Permanent Residence in Norway 2026: 3 Years, Tests, Income

Quick answer: In Norway you have a right to a permanent residence permit after 3 years on a temporary permit that forms a basis for permanent residence, if you have not been abroad for more than 7 months in total. If you are aged 18 to 67 you must also have passed an oral Norwegian test at level A2, passed the civic knowledge test, and been self-supporting for the last 12 months, defined as income or other means of at least 2.5 times the National Insurance basic amount. People whose permit rests on asylum, humanitarian grounds or a particular connection to Norway, and family members who joined them, need 5 years. The fee is NOK 4,000.

This guide is written from the legal text itself: section 62 of the Immigration Act and chapter 11 of the Immigration Regulations, both published on Lovdata in Norwegian. The Directorate of Immigration (UDI) decides applications; its permanent residence page is here. People covered by the EEA Agreement come under separate rules in the Act; for EU/EEA citizens see EU registration in Norway.

The Requirements at a Glance

Under section 62 of the Immigration Act, you have a right to a permanent residence permit when all of these are met:

The limit on time abroad, the current-permit and conduct conditions and both tests must be met on the day of the decision. On the 5 year route that also covers the 5 years and the 10 month limit. Self-support must be met when you apply, or by the time of the decision.

An application can still be refused for weighty immigration-control reasons, including when the applicant has actively worked against clarifying their own identity after arriving in Norway.

Three Years or Five

Three years is the general rule. Five years applies if your permit was granted under the Act's rules on asylum, or on strong humanitarian considerations or a particular connection to Norway. It also applies if your own permit is a family-member permit and the person you joined holds one of those permits, or was granted permanent residence on the basis of one. On the 5 year route the limit on time abroad is 10 months in total.

How the period is counted, under chapter 11 of the Immigration Regulations:

• The clock starts when you were granted a permit that can form a basis for permanent residence. If the permit was granted before you entered Norway, it starts on the date you reported to the police. If your permit was granted under section 28, second paragraph, of the Act, the period runs from the date you applied, and if you were transferred to Norway under section 35 it runs from the date you arrived.
• Holders of skilled worker or specialist permits get more room: you may be outside Norway for up to 15 months in total without losing the right, if at least 8 of those months were assignments for your employer.
• Earlier EEA residence can count. If you had a right of residence under the EEA rules during the first 2 years of the 3 year period, those years count, provided you would also have met the requirements for a qualifying permit then.
• Exceptions exist. A permit can be granted without the full 3 or 5 years if you have held a qualifying permit for at least the last year and one of these also applies: a previous long stay in Norway with a permit, a previous long stay on Svalbard, or particularly strong reasons of fairness.

The Norwegian Test

The requirement applies to applicants aged 18 to 67. The lower age is measured when you apply and the upper age when the decision is made. It is met with a passed oral test in Norwegian at level A2 or higher. UDI can set in guidelines which Norwegian tests are accepted as documentation.

You do not need the test if you can document one of the alternatives in the regulations. They include:

• completed studies of the Norwegian or Sami language at university or university college level equivalent to 30 credits, in Norway or abroad;
• meeting the admission requirement for programmes taught in Norwegian or Sami at a university, university college or vocational college in Norway;
• a final or exam grade of 2 or higher in Norwegian or Sami from primary and lower secondary school, or a grade of 2 or higher from upper secondary education;
• particular health reasons or personal abilities outside your control that make it impossible to pass at level A2;
• a decision from the municipality exempting you from Norwegian training or from the final test.

Our guide to Norwegian language courses covers the training and the test itself.

The Civic Knowledge Test

The same ages apply: 18 to 67. The Act requires a passed test in civic knowledge (samfunnskunnskap) in a language you understand. Exemptions in the regulations include:

• completed and passed studies in social studies that give knowledge about Norway, at university or university college level, of at least 10 credits;
• completed studies taught in Norwegian or Sami at university or university college level in Norway;
• a final or exam grade of 2 or higher in social studies from primary and lower secondary school, or a grade of 2 or higher in civic knowledge from upper secondary education;
• particular health reasons or personal abilities outside your control that make it impossible to pass the test;
• a decision from the municipality exempting you from the training or the final test.

The Self-Support Requirement

This applies to applicants aged 18 to 67. You meet it if, for the last 12 months, you have had means of at least 2.5 times the National Insurance basic amount (grunnbeløpet, known as G) from:

• income from work or business. Full-time work, or part-time jobs that together make up full-time work, is as a main rule considered sufficient;
• a pension or other fixed, periodic payments;
• sickness benefit, pregnancy benefit, parental benefit, retirement pension, unemployment benefit, work assessment allowance, or the benefit for single parents;
• a student loan or grant from Lånekassen;
• the introduction benefit;
• a combination of these.

What 2.5 G is in kroner. G is NOK 136,549 as of 1 May 2026; the figure from 1 May 2025 was 130,160. Section 11-11 of the regulations says 2.5 times the basic amount without saying which date's amount is used: at the 2026 amount that is NOK 341,372.50, at the 2025 amount NOK 325,400. G is updated on 1 May every year; the current figure is on NAV's page on the basic amount.

Who is exempt. The requirement does not apply if, among other cases, you:

• are entitled to disability benefit from the National Insurance scheme;
• can show as probable, through documentation from NAV or a medical certificate, that illness, injury or impairment has kept you from doing paid work beyond 50 percent for the last 12 months;
• have, for the last 12 months or the last 2 semesters, been in upper secondary education, in primary or secondary education for adults, or a full-time student in higher education at an institution that is approved by Lånekassen and qualifies for student loans or grants.

An exemption can also be made where particular reasons call for it.

Criminal Cases

If there are circumstances of the kind listed in section 66 of the Act but you are not expelled, a longer period of residence is required before the permit can be granted. This reaches further than serious crime. The regulations set the additional time for fines: 6 months for a fine of up to NOK 3,000, 1 year for up to NOK 5,000 and 1 to 2 years above that, with no additional time once more than 3 years have passed since the fine. An unconditional prison sentence of up to 90 days adds 2 years, and longer sentences add more; no time is added for a sentence of up to 6 months once more than 3 years have passed since the judgment. A simplified fixed-penalty notice (forenklet forelegg) adds no time.

If you are suspected of or charged with such an offence, the application is put on hold and can be granted at the earliest when the case is dropped or the question of guilt is finally decided.

Applying

• Who decides. Decisions on permanent residence permits are made by UDI. The Act allows regulations to let the police decide these applications.
• When. If you apply at least 1 month before your current permit expires, you have the right to stay on the same conditions until the application is finally decided. This does not apply if your current permit cannot form a basis for permanent residence.
• Fee. NOK 4,000 for an application for a permanent residence permit, paid at the latest when the application is handed in. Children under 18 pay half. The same section exempts some applications from the fee, including renewal of a permit for a person who has been granted protection, and an amendment to it is due to take effect on 15 March 2027. The fee list is in chapter 17 of the Immigration Regulations.
• If it is refused. The application is then treated as an application to renew your residence permit.

What the Permit Gives You

A permanent residence permit gives the right to stay in Norway without a time limit, and extended protection against expulsion. It applies from the date of the decision.

How You Can Lose It

The permit lapses when you have stayed outside Norway for more than 2 years in a row. The regulations add detail (an amendment to this section was adopted on 15 June 2026 and takes effect when the Ministry decides, so check the current text):

• Short stays in Norway do not break a continuous stay abroad.
• Several stays abroad within a 4 year period that together last more than 2 years also count as continuous.
• Stays abroad of less than 2 months in total per calendar year are not counted.
• If you stay 15 months in Norway between two stays abroad, a new 2 year period starts.

You can apply for permission to stay abroad for more than 2 years without losing the permit, if it is clear that you will settle in Norway again and you are going abroad for military service or equivalent service in your home country, for work, for education beyond ordinary upper secondary level, or with a spouse, cohabitant or parent who is abroad for work or education. Permission is not automatic.

Children Born in Norway

A child born in Norway to parents who live here gets a permanent residence permit without any prior period of residence when the application is made within 1 year of the birth and the parents, by then, have applied and meet the conditions for a permanent residence permit or Norwegian citizenship.

Common Mistakes

• Counting trips loosely. The 7 month limit is the total over the 3 years, not per year.
• Applying late. The right to stay on the same conditions while you wait depends on applying at least 1 month before your permit expires.
• Leaving the tests late. The Norwegian and civic knowledge tests must be passed by the day of the decision.
• Assuming any job is enough. The test is means of 2.5 G over the last 12 months. The regulations treat full-time work, or part-time jobs that together make up full-time work, as normally sufficient.
• Moving abroad with the permit. More than 2 years away and it lapses, unless you were given permission first.

Permanent residence is not citizenship. For that, see Norwegian citizenship requirements. If you are earlier in the process, start with the Norway residence permit guide or the Norway work permit guide.