Norway for German Expats: Relocation, Registration and First Steps

Moving from Germany to Norway is one of the easier relocations a European can make on paper, and one of the most expensive in practice. The good news first: as a German national you are an EU/EEA citizen with full freedom of movement. You do not need a visa, you do not need a work permit, and you do not need anyone's permission to take a job. You can land in Oslo, sign a contract, and start work the same week. What you do need is a short, ordered sequence of registrations — and if you do them out of order, your first paycheck gets taxed at 50% and your bank account gets stuck.

The single most important thing to understand: registration is not a permit, and a D-number is not residency. You will collect a few different numbers and certificates from three agencies — the police (UDI), the Norwegian Tax Administration (Skatteetaten), and your municipality. Do them in the right order and the whole thing takes a few weeks. This guide walks the exact sequence for a German arriving to work.

1. Your legal basis to be here

You already have it. Because Germany is in the EU and Norway is in the EEA, you have the right to live, work and study in Norway without applying for anything in advance. The only obligation kicks in if you stay longer than three months: you must then register with the police under the EU/EEA registration scheme. You start the registration online, then book an appointment at a police station or a Service Centre for Foreign Workers (SUA). Registration is free. (udi.no)

To register you need a reason to stay — being employed, self-employed, a posted worker, a student, or self-sufficient with enough funds. Bring your German passport or national ID card plus an employment contract, payslips, or a confirmed job offer. You receive a registration certificate (registreringsbevis), which is free and does not expire. Important nuance: that certificate confirms you registered, but it does not by itself prove your right of residence. If anyone ever asks you to document that right, you show an employment contract or payslips, not the certificate. (udi.no) If you arrive without a job, you may stay up to six months to look for one. For the full landing checklist, see the moving to Norway guide, and note how this differs from the non-EEA work permit route — which, as a German, you simply skip.

2. The D-number — the key that unlocks everything

Nothing in Norway works without an identification number, and yours starts as a D-number — a temporary ID for people not yet permanently resident. You do not apply for it directly. Instead, when you apply for your tax deduction card (skattekort), Skatteetaten orders the D-number for you as part of the same process if you do not already have a Norwegian ID. Your employer can also start this on your behalf.

The number is only issued after you complete an in-person ID check (ID-kontroll) at a tax office. Bring your German passport (or national ID card) and your employment contract. Until this D-number exists, you cannot open a bank account, get BankID, or log in to any public service. It genuinely is the bottleneck for everything else, so book the ID check as early as you can. The full step-by-step is in the D-number guide for Norway.

3. Bank account and tax

You need a tax deduction card (skattekort) before your first salary, or your employer is required to deduct 50% by default. Most new arrivals are placed automatically on the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) scheme — a flat 25% of salary in 2026, deducted before you are paid, or 17.4% in 2026 if you are exempt from Norwegian national insurance contributions. Under PAYE you get a tax receipt instead of a tax return and cannot claim deductions; you can opt out for ordinary taxation if your situation is more complex. (skatteetaten.no) The mechanics of the wider system are covered in the Norwegian tax system guide.

Open a Norwegian bank account once your D-number is live — banks typically ask for it plus proof of address and your employment contract. Activating BankID is the real prize here: it is the electronic ID that lets you log in to Skatteetaten, Helsenorge and NAV. Compare options in the best bank account guide for Norway.

There is always a gap of a few weeks between arriving and having a working Norwegian account. For that bridge — and for moving your remaining euros from a German account, or sending money back to family — Wise gives you the real mid-market EUR/NOK rate with a transparent, low fee, usually far cheaper than a German bank's international transfer. Revolut is a useful second card for the first weeks: it works the moment you land and spares you bad airport exchange rates. Treat both as a practical bridge, not a replacement for the Norwegian account you will need for salary and rent.

4. Housing

Norway has no equivalent of the German Schufa credit report, but landlords still vet you. Most ask for an employment contract and frequently a deposit (depositum) of up to three months' rent, which by law must sit in a separate locked deposit account (depositumskonto) in your name — not in the landlord's pocket. Insist on that account; it protects you. Listings concentrate on Finn.no, Norway's dominant marketplace. Be realistic about cost: rent in Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger is high, and the cheap, regulated rentals familiar in many German cities largely do not exist here. You will usually need your D-number to set up utilities and a deposit account, which is another reason it comes first.

5. Healthcare

Once you are registered as a resident in a Norwegian municipality (step 6 below), you are entitled to a regular GP — the fastlege. You choose or change your GP on Helsenorge.no using BankID; if your first choice is full, you join a waiting list. You pay a small user fee (egenandel) per visit — typically a few hundred kroner. Once your approved fees for the year reach NOK 3,278 in 2026, you receive an exemption card (frikort) and the rest of the year's covered care is free. (helsenorge.no) Coming from Germany's gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, the model feels familiar but flips: there is no separate insurance card to manage — coverage follows your municipal registration automatically. The whole system is explained in the Norwegian healthcare guide.

While you wait for resident registration, your German EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) covers medically necessary treatment, so do not arrive without it.

6. Resident registration and recognition of qualifications

If you are staying more than six months, you must notify Skatteetaten and register your move in the National Population Register (Folkeregisteret) — a second ID check, plus proof of lawful residence and a long-term address (rental contract or ownership). (skatteetaten.no) This upgrades your temporary D-number to a permanent national identity number (fødselsnummer) and is what unlocks the fastlege and full public services.

On qualifications, Germans are in a strong position. Germany is one of only seven countries in Norway's automatic recognition scheme run by HK-dir (the Directorate for Higher Education and Skills), so German higher-education degrees are recognised relatively smoothly when you need to document them for an employer. The exception is regulated professions — doctor, nurse, electrician, teacher, lawyer and similar — which are authorised by the relevant Norwegian sector authority, not HK-dir, and often expect proof of Norwegian-language competence. If you work in one of these fields, start the authorisation early; it is the slowest part of the whole move.

Common problems and fixes

• "50% tax came off my first pay." Your skattekort was not ready in time. Apply on day one; once issued, the correct rate applies and any over-deduction is settled in your assessment.
• "My D-number is inactive." D-numbers can deactivate after a period of no activity. Skatteetaten has a reactivation process — you do not need a brand-new number.
• "I can't log in to anything." You need BankID, which needs a Norwegian bank account, which needs your D-number. That chain is exactly why the order in this guide matters.
• "My GP request was rejected." You are almost certainly not yet in the Folkeregisteret. The right to a fastlege starts at resident registration, not at police registration.
• "The landlord wants the deposit paid to their account." Refuse. By law a depositum goes into a locked deposit account in your name.

Your next step

Before anything else, apply for your tax deduction card (skattekort) at skatteetaten.no. It triggers your D-number, which is the single bottleneck for your bank account, BankID, and every public service after. Get it moving the week you land and the rest of the sequence unblocks on its own.