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Norway flag — visa destinationSchengen Short-Stay (Type C) — Seafarers' Transit Verified 2026-05-12

Seafarers' Transit Visa (Schengen Type C)

Schengen transit visa for Indian merchant marine seafarers joining or leaving a vessel via a Norwegian port.

A Norwegian seafarer's transit visa is granted for up to five days per transit and is only as strong as the vessel paperwork behind it. The port agent's letter in Norway is the document that decides it; an employer letter alone, however detailed, is refused without it. The other two failures are a CDC that is expired or about to expire, and dates on the employer letter that do not match the vessel's itinerary. Apply at least three weeks before the vessel's expected arrival, because port schedules slip and a refusal leaves no time to refile. The fee is €90 and the Embassy quotes 15 calendar days from a complete file.

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Processing time
About 15 days
after you submit

No visa is ever guaranteed — the final decision always rests with the Norway visa authority. We make sure your file is presented at its strongest.

Processing

15 calendar days

Stay Duration

Up to 5 days per transit

Starting Fee

€90

Apply At

11 VFS centres

Done-for-you · End-to-end filing

Your whole Norway Seafarers Visa, handled for one honest price.

A strong Norway file clearly explains your travel purpose, funds, and ties to India. We structure and submit everything properly — so your case is presented clearly and professionally.

All-in · 18% GST included · no hidden charges

₹14,999all-in · GST incl.

File-ready in 3–5 working days after documents

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Everything below — included, nothing extra

  • Document checklist
  • Application form guidance
  • Document review
  • Cover letter
  • Purpose of travel structure
  • Financial proof review
  • Sponsor document guidance
  • Submission & appointment support
  • Post-submission guidance
Licensed consultant files it Govt/VFS fees paid direct — never marked up

Not sure you qualify? Start with a refundable ₹499 possibility report — an honest Yes / Maybe / No, credited to this fee.

Price is for our consultancy service only and includes 18% GST. No agency can guarantee a visa — the final decision rests with the visa authority.

Your fee, in one glance

What the ₹14,999 fee covers for a Norway file

  • We work out what your case actually is, before touching a form
  • We build the checklist around your profile, not a template
  • We read your documents against each other, not against a list
  • Financial proof review
  • Purpose of travel structuring
  • Cover letter / explanation support
  • Return ties review
  • Sponsor / invitation guidance
  • Application form guidance
  • Submission & appointment support
  • Biometrics guidance
  • Post-submission support

Government, VFS, insurance, ticket and hotel costs are separate and charged at cost. Read what each item means, in full.

Good to know before you apply

Rules that apply to every Norway visa type — worth a quick read so nothing trips up your file.

  • 1Apply at least 15 days before travel — up to 6 months ahead is accepted. The Embassy may contact you for an interview or additional documents.
  • 2Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your intended stay, have at least 2 blank pages, and must have been issued within the last 10 years.
  • 3Handwritten or non-machine-readable Indian passports issued after 01/04/2010 are NOT accepted.
  • 4Carry any old/expired passports — the Embassy wants to see all previous Schengen entry/exit stamps.
  • 5Travel medical insurance covering minimum €30,000 for the entire Schengen area is MANDATORY — covering the full trip plus emergency medical evacuation.
  • 6Norway uses the UDI Application Portal (selvbetjening.udi.no) for ALL applications — short-stay AND long-stay. Forms are completed online; VFS only handles biometrics and document collection.
  • 7Documents must be submitted in original (or certified copies) + A4 photocopies, with no staples or pins. Documents in any language other than Norwegian or English must be translated by an authorised translator.
  • 8Do NOT purchase your flight ticket until your visa is approved — only flight reservations are needed at application. The visa is issued for the exact dates on the flight booking.

Who Can Apply

  • Indian merchant marine officers, ratings, and crew joining vessels in Norwegian ports
  • Seafarers disembarking from a Norwegian-port-bound vessel and transiting back to India
  • Offshore industry workers (oil & gas) where transit requires entry to Schengen
  • Fishing fleet crew on registered vessels

Not eligible under this visa:

  • Tourists or business travellers — apply for the appropriate Schengen Type C
  • Long-term offshore workers on Norwegian Continental Shelf permits — separate route via UDI

What it costs

Government & VFS fees

Paid directly to Norway / VFS — these are not our service fee, and we never mark them up.

ItemAmount
Adult visa / child over 12 — Embassy fee (Schengen Type C)€90
Children 6–12 years — Embassy fee€45
Children under 6 years — Embassy feeFREE
VFS service charge₹2,052
Courier (outside Delhi)₹432

Embassy fees are set in EUR by UDI — the INR charged at VFS varies with the daily exchange rate. VFS service and courier fees are fixed in INR. Family members of EU/EEA nationals, pupils/students/teachers on educational trips, and researchers are exempt from the embassy fee (the fee must be paid up front in the UDI portal and refunded at appointment). All fees are non-refundable regardless of outcome.

Flights · Hotels · Insurance · Itinerary

What Norway actually requires — and what it does not.

Norway applies the Schengen rules, so travel insurance is not a nice-to-have — it is a legal condition of the visa.

2 of 4 are compulsory for Norway

Expected

Flight reservation

The Norway consulate wants a return itinerary with a real PNR covering your exact dates. It does not want a paid ticket, and buying one before a decision puts your money at risk for nothing.

Where people slip: Flying into one city and out of another with nothing showing how you travel between them. Officers read the whole route, and an unexplained gap reads as a plan that does not hold together.

How to hold a flight without paying
Required

Hotel booking

Accommodation for EVERY night of the stay. Not most nights — every one. A gap is a documented refusal ground under the Schengen code.

Where people slip: Free-cancellation bookings are accepted, but if the entire file is free-cancellation the officer sees a trip nobody has committed to. Some of it should be real spend.

Refundable hotel booking, explained
Required

Travel insurance

Minimum EUR 30,000 medical cover, valid in every Schengen state, including repatriation and emergency medical evacuation, for the full period of stay. Regulation (EC) 810/2009 — this is law, not preference.

Where people slip: Buying cover for the adults and forgetting the children. Every traveller needs their own EUR 30,000, infants included — a real refusal we have seen on a family of four.

What the cover must actually say
Expected

Travel itinerary

A day-by-day plan matching your flights, your hotels and the country you applied to. Norway must be your main destination or your first point of entry, or you are at the wrong consulate.

Where people slip: Spending more nights in another Schengen country than in Norway. That gets a file rejected before it is even assessed.

The letter your itinerary attaches to

We arrange all four for your Norway file.

We are a B2B travel agency as well as a visa consultancy, working with partners including Riya Travel — so the flight, the hotel and the policy all come from us, issued the same day, and you deal with one team instead of four. Every booking is a real one under your own name.

What to gather

Documents required

Having a document isn't the same as presenting it right — that's the part we handle.

Seafarer Identity

3 items
  • Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) / Indian Seafarer's Identity DocumentRequired

    Original + photocopy

  • Valid passport + previous passports (3 months beyond transit, 2 blank pages)Required
  • Passport-size photographRequired

Employer & Vessel

3 items
  • Letter from shipping company / employerRequired

    Confirms position on board, joining/disembarking port and date, vessel name and IMO number, guarantee of repatriation

  • Vessel agent's letter at the Norwegian portRequired

    Confirms vessel's arrival/departure schedule and the seafarer's expected presence

  • Crew contract / shipping articles

    If available — strengthens the application

Application & Insurance

4 items
  • Signed UDI online application printoutRequired
  • Visa fee receiptRequired
  • Travel/health insurance (€30,000 Schengen-wide)Required
  • Flight ticket — to Norway (joining) OR back to India (disembarking)Required

Required · optional / if applicable

The journey.

4 steps from intake to approval. Curved spine on the right shows the natural pace — never as linear as government sites pretend.

  1. 01

    Shipping company arranges UDI registration

    Employer files the seafarer's online application at selvbetjening.udi.no, pays the fee, and prints the cover letter.

  2. 02

    Book VFS appointment

    At visa.vfsglobal.com/ind/en/nor — mark as 'Seafarers' Transit'.

  3. 03

    Submit documents + biometrics

    CDC, vessel agent letter, employer letter, flight ticket — at VFS.

  4. 04

    Decision + passport return

    Standard 15 days; expedited for vessel-schedule emergencies with documentation.

What works

4 levers that flip a borderline case.

  • Apply at least 3 weeks before the vessel's expected arrival/departure — port schedules slip and refusals leave you stranded.
  • The Norwegian port agent letter is critical — without it, even with a strong employer letter, the application looks weak.
  • If the vessel is held up, request a date amendment via VFS rather than withdrawing the application.
  • Carry the CDC plus photocopies through every transit — Norwegian immigration verifies seafarer status at the port.

What kills cases

Top 3 refusal triggers we see.

  • 1Missing or weak vessel agent letter
  • 2Discrepancies between employer letter dates and vessel itinerary
  • 3Expired or about-to-expire CDC

VFS application centres

VFS Global New DelhiVFS Global MumbaiVFS Global BengaluruVFS Global ChennaiVFS Global KolkataVFS Global HyderabadVFS Global AhmedabadVFS Global PuneVFS Global ChandigarhVFS Global JalandharVFS Global Jaipur

Quiz not yet available for this visa type

We're actively building per-visa quizzes. For now, the best way to assess your eligibility for Seafarers' Transit Visa (Schengen Type C) is a 1-on-1 consultation with our team.

Frequently asked

Questions, answered straight

Either can register the application in the UDI portal, but in practice the shipping company / manning agent handles the online filing and pays the fee. The seafarer attends VFS for biometrics.

The visa is dates-bound. If the vessel's schedule shifts significantly, contact the Embassy / VFS to amend dates. Minor shifts within the visa validity are typically fine.

Yes — if your vessel calls at Norwegian ports multiple times during a contract, request multiple entry. The Embassy decides based on the employer's letter.

Short-term offshore workers transiting via Norwegian ports can use this route. Long-term continental shelf workers need a separate UDI residence permit (offshore worker category).

Reviewed by Sherbir Singh Grewal, SureshotVisa — a government-licensed consultancy (Licence 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024). Verify us.

How we get it done

Your Norway Seafarers' Transit Visa, from your first message to your passport back.

6 questions about this visa specifically. The first two are open — tap any other to read it.

Refused? Our full service fee comes back.Government and visa-centre fees are the one part nobody can refund.

+Do I actually need a Norway transit visa?

Often not — and we will tell you so rather than file something you do not need. It depends on your nationality, the airport, whether you stay strictly airside, whether you change terminals, and whether your bags are checked through. Change of terminal or an overnight connection usually tips it into needing one. Send us your itinerary and ticket and we will read the actual routing; this is one of the few questions with a clean yes or no answer once someone looks properly.

+How long can I actually stay on a Norway Schengen visa?

Up to 5 days per transit (Schengen-wide); duration aligned to vessel schedule. The window rolls: on any given day the authorities count backwards 180 days and add up the days you were inside. It is not 90 days per country and it does not reset when you leave and come back. Entries are single or multiple entry, as granted. Getting this arithmetic wrong is how people end up overstaying without realising, which follows you into every future application.

+Should I apply to Norway or to another Schengen country?

You apply to the country you will spend the most nights in. If the nights are equal across several, you apply to the one you enter first. Applying to the "easier" consulate when your itinerary says otherwise is a well-known refusal ground and, if the mismatch looks deliberate, it reads as misrepresentation rather than a mistake. Send us your itinerary and we will tell you which mission is the correct one for your trip — sometimes that is not Norway.

+How long does a Norway Seafarers' Transit Visa take, start to finish?

Three things sit between today and your trip: preparing the file properly, waiting for an appointment, and the mission's own processing. Norway currently states 15 calendar days from when the Royal Norwegian Embassy receives your complete application. May extend to 30 days if additional documents or interview needed, and up to 45 days in exceptional cases referred to UDI. for the decision itself. We control the first, which is usually days. The middle depends on slot releases. The third is entirely the mission's and no consultant can shorten it — anyone telling you otherwise is selling something they cannot deliver. Tell us your travel date and we will tell you honestly whether it is realistic.

+How much of what I pay for the Norway visa is actually your fee?

Most of it is not ours. The Norway government fee (currently €90) goes to the mission and the visa-centre fee goes to VFS — both charged to you at cost, never marked up, and shown as separate lines on one GST invoice in the registered company name. Our service fee is the only part we set, and it is published rather than quoted case by case.

+How does SureshotVisa handle my Norway Seafarers' Transit Visa, from first message to passport back?

You send what you have on WhatsApp and a licensed consultant says the same working day whether the case is ready. We build the file around your profile, check every document against the others, write the cover letter to match them, and hold the file complete so the first workable appointment can be taken the moment it appears. You attend biometrics; we track the file to the decision (Norway currently states 15 calendar days from when the Royal Norwegian Embassy receives your complete application. May extend to 30 days if additional documents or interview needed, and up to 45 days in exceptional cases referred to UDI.). Government and visa-centre fees (€90 for this visa) are charged at cost; our own fee is published, and if the visa is refused that fee comes back in full.

Before you file

A Norway Seafarers' Transit Visa goes one of two ways.

Filed on a guessed checklist, the government fee is gone on a refusal and the refusal follows every future application. Filed after a licensed consultant has read the papers against each other, the file answers the officer's questions before they are asked. Same Norway rules, different outcome. How we do that is written once, in full, on the method page rather than repeated here.

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Source & Disclaimer

Data on this page is sourced from the official VFS Global Norway website and Embassy of Norway. Last verified 2026-05-12. Always verify with the official embassy before applying — fees and requirements change without notice.

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