Guiding in Norway Part 1 - Commercial Driving Regulation Enforcement Begins on Lofoten

Several years ago I wrote an introductory article about the commercial driving license regulations in Norway for small guiding operations like photography workshops.

See Article – Commercial Driving Regulations for Photography Workshops in Norway

As the rules currently stand, only Norwegian residents with a Kjoreseddel – taxi operators license – received from the Norwegian police, and a valid dispensation from løyve or a løyve received from the local county are allowed to drive clients for pay of any sort in Norway.•

At the time of writing my original article there had still yet to be any enforcement of the rules in Lofoten or greater Nordland region. And, depending on which authority one might ask, you would get any number of different and conflicting answers about how the rules applied and to whom. Guiding on Lofoten was still basically a free-for all and a majority of photography workshops were operating without licensing. Even last year, I have seen photos of un-licensed tour operators in vehicle crashes interacting with the police and nothing was done.

This has now changed. Driving regulation enforcement has come to Lofoten and the surrounding regions.

Photo: Newspaper headlines from recent weeks about ongoing control of illegal guiding operations.

According to an NRK article from February 15, 2026. 17 (Asian) tour operators have been deported from Norway thus far in the winter season, while dozens of others have been stopped and fined. The difference in treatment is non-EEA parties are, in addition to driving illegally, also working illegally in Norway. Hence the deportation and bans for future travel. European guides are so far being treated with slightly softer gloves, and mostly being fined, in addition to a ban on any current guiding/driving activities.

For the first time since the rules were enacted, large traffic controls have been held in Reine, Svolvær, Harstad, Narvik, and other areas throughout January and February. This enforcement is specifically checking for suspected illegal guides and transport. There are regular and ongoing arrests, fines, driving bans, and deportations throughout the region as I publish this article.

Beyond just enforcement of the regulations around driving, the Norwegian A-krim or Labor crime division has become involved. This is the main factor in the deportation of non-EU/EEA parties as they are deemed to be working illegally without valid permits.

Although, to add a layer of confusion, Norway’s own immigration and employment agency, UDI, states on their website for tour guides:

“Tour guides accompanying foreign travel companies do not need a residence permit if they are to work in Norway for up to three months. Requirements: You cannot have an employer in Norway.”

Reading the above kinda-sorta seems to make it sound like guides do not require a visa/residence permit for guiding in Norway, as long as they are not working for a Norwegian based company. But the driving without permits is still 100% illegal and not open to any interpretation of the law.

Why the sudden enforcement? Most likely it is a partial result of the extremely negative press certain nationalities have received in recent years for a high amount of reckless driving and crashes in recent winters. Accidents are now multi-daily occurrences and a fatal head on collision of tourist vs. local occurred near events airport in late January, killing 2 local women. There was even a recent story about the same tow truck driver rescuing the same couple from driving off the road 7 times within a week. It would almost be comical if it did mean lives were on the line.

This has made dangerous driving a high priority for authorities this winter. The authorities are unable to stop to foreign nationals renting vehicles in winter, even if they have no winter driving experience. The only drivers they are able to target are commercial guides and operators without all the legal paperwork.

Another reason I suspect is from last summer, when a French tour operation setup multiple tents in a granny’s local cloud berry field, including leaving the remnants of what people camping without a toilet do. There have been family feuds over and fights over cloud berry fields in Norway, so the French tour operator, illegally driving around French registered vans, not following the camping rules of Allemannsretten, stirred up quite an outrage among the locals. This was even a discussion point during a tourism conference in Leknes last autumn, where local authorities made it seem like not much could be done. Well, it turns out things are being done now.