As an EU/EEA citizen, you are allowed to stay in Norway for up to three months after entry. This applies, for example, to visits and holidays.

To be able to stay in Norway for more than three months, you must be an employee, self-employed, service provider, student or have your own funds to support yourself. You have a right to reside as long as you can document that you meet one of these requirements. This is called exercising the right of residence.

As a family member of an EU/EEA citizen, you have a derived right of residence in Norway. This means that you have the right to reside in Norway if the EU/EEA citizen fulfills one of the requirements mentioned above, and the family relationship continues.

After five years of continuous legal residence in Norway, you and your family may be entitled to permanent residence.

The right to reside depends on whether the EU/EEA citizen exercises the right of residence. This means that the right to reside is dependent on the EU/EEA citizen actually working, being self-employed, a service provider or a student, or having their own funds to support themselves.

At all times, you are responsible for meeting the requirements for right of residence.

If you believe you have the right to reside, you must be able to document that the EU/EEA citizen is employed, self-employed, a service provider, a student, or has their own funds to support themselves.

If someone asks you to document that you have the right to reside, you can document this by showing employment contracts, assignment contracts, payslips, study certificates or the like.

As a family member, you must also provide documentation of the family relationship, for example a marriage certificate.

UDI cannot confirm your right to reside

UDI cannot confirm that the EU/EEA citizen is actually working, is self-employed, provides services or is a student, or has funds to support themselves. Therefore, UDI cannot give confirmation of the right to reside.

A registration certificate or a valid residence card is not a confirmation of the right to reside.

Yes, an EU/EEA citizen or their family member can lose their right to reside. This can happen, for example, if the EU/EEA citizen is no longer employed, or if the family relationship has changed. Please see below for examples of different situations.

You are an EU/EEA citizen and lose your job involuntarily

If you are an EU/EEA citizen and lose your job involuntarily, for example due to dismissal or bankruptcy, the following applies:

• You have worked in Norway for over a year: You still have right to reside, provided you register with NAV as a job seeker.
• You have worked in Norway for less than a year: You still have right to reside for six months, provided you register with NAV as a job seeker.

You are an EU/EEA citizen and resign from your job

If you quit your job, you lose your right to reside in Norway as an employee.

You are here as a family member, but have been separated

Until the divorce

If you have been married to an EU/EEA citizen, but are now separated, you still have a right to reside until the divorce, as long as the EU/EEA citizen still lives and has the right to reside in Norway. You do not need to apply for a new permit in the period up to the divorce.

After the divorce

After the divorce, you may have a right to reside in Norway.

You are an EU/EEA citizen

After the divorce, you have the right to reside if you exercise the right of residence as an EU/EEA citizen. This means that you must work, be self-employed, a service provider, a student, or have your own means to support yourself.

You are a citizen outside the EU/EEA

After the divorce, you have the right to reside if, at the time of the divorce:

• You are working, self-employed, provide services or have your own means to support yourself.
• Have been married for at least three years at the time of your separation. One of these years must have been in Norway.

It is important that you meet both of these requirements at the time of the divorce, and that you continue to meet the requirements after the divorce, otherwise you will lose the right to reside.

You do not have the right to reside in Norway as a student after the divorce, unless you also meet the above requirements.

You are here as a family member, but the EU/EEA citizen has moved from Norway

As a general rule, you lose the right to reside, unless you met the requirements for residence on an independent basis before the EU/EEA citizen moved.

If you have parental responsibility for a child in Norway, you and the child may have the right to reside as long as the child attends school here.

As a Norwegian citizen, you and your family members are covered by the EU/EEA regulations if:

• you have been living together in another EU/EEA country (other than Norway), and
• you have been employed, self-employed, had enough funds or been a student there, and
• you are now moving together to Norway or are reuniting in Norway

No, an EU/EEA citizen can't apply to be in Norway for more than three months as a visitor or tourist. After three months you have to leave Norway.

Once you have left Norway, you can travel back to Norway immediately and start a new three-month stay as a visitor or tourist. There is no requirement for how long you should be outside Norway before you can come back.

When you are in Norway as a visitor or tourist, you are responsible for all your expenses during your stay here.

If you want to be in Norway for more than three months, you must exercise EU/EEA rights as an employee, self-employed person, service provider, student, have your own funds to support yourself or be a job seeker. Then you must also apply for registration according to the EU/EEA regulations.

If you have been in Norway for more than three months and do not exercise your EU/EEA rights, you can be notified by the police that you have to leave the country.

EU/EEA nationals must register if they are going to be in Norway for more than three months. EU/EEA nationals must have a reason to stay in Norway, meaning that they must be employed, self-employed, a posted worker, student, or have enough funds to support themselves.

Family members of EU/EEA nationals who are EU/EEA nationals themselves must use the registration scheme for EU/EEA nationals to register as family members.

Family members of EU/EEA nationals who are from a country outside the EU/EEA, must apply for a residence card if they are going to stay in Norway for more than three months.

The police receive all cases of registration for EU/EEA nationals.

The police can answer your questions about your registration as an EU/EEA national in Norway. The UDI provide general information about the EU/EEA regulations.

The police also receive all applications for residence card for family members of EU/EEA nationals. Applications for residence card will be processed by the police or the UDI.

You will receive an email if your case has been sent from the police to the UDI. If you do not find an answer to your question online, you can contact the agency handling your case.

If you want to know for how long you must wait for an answer to your application, you will find more information about waiting time published by the police (external website, opens in new window) and by the UDI.

A registration certificate is a document issued by the police which confirms that an EU/EEA national has registered to live in Norway for more than three months.

The registration certificate does not confirm that EU/EEA national has right of residence in Norway after the actual time of the registration.

EU/EEA nationals must normally only register once, regardless of how long they will be living in Norway. EU/EEA nationals can change the reason for living in Norway, for example change from being a student to an employee, without having to re-register.

If a EU/EEA national need to document that they have right of residence, they can do so by showing, for example, an employment contract, pay slips, proof of being a student or similar documents to those who are asking about your right of residence.

Norwegian authorities require that EU/EEA nationals register when living in Norway. If they stay in Norway for longer than three months without registering, they may be fined.

If you have lost your registration certificate and need a copy, please contact your local police district or SUA centre (external website)

If you are an employer and you going to employ a person who is a EU/EEA national, you can read more on this page.

An EU/EEA national can stay in Norway for up to six months while searching for a job. The EU/EEA national must registered with the police as a job seeker within three months after arrival in Norway. 

An EU/EEA national has the right to stay in Norway if the EU/EEA national is employed, self-employed, a posted worker, a student or have enough funds to support themselves, and has a valid identity card or passport.

A citizen of an EU/EEA country do not need a residence permit to work in Norway.

Everyone who works in Norway must have a tax deduction card and a Norwegian identification number, either a D number or a National identity number.

The Norwegian Tax Administration issues tax deduction cards and Norwegian identification numbers and can answer questions regarding this (external website, opens in new window).

EU/EEA nationals must contact the Norwegian Tax Administration to be assigned a D number or a national identification number.

EU/EEA nationals are issued a Norwegian national identity number from the Norwegian Tax Administration when they report that they have moved to Norway after they have registered. You must report moving to the Norwegian Tax Administration (external website, opens in new window).

A National identification number is a permanent identity number (external website, opens in new window).

If an EU/EEA national wants to start working before he/she has registered, they have to apply for a tax deduction card via the Norwegian Tax Administration (external website, opens in new window). The Norwegian Tax Administration can then issue a D number (external website, opens in new window) which is a temporary identity number.

If you are a family member of an EU/EEA citizen, you must contact the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten) to be assigned a D number or a national identity number (fødselsnummer).

You will be assigned a national identity number from the Norwegian Tax Administration by reporting your move to Norway (external website) after registering or by being granted a residence card as a family member of an EU/EEA citizen.

A D number (external website) is a temporary identification number. A national identity number (external website) is permanent.

Suppose you want to start working before you have been registered as a family member to an EU/EEA citizen or granted a residence card as a family member to an EU/EEA citizen. In that case, you must apply to the Norwegian Tax Administration for a tax deduction card (external website). Before you start working, you must provide documentation showing that your family member has the right to reside in Norway. Having the right to reside means that the EU/EEA citizen is either an employee, self-employed, a student, has their own funds, or is employed by a foreign enterprise. Student and those in Norway on their own funds must have insurance.

If you are going to live in Norway permanently, you must notify the Norwegian Tax Administration that you have moved to Norway (external website, opens in new window). This also applies to family members of EU/EEA nationals.

No, you cannot obtain a copy of your registration certificate.

It is unnecessary to provide proof of registration to register as a job seeker or to apply for unemployment benefit. If you are asked to upload a copy of the registration certificate in NAV's form, you do not need to do so.

If you have trouble applying for unemployment benefit digitally, you must use the paper solution and submit claims by regular mail (external website). You will be paid back the days spent on postal mail when the registration comes in later.

Unfortunately, the UDI cannot answer questions about your rights in Norway.

You can find information about your health rights at helsenorge.no (external website)

You can find information about being laid off, unemployment benefits and care benefits at nav.no (external website).

Have you been in paid employment for more than a year?

Then the following applies to you:
You keep your status as an employee if you can document that you are laid off and have registered as a job seeker with NAV.

Have you been in paid employment for less than a year?

Then the following applies to you:
You keep your status as an employee for 6 months if you can prove that you are laid off and have registered as a job seeker with NAV.

You can read more about layoffs and notification as job seekers and unemployment benefits at NAV.no (external website) (content in Norwegian)

NAV does not require you to have a registration certificate from the police to receive unemployment benefit, but you must register as a job seeker with NAV.

If you have problems digitally applying for unemployment benefits, you must use the paper solution and submit claims by regular mail (external website).

You will be paid back the days spent on postal mail when the registration comes in later.