phd is a small group of people, but those not in the PHD programs, are pretty much screwed, especially if they got out during thier MS/BS degrees with little to no jobs.

Under the law, PhD students and postdocs who do not speak Norwegian, Danish or Swedish must complete 15 study points of Norwegian language training — around 3 months of study — during the period covered by their contracts.

A 3 months of language course doesn’t sound like a huge hurdle (I did that on top of work before). It would be weird if there weren’t a provision to test out of that, though; the language in the linked article didn’t make it clear what speaking any of the 3 languages mentioned actually meant in real terms (unless after the paywall part).

I say this living in a country as a foreigner where some people steadfastly refuse to learn a lick of the language after years and years.