Family Immigration to Norway: Reuniting With Family

You moved to Norway, settled in, and now want your spouse, partner, or children to join you — or you are the one abroad waiting to reunite. Norway's family immigration system, run by UDI (Utlendingsdirektoratet, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration), is rule-bound and document-heavy, but it is predictable once you know which requirements apply to you.

This guide explains who can be sponsored, the income and four-year rules that fall on the person already in Norway, how to apply, what it costs, how long it takes, and how the family-member permit eventually leads to permanent residence. The exact rules differ depending on whether the person in Norway is a Norwegian/Nordic citizen, an EU/EEA national, or a non-EU/EEA resident — so confirm your category on UDI before you pay anything.

---

Who can be sponsored

Family immigration is built around two roles: the applicant (the person who needs the permit) and the reference person (the family member already living in Norway). Who qualifies depends on the relationship.

The most common cases UDI accepts:

• Spouse — you are married to the reference person. For most cases both spouses must be at least 24 years old, and you must plan to live together in Norway.
• Cohabitant (samboer) — you have lived together in a stable, established relationship for at least two years, or you have children together. The 24-year rule generally applies here too.
• Children — children under 18 joining a parent who lives in Norway.
• Fiancé(e) — you intend to marry the reference person after arrival; this permit is time-limited and you must marry within the period, then apply for a spouse permit.
• Parents and other relatives — only in limited situations, for example parents of a child who lives in Norway, or in specific cases involving full siblings or foster children.

The reference person normally must be a Norwegian or Nordic citizen, an EU/EEA national, or a foreign national who holds a permanent residence permit (or a permit that can form the basis for one). If the reference person is an EU/EEA citizen, a different and usually simpler registration route applies instead of the standard family immigration permit — check the residence permit overview and UDI's EU/EEA pages for which track is yours.

The income requirement and the four-year rule

Two requirements usually fall on the reference person, not the applicant. These are where most applications stumble, so read them carefully.

The income (subsistence) requirement. The reference person must show enough income to support the family. UDI sets the threshold as a multiple of the National Insurance basic amount (G), which is adjusted every May. The multiple itself changed recently: for applications processed before 1 February 2026 the requirement is 2.7 G, and for those processed on or after 1 February 2026 it is 3.2 G. In practice you must usually prove both past income (typically the previous year) and probable future income at the required level. Because both the G amount and the multiple move, do not trust a number you read on a forum — check the current figure on UDI's income requirement page before applying.

The four-year work-or-study requirement. In many cases the reference person must have worked or studied full-time in Norway for a combined total of four years before the applicant can be granted a permit. Full-time work, full-time study, or a combination counts, but the activity must cover each of the four years. This rule does not apply in every case — for example, certain situations involving cohabitants with shared children conceived after the reference person settled in Norway are exempt. Confirm whether it applies to you on UDI's four-year requirement page.

UDI can grant exceptions to all or part of the subsistence and four-year rules in specific circumstances, but you cannot assume an exception — you must document why one applies.

How to apply, fees and processing times

The application is filed by the applicant (the person who needs the permit), with documents supplied by both parties.

1. Register and pay online. Create the application in UDI's Application Portal (the online portal at udi.no), answer the questions, and pay the fee.
2. Book an appointment. In most cases you must attend in person at a Norwegian embassy, consulate, or VFS Global application centre in your home country — usually a country where you have lived for the past six months. Some applicants can hand in documents at a police station inside Norway; UDI lists who qualifies.
3. Bring your documents. Passport, the cover letter from the portal, proof of relationship (marriage or birth certificates), and the reference person's income and employment evidence. Have an ID number sorted out for the reference person's documentation where relevant.
4. Submit biometrics. Fingerprints and a photo are taken at the appointment for the residence card.
5. Wait for the decision and collect the card. If approved, you receive a residence card confirming the family immigration permit.

Fees. Family immigration carries an application fee that UDI updates periodically, so read the current fees page for the exact amount before you pay. Reduced fees exist for some groups — for instance, spouses, cohabitants, and parents reuniting with a refugee pay a lower fee (NOK 7,800 at the time of writing). The standard family immigration fee is higher; confirm the figure that applies to your category on the fees page.

Processing times. UDI publishes estimated waiting times that vary by case type and by how complete your documents are. These are guides, not promises, and the four-year and income checks can lengthen the review. See UDI's waiting time pages for the current estimate, and avoid making irreversible plans (job start dates, leases) around an estimated date.

The family-member permit and the route to permanent residence

If you are approved, you receive a renewable residence permit for family immigration, evidenced by a residence card. It usually allows you to live, and in most cases work, in Norway, and to renew as long as the family relationship and conditions still hold. You must keep meeting the conditions — a spouse permit, for instance, generally requires that you continue living together.

That permit is also a stepping stone to a permanent residence permit (permanent oppholdstillatelse):

• You normally need three years of continuous residence on a qualifying permit. However, if your reference person had protection (asylum), you generally need five years.
• You must not have spent more than the allowed time abroad: seven months total over a three-year period, or ten months total over a five-year period.
• You must have met your permit's conditions for the whole period, complete the required Norwegian language and social-studies training, and meet any income condition that applies.

Verify your exact residence-period count on UDI's permanent residence calculation page, because the starting date and the type of permit you held both affect it.

Common problems and fixes

• Income proven for one year but not both. UDI checks past and future income. Gather last year's tax assessment plus a current employment contract or salary statements showing the future level — submitting only one will cause a rejection or a request for more documents.
• Applying from the wrong country. You generally must apply from a country where you have held a residence permit for the last six months. Applying from a country you are only visiting is a frequent reason for refusal.
• Assuming the four-year rule does not apply. It catches many couples by surprise. Read UDI's exemption list and, if you believe you are exempt, attach documents that prove it rather than just stating it.
• Marriage or birth certificates not legalised. Documents from outside the EU often need an apostille or embassy legalisation and a certified translation. Sort this before your appointment — missing legalisation stalls the case.
• Banking and money transfers before the permit lands. You cannot get a full Norwegian bank account until you have an ID number and, usually, a permit. Until then, a multi-currency account such as Wise lets you hold and move money between your home currency and NOK at the mid-market rate, which is useful for paying the application fee and covering early living costs without losing a chunk to bank exchange margins.

---

Confirm your category on UDI before you pay

Open UDI's family immigration section and choose the path that matches your reference person — Norwegian/Nordic citizen, EU/EEA national, or non-EU/EEA resident. The income figure, the four-year rule, and the fee all differ by category, and the numbers move each year. Read the current page for your exact situation, then start the application in the portal. For the wider picture of settling in, see the moving to Norway guide.