Work Document Translation for Norway

A Limited Number of State Authorised Translators Changes the Planning

In Norway official translation is carried out by state authorised translators holding the title statsautorisert translatør. The title is obtained by a demanding examination, and in each language pair the number of people holding it is limited. Finding an authorised translator to work in the Turkish-Norwegian pair is one of the steps that has to be planned earliest; setting out to look for a translator once the documents have been gathered can stretch the timetable out considerably. In some cases it may be possible to proceed in English, but whether that is accepted has to be put to the institution concerned. An authorised translator’s work is submitted under their own seal and declaration, and that seal is what allows the document to be used directly in official procedures.

UDI Looks at the Work Permit, NOKUT at Recognition of the Diploma

In Norway work and residence permit procedures are conducted by UDI, while the recognition of a foreign diploma is dealt with within NOKUT. The two bodies are seeking answers to different questions: UDI looks at whether an employment relationship and the means of subsistence exist, NOKUT at what the education corresponds to in the Norwegian system. In regulated fields such as the health professions, moreover, the authority to practise is granted by a separate authority, and that process may involve language proficiency and further training requirements. The document lists of the three tracks overlap without being identical, which is why preparing the translations in multiple copies is a practical precaution.

Why Each Document Is Asked For

The job offer shows that the employment exists and on what terms; the diploma and academic transcript show the qualification; the employment record and letters of reference show the experience; the criminal record certificate evidences suitability for residence. In regulated professions the curriculum and records of practice are added to these. You can see the general scope of this set on our document types page.

Document	The question it answers	Counterpart
Job offer	What are the terms of employment	UDI
Diploma	What is the level of education	NOKUT
Curriculum	Does the content of the education match	The authorising authority
Social security employment record	How long is the experience	UDI, the employer
Criminal record certificate	Is the suitability condition met	UDI

The Apostille, the Translation and the Setback Seen Most Often

The apostille is obtained on the document in Türkiye first, and the state authorised translator then translates the document and the apostille together. In practice the setback seen most often is that criminal record and civil registry documents obtained earlier fall outside their window of currency because the search for a translator has taken too long. The second frequent ground is that the authorisation route in a regulated profession was never opened at all. Third, where experience documents carry no description of duties, it becomes impossible to show UDI and the employer that the qualification suits the post.

The Right Order for Preparing Documents in Türkiye

In Norwegian files the limited capacity of translators makes it all the more important that the preparation on the Turkish side be done faultlessly, because waiting again in the translation queue over one missing document can cost weeks. The diploma and academic transcript come from the university you graduated from, the course contents from the department concerned, the employment record from the social security institution, and an employment certificate carrying a description of duties from the employer. The criminal record certificate has to be requested for use in official procedures and in a form that includes the archive information. At the apostille stage the governor’s office is competent for educational and administrative documents and the courthouse for judicial ones; where that distinction is not known, the documents make the journey twice.

Once the documents are complete they should be handed to the translator in a single delivery. Sending them piecemeal means waiting in a new queue each time and lengthens the total. Saying at handover which document is going to which institution allows the terminology to be chosen to suit that institution’s expectations; a contract going into a UDI file and a curriculum going into a NOKUT file have different priorities of terminology. The number of copies needed should also be stated at the outset, since producing further sealed copies afterwards requires a fresh procedure and means going back into the translator’s diary.

The difficulty of finding a translator makes it worth weighing the alternatives as well. Some institutions may accept English translations; in that case the Turkish documents are translated into English and the process moves faster. That acceptance varies from institution to institution and from document to document, however, so nothing should be assumed. A second alternative is to have the translation made in Türkiye rather than in Norway and then certified in Norway, though whether this route is accepted also has to be asked in advance. In both cases obtaining written confirmation heads off later argument. If the volume of documents is large, it is useful to speak to the translator in advance and agree a delivery date; in busy periods the diary of the small number of authorised translators can be full for weeks. Holding that conversation at the same time as the documents are being gathered makes it possible to run the longest step of the file in parallel and shortens the total markedly.

This page is for general information; because work permit conditions and the rules on recognition and authorisation can change, confirm the current requirements from the official announcements of UDI and NOKUT. You can request a quotation for your file, see the charges on our pricing page and look through other countries in our country directory.