Requirements for Norwegian citizenship

Please make sure that the following is in order before you start the application process

  • You must have previously been a Norwegian citizen. If you are not sure if you became a Norwegian citizen because your mother or father was Norwegian, you can check our guide. If you have previously been granted Norwegian citizenship with a requirement to release yourself from your original citizenship and then had your citizenship application rejected because you did not release yourself from it. Then, you have not been a Norwegian citizen. You must apply for a Norwegian citizenship again.
  • You must have lost your Norwegian citizenship for one of these reasons
    • you became a citizen of another country before 1 January 2020, or
    • you became a Norwegian citizen after applying for it, but you did not renounce your previous citizenship by the deadline you received from UDI. If this applies to you, you have received a decision from UDI.
  • You cannot have lost Norwegian citizenship because you did not live long enough in Norway before you turned 22. If you are unsure if you lost your citizenship for this reason, check our guide. 
  • If you lost your Norwegian citizenship because you became a national of another country, make sure that this is registered in the Norwegian National Population Register. If it is not already registered that you became a national of another country, you must send a letter to the National Population Register (external website) requesting this and attach documentation on when and how you became a national of another country. If you are not sure whether this is registered, check with the National Population Register (external website) This must be properly registered before delivering the notification of citizenship.

Requirements for getting back your Norwegian citizenship

  • You must pay an application fee.
  • You must have verified your identity. As a rule, you are required to have presented a passport.
  • If you became a Norwegian citizen when you were born, you must have stayed in Norway for a total of six months before you turned 22. These six months can consist of several short stays/holidays.
  • If you are over the age of 15: in the period since you lost your Norwegian citizenship, you cannot
    • have been charged or indicted for a criminal offence which can lead to a prison sentence, preventive detention, enforced psychiatric treatment or enforced care, or
    • been sentenced to a prison sentence, preventive detention or enforced psychiatric treatment or enforced care
    • been convicted for certain types of serious crimes such as terror, genocide or crimes against humanity.
  • If you over the age of 15: You must order a criminal record certificate (external website), which you must hand in with the notification. You must apply for a police certificate and send it to UDI. You can apply for a police certificate on the police website here (external website). Select "Citizenship" under "Category" and "Notification of re-acquisition of Norwegian citizenship" under "Purpose". If  the criminal record certificate shows that you have been charged, indicted or convicted of a criminal offence, you cannot hand in a notification to get back your Norwegian citizenship. If you live in Norway, you can instead hand in an application.

Do you wish to be a citizen of more than one country?

  • From 1 January 2020, you are not required to give up your original citizenship to become a Norwegian citizen. You can have one or more citizenships in addition to a Norwegian citizenship. However, if the country you are a citizen of now does not allow you to have more than one citizenship, you may still lose this citizenship when you become a Norwegian citizen.

    You must make sure what the rules are in your current country of citizenship. You can, for example, look for information on an official website which belongs to the authorities in that country or ask an embassy.

    You do not have to inform Norwegian authorities that you wish to keep your previous citizenship.