The Norway Study & Research Visa is for study, research or an internship in Norway. Short stays of up to 90 days use a Schengen Type C visa; longer study requires a national long-stay visa or residence permit.
Beyond the standard Schengen documents, the embassy expects a certificate of admission or registration at an educational establishment in Norway, or a cover letter from the inviting institution.
Lifeset Overseas confirms whether your stay needs a short-stay visa or a residence permit and builds the file so your study or research purpose is clearly evidenced.
Norway study permit (residence permit for studies) from India
Indian students need a residence permit for studies, also called a study permit, for any course in Norway lasting three months or longer. Study in Norway, the official portal of the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, states: "If you come from a country outside the EU/EEA and wish to study in Norway, you must apply for a residence permit for studies." "The requirements are the same for exchange and degree seeking students." The permit is decided by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI); applications from India are registered on UDI's portal and lodged with biometrics at VFS Global.
The money the permit requires: official figures
Living costs you must prove
- Official position (2026–2027)
- "at least NOK 15,488 per month or NOK 170,368 per year (2026-2027)"
Tuition
- Official position (2026–2027)
- "Degree seeking students from outside of EU/EEA and Switzerland must normally pay tuition fees"; the amount "varies between institutions and study programmes"
Semester fee
- Official position (2026–2027)
- "approximately 1000 NOK per semester to the student welfare organisation"
Scholarships
- Official position (2026–2027)
- "The Norwegian government offers no individual scholarships open to all international students"
"Students from outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland are required to show proof of funds to obtain a study permit." In practice the living-cost amount is deposited in a Norwegian bank account or the institution's deposit account before the permit is granted, in addition to the first year's tuition; UDI's page for Indian citizens sets the exact mechanism.
What you need before applying
- Admission as a full-time student at a Norwegian institution; the admission letter is the basis of the application.
- Proof of housing for the study period, which student welfare organisations (Samskipnad) usually arrange more reliably than the open market.
- Proof of funding at the official level above, plus tuition where charged.
- A valid passport and the UDI application registered online, with biometrics and documents submitted at VFS Global in India.
Official sources
- Study in Norway (Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills), Cost and requirements: https://studyinnorway.no/cost-and-requirements
- Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI), Studies: https://www.udi.no/en/want-to-apply/studies/
- VFS Global India, Norway: https://visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/nor
Quotations checked against Study in Norway on 30 September 2026. Figures change every academic year; the official page always prevails.
Verified figures for Norway
What a year in Norway costs — and what you must prove
- Public-university tuition, non-EU student, per year
- €16,197 – €48,569
- Private universities: €15,316 – €16,197
- Funds the visa authority asks you to show
- €15,652 a year
English-taught courses: widely available. varies by institution — no national minimum score is published
Read on the official pages below on 27 Aug 2026. Figures change every academic year — check them before you pay anything.
Where Norway stands among the 29 Schengen study countries
Computed from verified figures
On the lowest published public-university fee for non-EU students, Norway sits 26th of 26 Schengen countries (€16,197 a year at the floor, up to €48,569). The living-cost proof the residence permit asks for works out to about €1,304 a month, which ranks 21st-lowest of the 23 countries that publish a monthly or yearly figure. English-taught programmes are widely available — Norway is one of 18 Schengen countries where that is true, so the language of instruction is not the filter it is elsewhere.
Closest on tuition: Netherlands and Malta. Compare all 29 side by side on Study in Europe.

