Hello all,
I have been contracting in Norway for over a year now, and would like to offer up some real numbers and hard facts plus some opinion - and try to answer any questions, people might have. I do this because I wish I had had somebody to ask before I wen there, so I could have made more informed decisions and set realistic expectations.
I want to retain anonymity, so I will keep the numbers round and some facts vague.
I am in my late 30s and have been a professional developer for about 15 years. I am born and live in a western European EU country, that is not UK. I am a developer in the Microsoft-space, and was hired through an agent in Norway to work for a large oil company on location in Oslo.
All numbers are in NOK unless otherwise specified. 100NOK is about €13 or £11 pounds.
Work and hourly
My hourly when I first started was just below 600NOK, raised to about 680NOK after 8 months. My agent charged 30% on top of that. I billed monthly and got paid 30 days later.
I worked on average 130 hours a month when factoring in holidays, which they expect me to take like the permies - ~5 weeks a year.
Tax
To work there as a contractor, I had to register a Norwegian company (a special kind called NUF which means Norwegian Foreing Registered company). The process was very painful and impossible to figure out. Working here as a contractor for an extended period of time - you will get taxed here.
I have to pay ~14% social security tax as an employer and ~40% tax as an employee - and since I am both, I get to pay both (yay!).
I spent about 13000NOK a month on expenses after getting a very good deal on an apartment and only being able to deduct my own flights home, not those of my wife coming here.
Gross I took home about 62% of my earnings, but after expenses it was reduced to about 44%, meaning that every time I billed the agency 100 NOK, 44 of them ended up in my pocket after taxes and business expenses - and then comes the super-high consumer prices out of that. I had expected to be able to retain more before I came here.
After 8 months, I changed to an umbrella company, which has increased my net take-home to about 49%. I highly recommend not doing it yourself, and just go through an umbrella.
Tax and law is not by any stretch of the imagination a specialty of mine, so I don't think I can contribute much here - but I am happy to try.
Expenses
A small apartment in or not too far from the city runs about 9-13.000NOK a month, everything included. Finding one was rather easy, using Finn.no, the most popular classifieds site.
Everything is ubelieably expensive in Norway. Order a standard pizza in a restaurant, get charged 200NOK. Beer is about 30NOK/bottle in the shops, more like 80-100NOK in a pub. Groceries in general are also very expensive, but of course that will always be relative. I find that using this site is a good way to get an idea about the price level compared to your own location: Cost Of Living Comparison
If you bring a car along, you are allowed to have it here for 2 years total without putting it on Norwegian plates (which will cost you about 2x the car value). Gas is pretty expensive (about 15NOK/l) and there are plenty of tolls to be paid as well. Register on https://turistportalen.csautopass.no/ when you get here, and they will yank the money right out of your credit card when you pass a toll station. For longer stays, register for an Autopass, where you will be billed monthly (and get a small discount) AutoPASS.
Culture
Everything moves slowly and they love their forms and paperwork. I have not gone out much, so I really cannot comment much on it - but with the prices... Yikes. Most contact I have had with Norwegian authorities have been relatively pleasant from a being helpful perspective - but the rules are terrible. Girls here are some of the most attractive in the world, but since I am spoken for, I just look and sigh. Norwegians trust each other and it is very, very safe here.
Feel free to ask me anything.
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