Norway ✹ Welcome ✦ Week ●

WW2026

Norway Welcome Week wants to make it easier to find welcome and belonging

Sep 10, 2026

A new nationwide initiative is inviting organizations, communities and people across Norway to make it easier to meet people, try something new, and take part in the communities around them.

Norway Welcome Week will take place for the first time from 21-27 September 2026, bringing together events and activities across the country.

The idea is simple: Norway asks a lot of people who move here: learn the language, find a job, understand the culture, build a network. But integration doesn't happen alone:

“If ‘integration’ is seen only as a one-way street, then what you’re actually talking about is assimilation," says Gabriella Mikiewicz, creator Unlock Norway and Welcome Week

“Just join a club” — but which one?

Events and shared activities are often suggested as a way to meet people in Norway. But that advice assumes you already know what exists, where to find it and how to join.

“Norwegians know that you can find and maintain friends through hiking groups and shared activities, but if you’re new here, how do you even know where to look for these communities?"

Research in Norway has highlighted the importance of meeting places, social networks and participation to social integration. International residents are also more likely to report loneliness and lacking good friends than the population as a whole.

Making the first step easier

During Welcome Week, organizations, institutions, businesses, communities and individuals will host activities that give people a reason to participate together.

It could be a sports session, workshop, hike, professional event, cultural experience, community gathering or something else entirely.

Some will be new events. Others will simply make existing activities easier for someone new to join.

The aim isn't to create community from scratch. Great communities already exist all over Norway. Finding them and taking that first step into them can be surprisingly difficult.

Who is responsible for integration?

Welcome Week particularly aims to make participation easier for internationals and newcomers, while challenging the idea that integration is solely their responsibility.

“My hope is actually for Welcome Week to inspire Norwegian society to take more of the onus of ‘integration’," says Gabriella.
“Maybe just knowing that 48 organizations arranged 66 events in 14 cities and towns is enough for some people already to feel more welcome here. I hope that in the future, Welcome Week can become even more of a symbol, even more of a clear statement and invitation of belonging in Norway.”

IMDi describes social integration as a two-way process, where immigrants are met with openness and given opportunities to participate on an equal footing with others.

For Mikiewicz, that means asking Norwegian organizations, institutions, communities—and individuals—to consider their side of the equation too.

Why nationwide?

Welcome Week was conceived as a national initiative from the beginning.

“One piece of feedback that I consistently have gotten from immigrants via Unlock Norway is that they’d love to see more content from outside of Oslo. So it was obvious to me from the beginning that I wanted Welcome Week to span beyond just Norway’s capital.”

Organizations and communities across Norway are invited to take part by hosting an event during the week.