Foreign professional qualifications for forklifts, cranes and earth-moving machinery

Select this scheme if you are moving permanently to Norway and will be working here with foreign professional qualifications for work equipment.

• You must apply for recognition by establishment to the Labour Inspection Authority.
• You cannot use the work equipment until the application has been approved.
• You will receive a reply by text message and email.
• You will be notified if your application is incomplete.
• Use the form further down this page to submit your application.

Select this scheme if you are going to work in Norway for a limited period with foreign professional qualifications for work equipment.

• You must submit a declaration of temporary work before you start work.
• The declaration is usually processed automatically. You will be notified if the Labour Inspection Authority needs to process the declaration manually.
• Use the form further down the page to submit the declaration. 
• You will receive a reply by text message and email.
  • If you do not receive a reply from us within a short time, please contact us via eDialog.
• The declaration must be renewed after 12 months (without submitting documentation). Use the same form to renew a declaration. 

The declaration or application requirement applies if you have foreign professional qualifications and intend to use the following work equipment in Norway:

• Gantry cranes and overhead travelling cranes (if their use may pose a risk to life or health)
• Tower cranes
• Mobile cranes
• Portal cranes
• Offshore crane
• Cranes with a capacity exceeding 2 tm mounted on a lorry or trailer
• Forklifts with a fixed driver's seat – your certificate of competence must confirm that you are qualified to use such forklifts.
• Earth-moving machinery with a power output exceeding 15 kW (20.4 hp) – your certificate of competence must confirm that you are qualified to use such machinery.

You can send a declaration of temporary work or apply for recognition by establishment if you have professional qualifications for the use of work equipment from

• an EEA country or Switzerland
• the United Kingdom (only for applications for recognition by establishment)

The Labour Inspection Authority does not approve professional qualifications from countries outside the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.

You must also be one of the following:

• a citizen of an EEA country or Switzerland
• a family member of a citizen of an EEA country or Switzerland
• a worker posted to Norway from a company in an EEA country (applies if you are not a citizen of an EEA country or Switzerland)*

* the right to reside in Norway is determined by the Norwegian immigration authorities

You can send a declaration or an application yourself by submitting the form below. Another person or a company, such as your employer, can also do this for you.

Power of attorney

In the form, you will be asked whether you are submitting on behalf of another person. If you are submitting the form for another person, you must also attach a power of attorney (fullmakt) for the person you are registering or applying for. The power of attorney must include consent to share information in a declaration or an application.

ou can submit this form via Altinn as

• a private individual in Altinn (logging in with a Norwegian electronic ID)
• a private individual using ‘Email login’ in Altinn (logging in with an email address – for people without a Norwegian national identity number or D number)
• as a representative of a business on Altinn – submitting the form on behalf of an employee or another person (log in with a Norwegian electronic ID)  

Are you submitting this form as a private individual?

To submit the form as a private individual, you must log in to Altinn via ID-porten – use the button above.

Logging in to ID-porten requires that you 

• log in using an email address – if you do not have a Norwegian national identity number or D-number (‘Email login’ in Altinn) – Email login (altinn.no),

or

• have a Norwegian electronic ID that you can use to log in (logging in as a private individual) – How to log in to Altinn (altinn.no)

Are you submitting this on behalf of a company for an employee or an individual?

To submit the form on behalf of an employee as a company representative, you must log in to Altinn via ID-porten using the correct access details for the company – use the button above to log in.

For this form, there are two ways in which a company can grant access:

• Grant authorisation for access packages in Altinn
• Grant authorisation for individual services in Altinn

Access packages in Altinn

To access forms in Altinn, the person submitting the form on behalf of the company must have the correct authorisation via an access package in Altinn.

For this form, the person submitting it must have one of the following access packages in Altinn:

• ‘Starte, endre og avvikle virksomhet’ under the authorisation area (fullmaktsområde) ‘Forhold ved virksomheten’
• ‘Tjenester NUF’ under the authorisation area ‘Andre tjenesteytende tjenester’ 

To receive digital post from us, you must have the following access package:  

• ‘Ordinær post til virksomheten’ 

Please note that the person granted authorisation via this access package will also gain access to other services from other governmental agencies under the same access package. If you do not wish this, you must instead grant authorisation directly to individual services (see below).

Read more about the new access packages in Altinn and how to grant authorisations – in Norwegian only (altinn.no)

Grant authorisation for access packages – in Norwegian only (altinn.no)

Individual services in Altinn

If a member of your company is to submit only this form on your behalf, it is sufficient to grant access to this form as an individual service. This also prevents that person from accessing other forms or information in Altinn that are covered by the same access packages (see above).

How to grant authorisation for this form as an individual service in Altinn:

1. Go to the access management page in Altinn and select ‘Users’ from the menu on the left.
2. Find the person you wish to grant authorisation to in the list of users.
   • If you cannot find the person in the list, click the ‘New user’ button to add them.
3. Select the user to be granted authorisation.
4. On the user’s page, select the ‘Services’ tab.
5. Click the ‘Grant authorisation’ button.
6. Search the list to find the specific service you wish to grant authorisation for. This form is called
   • ‘Søknad om godkjenning av utenlandske yrkeskvalifikasjoner for truck, kran og masseforflytningsmaskiner’

7. You can also sort by agency ‘Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority’ to filter the list of services.
8. Click on ‘Grant authorisation’ on the far right to grant authorisation for this form service.

See also a step-by-step guide on how to grant authorisation for individual services:

Grant authorisation for individual services – in Norwegian (altinn.no)

Old roles in Altinn may retain access to some forms until 2027

In 2026, Altinn is changing the way access to forms and services is managed. The old Altinn roles will be phased out during the course of the year.

For some forms, Altinn’s old role-based access rights will remain valid until 2027.
To be able to submit forms and read messages from the Labour Inspection Authority, you needed to have the following roles in the old Altinn:

• ‘Reporter/sender’ to complete and submit forms.
• ‘Mail/archive’ to read digital mail.

Read more about the old roles in Altinn – in Norwegian (altinn.no)

It will not be possible to delegate access via the old Altinn roles from 19 June 2026

From 19 June 2026, it will no longer be possible to grant access via the old Altinn roles to new users in your organisation.

You must therefore either grant authorisation for access packages in Altinn or authorisation for individual services in Altinn if new users require access after 19 June.

In any case, you will need to re-grant authorisations and access in Altinn during 2026:

Check if you need to take any action before the old Altinn is switched off (altinn.no)

Attach a copy of your passport or national ID card.

Attach a copy of all pages of your original qualification certificate from the EEA, Switzerland or the United Kingdom.

You must attach a certificate of practical training/work practice to the form if

• your profession is not regulated in the country where you gained your qualifications
• you are an EEA citizen with a qualification certificate from the United Kingdom issued before 1 January 2021

The certificate of practical training/work practice from your employer must show

• at least one year of practical work experience with the relevant work equipment in an EEA country or Switzerland (within the last 10 years)
• the work experience may have been gained in the UK if you are an EEA citizen with a qualification certificate from the UK issued before 1 January 2021
• the period during which the work experience was gained (with dates)
• the work equipment to which the practical training/work practice relates
• whether you have worked full-time or part-time (state the percentage of a full-time position)

The practical work experience cannot have been gained in Norway.

• The normal processing time for an application recognition by establishment is 1–30 days.
  • Some applications are processed automatically.
• You will be notified if your application is incomplete or if there is a delay in processing.
• You will receive a reply by text message and email.
  • If you do not receive a reply from us within a short time, please contact us via eDialog.
• The Labour Inspection Authority shall decide on the application within three months of receiving complete documentation.
• You cannot start working until you receive a letter from the Labour Inspection Authority containing a decision on the recognition of your professional qualifications by establishment.
  • The decision letter is the only document you will receive from the Labour Inspection Authority – your foreign qualification certificate will not be converted into a Norwegian certificate.
• You can appeal to the Directorate of Labour Inspection if the Labour Inspection Authority has not decided on your application within the deadline.
• You can appeal against a rejection of the application from the Labour Inspection Authority. The deadline for appeal is three weeks from the date you receive the letter with the decision.

The Labour Inspection Authority may carry out follow-up checks (etterkontroll) of applications that have been processed automatically.

During a follow-up check, we may also ask you to provide further documentation if the documentation requirements have not been met. We do this, for example, in the event of omissions or errors in the identity documents or foreign qualification certificates submitted.

If we do not receive the new documentation, or if it still contains errors or omissions, the Labour Inspection Authority will

• revoke the decision to recognise professional qualifications by establishment
• reject the application for recognition of professional qualifications by establishment

• Normally, declarations are processed automatically and you will receive a reply stating that you are entitled to practise your profession (provided your declaration contains sufficient documentation).
• You will be notified if we need to process your declaration manually.
• You will receive a reply by text message and email.
  • If you do not receive a reply from us within a short time, please contact us via eDialog.
• The Labour Inspection Authority must respond to the declaration within two months of receiving complete documentation.
• You are entitled to practise your profession in Norway if the Labour Inspection Authority does not meet the deadlines.

Automatic case processing of declarations

When processing declarations automatically, the Labour Inspection Authority does not manually check the documentation you have submitted before sending confirmation that you have the right to practise your profession in Norway.

Use the response from the Labour Inspection Authority (the letter containing the decision) as supporting documentation, together with your original foreign qualification certificate, when you are working in Norway.

It is important that you have both the decision and your foreign qualification certificate to hand at your workplace (for example, on a mobile phone). You must present both the decision and your qualification certificate if the Labour Inspection Authority requests them.

No conversion to a Norwegian certificate of competence

The decision on the recognition of professional qualifications upon establishment does not provide a basis for converting your foreign qualification certificate into a Norwegian certificate of competence.

It is not possible to convert a foreign qualification certificate for work equipment into a Norwegian certificate of competence. Norwegian certificates of competence are only issued to people who have completed certified safety training in Norway.

Use the response from the Labour Inspection Authority (the letter confirming the declaration of temporary work in Norway) as supporting documentation alongside your original foreign qualification certificate.

It is important that you have both the confirmation and your foreign qualification certificate to hand at your workplace (for example, on a mobile phone). You must present both the confirmation and your qualification certificate if the Labour Inspection Authority asks to see them.