Applicants who have a family member living in Norway, or applicants who want to start a family with a person living there, may apply for a family immigration permit to go to Norway and live together with him or her. The person in Norway must have a Norwegian or Nordic citizenship, or a residence permit constituting grounds for family immigration.
A residence permit on the grounds of family immigration is primarily granted to close family members. The permit will usually be given for one year at the time, and must be renewed each year. After three years one can apply for a permanent residence permit.
Family members are considered to be:
- Spouse and registered partner
- Fiancée
- Cohabitants who have lived together for at least two years, or have or are expecting a child/children
- Children under 18 whose parent/s live in Norway
- Parents whose children under 18 live in Norway
- Parental visit for up to 9 months
- Other family members (when strong humanitarian considerations warrant it)
For more information on family immigration, please click here.
UDI has provided checklists and questionnaires for the applicants, so that you can find out which documents you need to hand in with your application for family immigration and give additional information in the questionnaire.
Please follow the link for the country of which you have citizenship. Please note that you have to print out the checklist and the questionnaire which applies to your case, fill it out, sign it and bring it with you to the Embassy, when you hand in the supporting documents at the appointed time.
For Citizen of Sudan, please click here
For Citizens of Eritrea, please click here
For all other nationalities, please click here.
How do I apply?
1) Read the Embassy’s and UDI’s information on the web sites.
2) Create a user account and password on the application portal (this can be done by the applicant or the sponsor). Please click here the direct link to create your account
3) Once you have created a user account, fill in the application category “Family immigration”, and book an appointment to meet in person at the Embassy and submit the supporting documents. Make sure you have the necessary documents, and bring all the originals and photo-copies to your appointment with the Embassy. For information on which documents you need to bring, please find the checklists here.
Please note that all the copies that you submit should be in A4 format and the pages should not be stapled together. When submitting copies of your passport, please submit only copies of the used pages in your passport.
If there are any of the required documents that you lack, a written statement should be submitted explaining why this document cannot be obtained. Please note that as a general rule, all applicant’s should document their identity with a passport. Furthermore, if you are not a citizen of Sudan, you should as a general rule have legal residency in Sudan. If you submit a marriage certificate for a marriage conducted in Sudan, this should be verified by the Sudanese court and legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan.
4) When you arrive for your appointment, you will be able to submit your application. You might also be interviewed, should the Embassy find that there is a need for additional information. The application will be scanned at the Embassy, and sent electronically to the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration in Norway (UDI).
If any documents are lacking, you will be given two options:
- Change your appointment, and come back when you are able to submit a complete application.
- Submit the application with lacking documents. Please note that if you choose to submit the application with lacking documents this can lead to a rejection. The applicant will be required to sign a checklist to confirm that he/she has agreed to submit the application with lacking documents.
Once the case has been sent to UDI, the Embassy will not be involved until there is a decision (the Embassy has no information about the status of your application or expected processing time for your case). The processing time in UDI depends on the work load, but you can find an average expected processing time for the various types of permits on UDI’s web site if you click here.
For information about what happens with the application in UDI after you have submitted it, please click here.
When a decision has been made by UDI:
After the application has been processed, and a decision has been made, the Embassy will be notified by UDI. Please note that if you have given another person power of attorney in your application, the decision will be sent to that person, and he/she should notify you. For more information about power of attorney, please click here.
If the permit is granted, the applicant will be contacted by the Embassy who will issue a 7-day entry visa in his/her passport. The applicant should bring his/her passport and a recent passport size photo (click here for picture specifications) with a white background to the Embassy. After a 7-day entry visa has been issued the applicant may travel to Norway. Please be informed that the applicant must report to the local Police District in Norway within 7 days upon arrival in order for the Police to order a residence card for the applicant. For more information about this click here.
Who can have their travel expenses covered in connection with family immigration?
If your family has been granted a family immigration permit, you can apply to have their travel expenses to Norway covered.
As a rule, the Norwegian authorities do not cover these expenses; nor do they cover travel expenses for families of Norwegian citizens or other EEA countries.
Persons who fall under one of the following categories are eligible to have their travel expenses covered:
- Spouses, cohabitants or children of refugees. This also applies to those who have previously had refugee status, but who have now been granted a permanent residence permit. This only applies to those who have been married or registered as cohabitants before one of them travelled to Norway.
- Parents of children under the age of 18.
- Children under the age of 15 without care providers in their home country.
- Children of a person who holds a residence permit as a victim or witness in a human trafficking case.
This also applies to those who have previously held such a permit, but who have now been granted a permanent residence permit.
Travel expenses can also be covered when the family member in Norway has been exempted from the subsistence requirement in connection with the family reunification case on the basis of strong humanitarian considerations.
To read more about this and to apply to have the cover expenses, please click here
If the application is rejected by UDI, the Embassy will contact the applicant and inform about the decision and the right to appeal. If the applicant has given power of attorney to the sponsor in Norway, this person will be notified of the decision. For more information about how to appeal, please click here.
Requirements for the person living in Norway (the sponsor)
As a general rule the applicant must be ensured subsistence and housing in Norway. The subsistence requirement, i.e. income requirement, is equal to pay grade 8 of the National Pay Scale ('Statens lønnsregulativ'). The amount is adjusted annually. For more information regarding this and other requirements concerning the sponsor, please click here.
Requirement for four years´ employment or education in Norway
Have you set up a family after you arrived in Norway?
If you want your spouse, cohabitant or fiancé to be granted a family immigration permit to come and live with you in Norway, you may be required to have worked or studied here for four years first. This requirement is dependent on two factors: what type of residence permit you hold, and when you set up a family. To read more about this requirement, please click here
The different family members
Spouse / registered partner
If you are married to, or a registered partner with, a person living in Norway, and you wish to reside there, you are entitled to a family immigration permit if the other requirements are met. The permit is usually given for one year at the time, and then subject to renewal.
Fiancé
If you are engaged to a person living in Norway, and your plan is to get married in Norway and live there, you can apply for the engagement permit. You and your sponsor must be able to document that you are free to enter into marriage. The permit is given for 6 months, and after you are married you can submit an application for family immigration with your spouse.
Cohabitants
If you can document that you have lived together for two years, or that you have or are expecting a child together, you can apply for family immigration with cohabitant. Please note that you cannot be granted this permit if you are married.
Children under 18 years old with one or both parents living in Norway
If you are a child and one or both of your parents have permits or will have permits in Norway, you may apply for family immigration with the parent(s).
If the case concerns an adopted child, the Norwegian Directorate of Children, Youth and Family Affairs must have agreed to the adoption before the child enters Norway.
Read more about the application process for children on the page Children applying for family immigration
Parents with children under 18 years old who live (or will live) in Norway
If you have children under the age of 18 living in Norway who you are going to live with or have visitation rights to, you can apply for a family immigration permit. Please click this link.
Parents of adult children in Norway can visit for up to 9 months (parental visit)
If you have children living in Norway, you can be granted a residence permit that is valid for up to nine months to visit them. This permit can be granted regardless of the children’s age.
Read more about the residence permit for parental visits.
Parents over 60 whose children live in Norway
If you are a single mother or father over the age of 60 of a person living in Norway you may apply for a residence permit to live in Norway. You cannot have a spouse, cohabitant, parent, child, grandchild, or great-grandchild in your home country. Your son or daughter in Norway must be over the age of 18.
For information about other family members and residence permits on humanitarian grounds, please see: http://www.udi.no/Norwegian-Directorate-of-Immigration/Central-topics/Family-immigration/Who-can-apply-for-family-immigration/