What is a residence card?

A residence card is a credit-card-sized plastic card that proves that you have been granted a residence permit in Norway. The police will order a residence card for you.

If you have applied from Norway, you might receive your residence card without meeting at the police station again. If this applies to you, the police will send you the residence card in the mail. This means that you do not have to book an appointment. Read below to find out when you must book an appointment.

What do you need to do to receive the card in the mail?

• If you are a new postal recipient in Norway: fill in this form (external website, opens in new window) and hand it in at a post office or in-store post office. Remember to bring identification.
• If you are already a registered postal recipient, check that your correct postal address is registered with Posten (external website). The site requires login with BankID or MinID.
• Make sure you have your name on your letterbox, otherwise you will not receive the card. If the card gets lost in the post, it will take some time before you can get a new one.
• You should not book trips abroad until you have received your new residence card.

How long will it take until you get the card?

It will take at least 20 working days from your appointment with the police until you receive the card in the post. 

You must book an appointment to get a residence card

• If you have applied from abroad.
• If you have an expired Norwegian alien's passport or refugee travel document which you have not already given to the police.
• If your application was submitted by another person with a power of attorney (i.e. you must book an appointment with the police yourself to get a residence card).
• If you have applied for a residence permit in accordance with the Brexit regulations (you will be notified to book an appointment after your application has been processed).
• If you have applied for protection for the first time with the police, the police will summon you to class. You do not have to book an appointment yourself.

At the police station, the police will take a photo of you and register your fingerprints.

How to book an appointment?

Booking an appointment electronically

If you filled in and sent the application electronically, you can now log in to book the appointment.

Booking an appointment by phone

If you did not fill in an electronic application form when you applied for a residence permit, you must instead call your local police district to book an appointment. UDI cannot help you to book an appointment.

If you have been granted a residence permit as an au pair and have booked an appointment with the police to get a residence card, you may move in with the host family and start as an au pair now. This means that if you have booked an appointment to get a residence card, you may start as an au pair while you are waiting to receive the residence card.

• As soon as an au pair arrives in Norway, the host family must ensure that she undergoes a statutory blood test and X-ray examination to test for tuberculosis. 
• This examination must take place before the au pair starts looking after children, so the family should book an appointment for examination for one of the first days after the au pair's arrival. 
• The au pair must first take a blood test. Then she will be given a referral for an X-ray, and information about where to go for the X-ray.
• Host families who lives in Oslo municipality must contact the public health centre in their district (external website). Host families in Bærum municipality must contact Folkehelsekontoret i Sandvika (external website) and host families who live in Asker municipality must contact Vaksinasjons- og smittevernkontoret i Asker (external website). Host families who live in other municipalities must contact the municipality's infection control medical officer.
• People from Western Europe, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Belize, Suriname or Japan do not need to be tested for tuberculosis.

• Your working hours in your host family must normally not exceed five hours a day, and the maximum number of working hours per week is 30. You cannot work more than 30 hours, not even for extra pay. 
• You cannot work for other employers or other families than your host family, neither for pay nor for free.

You are entitled to different types of healthcare (external website) depending on your situation.

• Your decision states how long your residence permit is valid and if it can be renewed.
• If you wish to continue living in Norway, you must remember to renew the residence permit 2–3 months before your residence permit expires.
• If you do not, you may experience problems travelling into and out of Norway, lose the right to work in Norway or have problems when you apply for a permanent residence permit or citizenship.

In some cases, you may lose your residence permit.

Losing a permit means that UDI has decided that the residence permit is no longer valid. It may mean that you are no longer allowed to live in Norway or that you will be granted a new residence permit, and your residence period in Norway will restart.

There may be different reasons why you lose your residence permit, for example, if:

• you work more hours in your host family than what you are allowed to 
• you work for other families or employers
• you move out of the host family's home (If you are going to change host family, you must apply for a renewal)
• you become pregnant, and therefore stop being an au pair
• UDI finds out that you have children in your home country

In some such cases, you can also be expelled from Norway.

Here you will find more information about revoking a residence permit.

• If you stop being an au pair before your residence permit expires, you must normally return to your home country.
• If you wish to stay in Norway, you must straight away check if you fill the requirements for a different type of residence permit and apply for this. You cannot stay in Norway until your residence permit expires if you have not applied for a new residence permit
• If you are going to change host family, you must apply for a renewal of your residence permit.