Willing to know more about norway indian's life

Hi Gaurav,

First and foremost I would like to tell you that it would be in the best interest if you could have a job in hand and then relocate here. Note that Norway is very expensive and its really a big risk to come here without a job; unless you have an extremely sound financial background.

Note below my point wise reply.

1. Since you have over 9 years experience, I assume you are a family man and thus looking for an individual apartment and not on sharing basis. A decent 1 BHK would cost you anything around NOK 10K. Landlords ask for 3 months rent as deposit.

2. Based upon the inputs given by you, I think you will be into banking and finance. For such job categories, there would be a tough competition for you from the local as well as European candidates. Norway typically attracts Indian workers in Engineering, Oil & Gas and IT sectors. For Sales guys, I would forecast an hourly rate of NOK 350-450 before tax.

3. Eating out is way expensive. Everyone comes here to save money and thus has to cook at home. Typical expenses per head would be NOK 2-3K. Occasional hotelling would be NOK 400-500 per visit for a family of four.

4. Oslo has one of the best transportation facilities with local trains, buses and trams running until late night with quite a high frequency. You do not need to wait at any station or bus stop for more than 5mins. Monthly pass for Zone 1 (Oslo city) is NOK 630 per person. You can use this monthly pass on all mode of transports, n number of times within the specified Zone 1.

5. Getting a quick job for an Indian is THE BIGGEST AND MOST CHALLENGING TASK. Norwegian language is a must unless a company hires you and sponsors your visa (keeping in mind that your skills are in shortage list). Almost all Norwegians speak excellent English; so its very easy to manage day-to-day life. But when it comes to office job, you have to have Norwegian language proficiency. Although it is quite worthy noting that English is also frequently used in reputed MNCs where you need to interact with vendors on a global level.

6. Norwegian education is almost free. But education in English medium is very high. One need to spend approx. NOK 3-4K per month per child.

Norway is a high salary paying country with high taxes, high cost of living and also high quality of life. Winters are extremely cold and there are no other options but to sit at home during those 4-5 months. This can be very boring if you have limited friend circle.

It's a beautiful country with very supportive citizens. You can make very good Norwegian friends if you respect their culture and values.

Having brought up in a typical Indian way of doing office job, it usually takes couple of months for us to adjust to the way Norwegians do their work. It's a free and fair way of doing business here. No hide and seek allowed neither tolerated.

Hope to have provided sufficient information.

Best luck with your job search.

Cheers !!!

Amit