Robert E. Yarber is literally on top of the world. The 41-year-old American currently lives in Tromsø, Norway. Tromsø is a town located right at the top of the map. It is approximately 350 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
And it’s also an apt description of his state of mind, given his troubled past, and the peace he’s found in his new home.
“For five years of my life, I sat in a prison cell, a 6-by-9 cell, with other adult men,” Yarber says. “I wanted to see Paris, London, Berlin, swim in the Mediterranean, check out the Dead Sea. I wanted to see it all with my own eyes. I didn’t want to see it on TV.”
Shortly after his permanent release from prison in 2014, Yarber embarked on a European adventure, traveling to 44 countries and establishing a new home overseas. “I bet everything on myself and got it all done,” he says.
Robert E. Yarber, 41, works as a bartender and bar manager in Tromsø, Norway.
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So far, so good.
Yarber currently works as a bartender and bar manager, earning about $26 an hour or $46,000 a year. It’s not a fortune, but it’s enough to live a comfortable life among people who have accepted him wholeheartedly.
“I feel very loved and very welcome. So Norway is my home,” he says. “When I’m in America, I feel like a fish out of water. And now here in Norway I can move a little bit more and feel better.”
wrong decisions and imprisonment
As a young man, Yarber spent a lot of time working out and grooming himself on the football field, setting a league record for interceptions as a high school senior in Corvallis, Oregon.
“So I decided to go to college and kept going to the next level,” he says.
However, two knee injuries ended Yarber’s football career, and he dropped out of college after his freshman year. He landed his first job in the food service industry, working as a dishwasher at Denny’s.
In 2006, when Yarber was 21 years old, things went off the rails. Yarber and a friend were at the party when they got into an argument with another guest, which escalated into a scuffle, Yarber said. Yarber managed to escape back to his car, but found himself faced with a difficult decision.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘I can just get in my car and drive away. I’m free,'” he says. “This is my best friend at the time. My roommate. He’s still there by himself and no one will help him.”
After spending five years in prison as a young man, Yarber decided to see the world.
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Yarber pulled two baseball bats from his trunk and returned to his room. He would be the first to say it was the wrong choice.
As a result of this incident, he spent four years in the Oregon State Penitentiary. And when I got out, finding my footing was harder than I expected.
“I was trying to get a job when I got out of prison, but I couldn’t find a job,” Yarber said. “I tried all the jobs I wanted to get, but I didn’t get them. I tried all the jobs I didn’t want, but I never got them. I tried all the jobs I never wanted to get, that I felt inferior to, and I couldn’t get them either.”
To support himself, Yarber offered his former cellmate to sell cocaine. He was arrested and received an additional 14 months in prison. He was released in March 2014 and has not been in any legal trouble since.
Heading north, “I’m just trying to figure it out.”
Yarber had a difficult time when he was first released. Although he managed to find work as a server and bartender, he struggled with addiction and had difficulty keeping his life and relationships on stable footing.
When his serious girlfriend stopped getting pregnant, Yarber fell into a depression and felt he needed a change of pace. In December 2018, he found work in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska.
“I thought if I went there, I wouldn’t get in too much trouble. You can’t get off the island here,” Yarber said. “I was just going to go out there, work in a seafood factory and a processing plant, get sober for a little bit, and just try to figure it out.”
He soon realized that Alaska wasn’t far enough. He had previously planned a trip to Norway with a former woman of Norwegian descent. The trip was canceled when the pair separated. However, when he decided to try living abroad, he had already done all his research and thought that the cold weather would not be a problem. He packed his bags for Scandinavia in May 2019.
Yarber obtained a skilled worker visa in 2022 after attending the European Bartending School.
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But moving abroad wasn’t as easy as Yarber thought.
“Honestly, I thought I could just go to another country, walk into a bar, and say, ‘Can I get a job?'” he says. When asked if he had a visa, he told his future employer that he had a credit card.
He has applied for a visa four times, but has run into problems over pay, integrity as a skilled worker and proof of vaccination status during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ultimately, after attending bartending school in Europe and completing the rest of his paperwork, Yarber obtained a skilled worker visa in 2022 and renews it annually for about $640.
Life in Norway: “This country really cares about its people”
For the most part, life above the Arctic Circle is very quiet.
Yarber runs a bar at the Haveblick Hotel in Tromsdalen, a town just across the bridge from Tromsø. This is a high class store frequented by locals.
He earns about 260 kroner, or about $26 an hour, and tends to work about 35 hours a week. Norwegian income is taxed at a flat rate of 22% and a graduated ‘bracket tax’, which imposes additional contributions to the country’s national insurance. Yarber said that even though he is taxed around 32% to 34%, he still feels he has enough money to live a comfortable life. He lives alone in a 35 square meter apartment with what he calls a universal Norwegian luxury: underfloor heating in the bathroom.
On a typical day, you might find him working out at the gym or sharing a chai latte with friends (mostly those who work in other service industries). Otherwise, you might spend your time watching movies, playing video games, or creating content for your YouTube or TikTok channel.
Additionally, Yarber feels that his tax dollars are being put to good use. He says workers are well protected in Norway. Workers who work odd hours are paid a premium, and employees cannot reduce their hours or change their schedules without their permission, something he said is unheard of in the U.S. service industry.
Yarber is studying for Norwegian language and social studies exams in hopes of becoming a permanent resident.
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You will also be compensated in the event of illness or injury.
“That tax money goes toward paying for surgeries, medications, and transportation to and from the hospital when needed,” Yarber said. “Sick leave, leave if you have kids, parental leave, etc., just shows that this country really cares about its people and isn’t trying to use everything to make money.”
Looking to the future
In short, Yarber feels like he’s found his home. He is practicing for the Norwegian language exam as part of the process to become a permanent resident. He rates his current proficiency level at about 5 out of 10. He says he can have a conversation and order at a restaurant.
“Can I stand up and give a TED Talk in Norwegian? No.”
All within the deadline. Yarber hopes to keep some of the money stashed away to eventually buy a car (he currently relies on public transportation) and a home in his new hometown. So far, he hasn’t saved much and has decided to use the extra funds to travel instead.
“I’m sure I have some savings, but maybe because of the trauma of being in prison for so long, I just wanted to see the world, and now I’ve traveled to 44 countries,” he says. “I use my money to travel. If I have extra money, I travel. I just want to see the world.”
It’s a sentiment that fits him perfectly in the land of Scandinavian explorers. “I’m a black Viking at heart,” he says.
NOK to USD conversion was performed using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 USD to 9.85 NOK on September 19, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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