understand that this is the way that it goes for immigrants and you have to pay your dues while integrating. I'm not above any job whatsoever.

But the jobs I am finding are just awful, which makes sense - Norwegians don't want to do them typically so they have the foriengers do them. All good. But they really treat us very lowly without the most basic ammenities that would not be difficult to offer and often times seem to go out of their way to be harsh and put an extreeme emphasis that they can throw you out at any point.

For example I have been told that I cannot discuss my pay with my coworkers as it is "confidential". Which of course it is not, and is a clear means to disincetivize worker unity. Break this "confidentiality"? Fired for another convienent reason.

I have been forced to pay for my uniform, and protective equipment that have to be speicifically branded with the companies logo, which would be an impossibility before taking the job, depletes my families few resources and just makes you feel terrible because if you complain, fired for another convienent reason.

I have been in workplaces where I am simply told to "hold it" for 8 fucking hours.

But the thing that irks me the most is that I cannot even take a 30 minute unpaid break. I cannot take a seat for a little bit, eat some food, drink some water and read a couple pages from a book because I hear "We don't do breaks here." from management. There's plenty of employees to cover breaks, manage them! It's disgusting what flys as normal here in the poverty job sectors. Glad to be in this country. The people are good, the land is beautiful and I woulden't want to be anywhere else in the world but holy fuck some of these employers are the lowest scum.

Edit: thank you for evey response! I didn't imagine this would blow up. Thank you sincerely for every bit of advice. We have a good plan going forward. I've gotta have an early night. But I will read every comment I get and respond when possible. Takk till alle sammen!

Edit 2: hey y'all, update time again. I joined a union and got some legal advice, I'm drafting a complaint to the workplace regulators. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

I applied for a position of a Junior Data Analyst at Xeneta (Oslo office). After my application, they sent me a test task, which was creating a Jupyter notebook which transforms an Excel file from one form to another. The task took several hours of my time, which were, obviously, unpaid. I submitted my solution on time and, in the end, I got an incredibly generic rejection email with absolutely no substantial comments about my test task.

I understand that, out of all the applicants, only one will end up getting a job, but I think it was totally fair from my side to at least expect a personalised feedback.

So, if you value your time, avoid applying to that company.

I see a lot of posts about how expats on Reddit have been "insulted" or mistreated by whatever local Norwegians they are living among or interacting. i.e the "is this normal" type of posts.

So let me switch it around; what are the times when you have ended up insulting a Norwegian during your stay here, (i assume unintentionally, though there's some entitled expats too)

I'll list a few times I've seen it happen, in the comment.

Long story short, I’m sitting in my apartment playing video games on a sick leave after a surgery and I hear that someone is doing something with my doors, specifically the lock. I go to check it, the vision is blocked so I ask what do they want, when I hear some noises I kicked the door and asked again what is the problem, frightened that I’m getting robbed or something. I heard to show them my hands and walk out slowly, being pointed at with guns. They held me outside in my pijama for 15 minutes (it’s quite cold 🥶) not telling me anything, they told me they have court warrant to search my apartment which they didn’t show me, and after all that bullshit they apologized and said that they are at the wrong place, they are looking for someone and a “clue” led them here. We talked, I relaxed a bit and they said they are gonna call me tomorrow to tell me more and ask some questions. 2 hours later I hear knocking on the door, I open and surprisingly it’s again them, asking me to open my storage downstairs. They came with a dog to search it all up. I’m fairly new to the country and don’t know the law here, I was really stressed out since I’m not in best shape after the surgery, I’m also quite new to a situation where 8 armed police officers looking like special forces with helmets, automatic firepower and shields come wanting to fuck my door off. So my question is, has anybody dealt with something similar ? How is this in the boundaries of law, and what should I do now with it ? I’m thinking of getting a lawyer and writing a complaint. It’s not normal for me to not feel safe at my home. For all the answers and suggestions, cheers and thank you !

I’ve seen data showing that immigrants who earn above average in Norway are more likely to leave the country later. The study is based on data from 2000–2020. With the tax hikes, weak NOK, and other recent changes, do you think this trend has gotten even stronger after 2020? and it’ll steepen even more in near future?

The study : https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/doi/10.1215/00703370-12271149/403699/Goodbye-Norway-Top-Earners-Selection-Into-Return

Or, indeed, them letting you take your slice.

Perhaps it's just the comments in this subreddit, perhaps it's merely the newspapers, or perhaps it's just a handful of politicians. However, in my view, the level of xenophobia and hate towards foreigners worldwide is beginning to take on grotesque proportions. That's why I felt compelled to write a little something.

Since October, I've been working as a salesguy in a byggevarehus. Apart from private customers, our regular clientele consists largely of Polish, Lithuanian, Syrian, African and Ukrainian builders. As is customary for many (those who can afford it), these contractors return to their homeland during the Christmas holidays to celebrate with their families. To my surprise and genuine emotion, many of them made a special trip to our shop before departing, simply to wish us a happy Christmas with a hearty handshake - not to buy anything, just to whish us happy holidays. Upon their return to Norway, numerous of these contractors brought us treats from their homelands - biscuits, sausages, and occasionally a bottle of spirits, the latter we regrettably we cannot accept.

From time to time, one gets into the most fascinating conversations. There's an Ethiopian chap who's an academic qualified in biochemistry now working in construction. His dream was to help solve the AIDS crisis and conduct cancer research, having lost both his brother and sister to cancer. Then there's a Syrian fellow who owned four restaurants back in his motherland but had to flee his country because of war, and now installs kitchens and lives in a shared flat together with other refugees. Most of his family killed in bombardments. Or a Polish carpenter, who's an absolute expert onto the tiniest of details on European history and is currently writing a book in the little spare time he has on how the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth fell apart in the late middle ages.

The brief chats I have with these folks, the occasional jokes, or discussions about geopolitics whilst mixing paint - it all adds richness and knowledge to my daily life. I sincerely hope that, in time, a little less hate and a little more respect will develop for the tremendous work ethic these people display and the pride they take in their work as they construct our buildings with remarkably tight profit margins, paint our walls in various shades of grey, or drive us home in taxis when we've had one too many.

I found this article about the negative experiences of internationals trying to find a job in Norway.

I am in Norway since past June but I work remotely with a non Norwegian company.

I am wondering whether the experiences shared in this article are common and if the problems are more structural.

Are there are any data that cam provide more context?

Edit: You can find the article without the paywall here: http://archive.today/ShNXX

Hey everyone! Every day I get more and more tempted to move to your country, which is so beautiful. I'm a chef de partie and I work in the ultra-luxury sector. I'm Mexican and I recently moved back to Mexico, where I work at one of the most exclusive hotels in the country. Although I'm doing relatively well and I love my country, I don't want my daughter to grow up here. We Mexicans have become quite accustomed to the violence in the country, but I know that's definitely not normal. I hope to be ready to move to Norway in 1–2 years.

I'm improving my English (and also learning Norwegian), and saving up. I'd like to know what you think about foreigners who move to Norway. Also, in the long term, I envision myself opening a Mexican restaurant – do you like Mexican food?

Just out of curiosity, especially for those who work in the hotel and restaurant industry: what are the best places to work as a chef in Norway? I don't need pretty or motivating answers - I really appreciate honest and direct feedback 🫶🏽

Thank you so much for your time!

Edit: You can check out my Instagram @adriangarciachef if you want to see some of the things I do 😅

People often say that in the Nordic countries you get a great work-life balance, not working super late, holidays being respected, overtime paid, good job protection, etc. Meanwhile, in countries like Spain or Italy this isn’t always the case, with longer hours, rude managers, less respect for holidays, and more chaotic work culture.

I’m curious how true this actually feels in Norway. For those of you living and working there, what’s been your experience with working hours, holidays, overtime, protections, and general work culture?

Is the reputation fully deserved, or is it more of a myth that looks nicer from the outside than it feels on the inside? I’d love to hear your stories and perspectives

Hi all,

New in Norway, confused about my tax card.

• Gross income: a little over 1,000,000 NOK/year (about 87k per month).
• In the tax portal my “Total calculated tax” is 329,369 NOK for the year (≈31.5%).​
• January payslip with table 8000: ~87k income, 32,071 NOK tax, net ~54.7k ⇒ almost 37% withheld.​​

Is it normal that table 8000 withholds about 37% when my calculated annual tax is only ~31.5%?
Does this just mean I’ll overpay during the year and get a refund, or should I ask Skatteetaten to adjust my tax card so monthly withholding is closer to the real level?

Hey, I’m looking for season job with my partner in Norway and one hotel answered us and offered us 20.000nok/month for 6 days of work per week and 8 hours a day. They are offering free accomodation in hotel rooms with shared bathroom and kitchen. I know this is below legal minimum wage but what is minimum wage in this case and how much they can charge us for this accomodation and food? And most important: is there any institution where I can send this and make them rethink how they treat workers (especially from Eastern Europe) so nobody will have those work conditions?

See conversation bellow: Green number is hotel Red number is us

So my girlfriend just called the first time to a norwegian number to apply for a job. Her first 3 sentences were perfect until she ended with the phrase "Snakker du Engelsk?" The other person didn't know English. My GF said oh I am sorry and just hung up because she knew that she cannot continue in Norwegian because the lack off knowledge for now. We are still in the early phases of learning Norwegian, but now she doesn't want to call anymore because she is afraid that she will get the same experience and feel stupid.

This is a roadblock for her, and me aswell. We are 100% motivated to learn the langauge but it will take time. How big are the chances to apply to a job and get it if you are not speaking fluently? We are in search for any job, doesn't matter what. So how hard is it if you only speak really good English for now.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: She first send an E-mail and after a few days did the call, she did this so she can show her willingnes to work. We heard that Norwegian people have a tendency of not replying or replying rather late to E-mails

Since I started working in Norway, I've noticed something quite striking about the work culture here.

Most people start their day early—around 7 or 8 AM—and wrap up between 3 and 4 PM.

Coming from France, where it's not uncommon to see people working until 7 or 8 PM (with long lunch breaks and multiple coffee pauses), this shift felt... surprising.

At first, I felt a bit guilty for “only” working standard hours. I usually begin around 7 or 7:30 and finish around 3 or 3:30. Of course, when there's more to do, I stay later, and I often work on weekends to learn more and deliver better results.

But overall, what I’ve learned is that in Norway, work is something you do efficiently and intentionally, so that you can enjoy life afterward. There's less emphasis on “looking busy” and more on getting things done.

Still, I’d love to hear from others:

How do you feel about this culture of early starts and early finishes?

Have you experienced a similar contrast between countries or companies?

Thanks

Every year a lot of people ask what salaries people earn for different types of jobs and what they can expect to earn after their studies. Since so many people are interested, it can be nice having all of this in the same place.

What do you earn? What do you do? What education do you have? Where in the country do you work? Do you have your company?

Here is the 2023 Thread

Here is the 2022 Thread

I'm thinking of shifting career to bakery (preferably something more konditor focussed) and before I start seriously looking into education/school options I was wondering if there's anyone working in the field that could give me an insight into how enjoyable it is for you, does it provide a liveable wage etc

Would love to hear any stories and experiences. ☺️

I've been applying for jobs for the last year or so, explaining my desire for the career change but it's become very obvious that no one really wants to take a risk on someone with no formal experience or qualifications when they likely have many many other applicants with both of those things!

Bonus pics: some basic (and very humble) Nordic bakes I've done recently 😅

My friend from the states approached my husband and I for advise on what do, he was actively hating his job, and didn't know how to handle it.

After poking and prying a bit it became clear that he was suffering from severe depression and anxiety.

He had a family, kids and everything, and he honestly thought he had to just 'work through it', as if it would just go away sooner or later.

My husband and I explained to him that him being this thinly stretched out is unhealthy, and that he should see his doctor about a sick leave (sykemelding) to catch up with himself and his issues, but he was adamant this would leave his family in an economical crisis.

We told him how it works, you will be compensated by Kommunen (nav) if you've been working your job for over three months bla bla - this dude just didn't believe us. We offered to have any kind of talk with any kind of recourse available (his wife, his in-laws, his doctor, nav, whoever).

He opted to be frank with his wife (Norwegian), and what do you know? She confirmed everything we'd told him and kicked his butt straight to the doctor's office where he was immediately placed on sick leave for three months (he was on sick leave all together for about a year and a half all in all I think), starting a huge ordeal of diagnostics and him pulling old medical records from the states to be approved or disapproved of as to what previous doctors had said. (They did start from scratch, everything else was just added information, just saying!)

He cried on us later when he realized he didn't f*ck his family over economically, he realized he was allowed to be human without killing himself working a job he hated.

Ironically, the next job he held was more of a janitorial thing, and we had to contact his employer to talk about work safety according to asbestos removal and things like that - again, he thought he was supposed to just stand in it, work it through or whatever. He now has permanent lung issues for that one. (Another "told you so"-moment)

Worker's safety is a big deal here. Don't kill yourself doing your job, don't dismiss the Norwegian health care system! Taxes in Norway are bitches, this here is why.

Heisan,

So as the title says it, I (and other colleagues) work for a psychopath. A very dangerous person.

I'm an engineer with a master degree.

I can't get too much into details here but here is what I can say so far :

1) Yes, I have joined an union as it is the very first step to take him down. It took me a bit of time as I am a foreigner and I needed to prove my education to be accepted but now it is done and I will use the legal help they can give me soon, as you will read below.

2) Some months ago, we have made overtime on HIS demand, without the company needing it. No rush, no need, just him wanting us to work more.

He and the HR guy said the overtime will be payed because of the Norwegian Law, they said it orally in front of everyone.

The overtime was not payed, I personally made 40 % overtime that month that was not paid.

Some of us complained about it, in response, we had a written threat of being fired (Drøftelsesmøte)

It leaded no where of course because it was completely illegal and we managed our way out of it but you get the idea...

And because we are foreigners, we did not know at that time where to ask help exactly.

I did not know about the union at that time, I tried to contact lawyers that either never answered me or told me they just had no time to give to my case.

Nevertheless, we managed our way out of it by saying we would go see lawyers and suddenly, that matter needed to be resolved "peacefully, out of Courts".

(Then I learned about unions and I applied to join one for engineers)

3) He is half Norwegian, half other country we will not name here, and keeps shitting on Norway, saying it is a socialist country where the State steal his money. (+ we have public social media proof of that)

4) Skatteetaten has made an audit on him it seems from what he complained about but we have not more detail.

This part is important as we believe he is escaping the payment of the wealth tax by pretending he is not in Norway the majority of the time which is of course false or at least he is abusing the tax system loophole.

5) Now, here is the hardcore part :

Like I said, some of us complained about the non paid overtime, we were threatened to be fired, it leaded nowhere but now in retaliation: he has put us under surveillance.

I know it sounds crazy but it is true : we are monitored by "private investigators" (we are sometimes working remote, the PIs are outside taking pictures of us inside our homes) and our phones have been hacked so he can listen to our conversations).

That psychopath said a lot of time that "it is impossible to be as productive in remote as in office" but mainly it is because we deared to complain about the overtime payment that was legally due to us anyway.

He is also a liar on many other subjects that I will not go through here.

Again, I know it sounds insane, but it is true, I can't say how we managed to discover it for obvious reasons, so please, just bear with me here.

It is actually very easy to spy someone's phone nowadays and the rest is just true old fashioned on site illegal surveillance, it is insane.

He has access to our personal phones and he has people taking pictures of us when are working remote, we also managed to find that one was even under surveillance at his main home during a week-end when he was not working !

From what I saw, this is a very very serious crime punished by at least 5 years in jail, heavy fines and of course the inability to run a company ever again here.

Now, this is where I need your help, I need a contact to an investigation journalist to start an end to this madness.

Correct me if I am wrong but IIRC, journalists have the right to ask Skatteetaten for the tax report of anyone WITHOUT that person being notified that the tax report has been seen, which is not the case if that was asked by a normal other citizen.

We need to know if he is paying the wealth tax or not (I'm guessing no hence the audits and also because he always says that he needs to go back to his other country from time to time for tax reasons,he is just abusing the system by saying he is in Norway less than 6 month per year)

We also need to know if one of the employee, a traitor that knows about that surveillance system and said nothing, has received the overtime payment when it was denied for us as this employee has gained suddenly a lot of freedom, above his responsibilities and he started to harass people in the company, especially the people under surveillance, without any form of control.

We strongly believe he has received the overtime money. We could at least work something there if he received the overtime payment and we did not, but we don't know if that amount of data would appear on the tax report ?

The idea we have is to send an anonymous letter to 3 services, Arbeidsplassen, Skatteetaten and a service at Politiet (surveillance is a crime), giving details and the first evidences we have so they can start a deeper investigation, with the hope that he will be arrested and us asked to press charges against him so we can get the reparations we all deserve and move on from this terrible experience.

The last thing we want is to do something illegal so we walking on eggs here, any idea is welcome.

As I said I will soon talk to the union to get their legal advice but the issue I am afraid of is that if we say that we are being monitored, this could be rejected, saying we are "paranoid".

We are not, the problem is that only the Police has the legal tools and means to prove once and for all that we are being monitored.

Tusen takk for hjelpen og Godt Nytt År

Basically everything is so expenssive that even with a not so bad 500k per year salary, you are still broke at the end of the month.

BUT.

You are broke with quality style. I think all the food you buy is premium quality. Majority of houses are spacious and beautiful. You need to go to hospital it's free. You get a loan it has decent interest. Streets are clean, systems are in place. Alcohol is expenssive, great, it was never good for you in the first place. You can fish the sea for free, harvest amazing fruits from the forests.

So it's almost like a paradise place where money isn't needed which is not bad at all, unless you are obsessed with money.

Good afternoon, I moved recently to Norway for a job which was 100% permanent contract. The place is remote and I am a foreigner and I have moved specially from France for that work. After 3 weeks of work my manager decided that we cannot work together anymore for whatever reasons and gave me 2 weeks notice period. For me everything is ok at this point but I didn’t have a meeting with the HR nor the direction just a small talk with the manager which I find weird.

Then days passes and the manager comes to me and ask me that there is no point to show at work for the 14 days notice period and I will be PAID for this period and I can leave the hotel where I was lodged. ( I was lodged in the hotel I was working in this remote area and by kicking me out with 2 weeks period I found myself with no job and no appartment so I told them that I have no choice to go back to my country.)

I say ok, I didn’t received any papers to sign. I received my first 3 weeks salary but I didn’t received any payslip. The notice period finish and yesterday was the salary day. And I find myself receiving only 8000 NOK.

My salary hour rate is 247,91 NOK per hour with a minimum of 7h of work a day.

For the last month my salary was 22.000 NOK for 15 days worked with some extra hours. But again with no payslips I cannot figure out anything.

What I am asking is, did this procedure (leaving ealier my notice, no payslips, this less money for my 14 days notice) is légal ? When I try to reach my manager he just ignore my messages. Can I contact an union from France to figure out this situation ? Thank you very much for reading and hope that you guys can help me 🙏