Revolut in Norway: Complete Guide for Expats (2026)

If you have just moved to Norway, you have probably hit the same wall everyone does: you cannot get a Norwegian bank account until you have a D-number or fødselsnummer, you cannot get BankID until you have a bank account, and you cannot use Vipps until you have BankID. Meanwhile, rent is due and your foreign card is bleeding you on every coffee.

This is exactly the gap Revolut fills. It opens in minutes, holds Norwegian kroner and dozens of other currencies, and gives you a working card before the Norwegian system has even acknowledged you exist. But Revolut is not a replacement for a Norwegian bank, and pretending it is will cause you real problems with your salary and with daily life. This guide covers what Revolut does well in Norway, what it cannot do, and how it fits alongside a proper Norwegian account.

Does Revolut work in Norway?

Yes. Revolut operates a dedicated Norwegian arm (revolut.com/en-NO) and is fully available to people living in Norway as part of the EEA. You can sign up, hold money, get a physical and virtual card, exchange currencies and make transfers, all from the app. The card works everywhere Visa or Mastercard is accepted, which in Norway is essentially everywhere — Norway is close to a cashless society.

One practical note if you are arriving from outside the EEA: Revolut runs different legal entities in different regions. If you already had a Revolut account in, say, the United States, you will need to close it and open a fresh European account when you settle in Norway, because it sits under a different entity. Within Europe, you can usually just update your address.

Can you open Revolut as a newcomer, before BankID or a fødselsnummer?

This is the single most useful thing about Revolut for someone new to Norway. You do not need a Norwegian national ID number, a Norwegian address history, or BankID to open it.

To open a personal account you need to be 18 or older (there is a junior option from 13), live in Norway, and pass identity verification. Verification is done entirely in the app: you photograph a government-issued ID — your passport works fine — record a short selfie video, and enter your details. You will be asked for a current address, but this is your real residential address, not a credential the state has to issue you first.

Compare that to a traditional Norwegian bank. To open an account with DNB, Nordea, SpareBank 1, Handelsbanken or Danske Bank, you generally need:

• A D-number or fødselsnummer (assigned after you register with the National Registry, Folkeregisteret)
• A valid passport or national ID
• Proof of address and often proof of employment or study
• In most cases, an in-person identity check at a branch

That process routinely takes weeks. Newcomers regularly report waits of a month or more between booking an appointment and having an active account. Revolut, by contrast, can be live the same afternoon you land. For your first weeks in Norway — paying for a SIM, groceries, a deposit, transport — that head start is genuinely valuable.

D-number vs fødselsnummer: why this matters

It is worth understanding the two Norwegian ID numbers, because they govern your whole banking timeline:

• D-number (D-nummer) — a temporary identification number for people staying under six months, or longer if they do not yet qualify for a full national number. It is enough to open a Norwegian bank account and, increasingly, to get BankID.
• Fødselsnummer — the full 11-digit national identity number assigned to residents staying over six months once they are registered in Folkeregisteret.

Revolut needs neither of these to let you in. A Norwegian bank needs one of them before it will do anything. That is the core difference, and it is why Revolut works as a bridge while you wait for the slower machinery to catch up. Banks have been getting better about issuing accounts and BankID to people who only hold a D-number, partly after public criticism about "digital exclusion," but it still varies by bank and branch.

Holding NOK and other currencies

Revolut's multi-currency account lets you hold and exchange a large basket of currencies — around 38 of them — including Norwegian kroner. In practice that means you can:

• Keep a NOK balance for everyday Norwegian spending
• Keep a balance in your home currency (USD, GBP, EUR, INR, PHP and so on)
• Move money between them inside the app and spend whichever you choose

Currency exchange happens at Revolut's rate, which is very close to the interbank mid-market rate during the trading week and within your plan's fee-free limit. On the free Standard plan, you can exchange up to the equivalent of about 1,000 EUR per month before a fair-usage fee (in the region of 0.5–1%) kicks in. Paid plans raise that ceiling substantially — the Plus plan, for example, lifts the monthly exchange allowance to around 30,000 NOK.

Two markups are easy to overlook:

1. Weekend exchanges. When the global currency markets are closed (roughly Friday evening to Sunday evening, US time), Revolut adds a markup because rates can move while markets are shut. As of April 2025 this is 1% on Standard, 0.5% on Plus, and waived entirely on Premium, Metal and Ultra. If you exchange a large sum on a Saturday on the free plan, that 1% is real money.
2. Over-limit exchanges. Go past your plan's monthly fee-free exchange allowance and the fair-usage fee applies to the excess.

For day-to-day spending these are minor. For a one-off large conversion — say, converting a chunk of savings — they matter, and that is where Wise often wins (more below).

The card and ATM withdrawals

You get a virtual card immediately and can order a physical one. Apple Pay and Google Pay work, so you can tap-to-pay from the moment you finish sign-up. Spending abroad and online in foreign currencies is where Revolut shines — no foreign-transaction surcharge within your limits, unlike most foreign home-country cards.

Cash is a different story, though Norway barely uses it. On the free Standard plan, fee-free ATM withdrawals are capped at 2,000 NOK or 5 withdrawals per month, whichever you hit first. After that, Revolut charges 2% of the amount or 10 NOK, whichever is greater, per withdrawal. There is also a shared daily ATM ceiling of about 3,500 EUR equivalent across all cards on the account. Paid plans raise the fee-free cash ceiling. Separately, the ATM operator may add its own fee — that is not Revolut's charge and Revolut cannot waive it.

Since Norway is overwhelmingly card- and Vipps-based, most expats rarely withdraw cash, so the modest Standard limits are usually fine.

Fees: free Standard vs the paid plans

Revolut sells several tiers. The honest summary for a newcomer:

• Standard — free. No monthly fee. NOK and multi-currency holding, a card, the 1,000-EUR-equivalent monthly exchange allowance, and the Standard ATM and weekend-FX terms above. This is enough for most people, especially in your first months.
• Plus — a small monthly fee for higher limits and a few extras; weekend FX markup drops to 0.5%.
• Premium — around 94.99 NOK/month. Higher exchange and ATM limits, no weekend FX markup, plus travel and purchase perks.
• Metal — around 169.99 NOK/month. Higher limits again, cashback on card spend, and a metal card.
• Ultra — the top tier, with the highest limits and a bundle of lifestyle subscriptions built in.

Revolut adjusts pricing and runs promotions frequently, and the exact NOK figure for Plus and Ultra changes, so confirm the current price for your chosen plan inside the app before you subscribe rather than trusting any fixed number you read online. The practical advice: start on free Standard. Only upgrade if you are exchanging large sums often, travelling constantly, or genuinely use the bundled perks — otherwise the subscription costs more than it saves.

The big limitation: Vipps and BankID

Here is where being clear-eyed about Revolut matters most. Revolut does not give you BankID, and it does not unlock Vipps.

Vipps (now Vipps MobilePay) is not optional in Norway. It is how people split a dinner bill, pay a friend, pay at markets and small shops, and increasingly how you log in and pay for things online. To use Vipps you need three things: a Norwegian phone number, a Norwegian bank account, and BankID.

BankID is the national digital identity. It is issued only by a Norwegian bank, after you have a D-number or fødselsnummer and have completed identity verification (often in person). It is also your key to public services — Skatteetaten (tax), Helsenorge (health), Altinn, NAV, the lot. Revolut is not a Norwegian bank in this sense and cannot issue BankID. So while Revolut covers your spending, it cannot plug you into the parts of Norwegian life that run on BankID and Vipps. You will still need a real Norwegian account to get there.

Where Revolut falls short of a real Norwegian bank

Be honest with yourself about the gaps before you rely on Revolut as your main account:

• Salary deposits are the weak point. Many Norwegian employers and payroll systems expect a domestic 11-digit Norwegian account number (kontonummer). Revolut has historically given Norwegian users a foreign (Lithuanian) IBAN, which some payroll systems and Norwegian billing setups reject. Revolut has been introducing local account numbers, but it is inconsistent and has been a recurring complaint. For something as important as getting paid, do not bet on Revolut — use a proper Norwegian account.
• No BankID, no Vipps, as covered above.
• Deposit protection sits in Lithuania, not Norway. Your money is covered by the Lithuanian deposit guarantee scheme (Revolut's European entity is Lithuanian), not the Norwegian one. The protection exists and follows EU rules, but it is not the Norwegian Banks' Guarantee Fund people expect.
• It is a payment app, not a full bank. No mortgages, limited lending, no local branch to walk into when something goes wrong, and customer support is in-app only.
• Cash is awkward. Limited fee-free withdrawals, and no easy way to deposit cash.

None of this makes Revolut bad. It makes it a tool with a specific job. The mistake is treating it as your only account.

The setup most expats actually use

The pattern that works in practice:

1. Week one: open Revolut before you have anything Norwegian. Use it for your SIM, deposit, groceries and transport while the bureaucracy grinds.
2. Register with Folkeregisteret to get your D-number or fødselsnummer.
3. Open a Norwegian bank account (DNB, Nordea, SpareBank 1, Handelsbanken or Danske Bank are the usual choices; Sbanken is now part of DNB). Use it for your salary and to get BankID, then activate Vipps.
4. Keep Revolut for travel, multi-currency spending and holding foreign balances — it is better at this than your Norwegian bank will be.

Revolut vs Wise for sending money home

If your main need is sending money back home, look hard at Wise before defaulting to Revolut. Wise was built specifically for international transfers: it always uses the real mid-market exchange rate with a transparent, up-front fee and no weekend markup or hidden spread. It also gives you local NOK account details and a Norwegian IBAN to receive money into, and lets you hold 40+ currencies.

Revolut is excellent for everyday spending and travel, but for converting and sending larger amounts — especially on weekends or above your fee-free limit — Wise's pricing is usually more predictable and often cheaper. Plenty of expats run both: Revolut for daily life and travel, Wise for moving real money across borders. They cost nothing to hold, so there is no reason to force one tool to do both jobs.

The verdict

Revolut is one of the best things a newcomer to Norway can set up on day one. It sidesteps the D-number/BankID/bank-account deadlock, holds NOK and your home currency, and gives you a working card immediately, all on a free plan that is enough for most people. Just do not expect it to replace a Norwegian bank: it will not get you BankID or Vipps, salary into it can be unreliable, and it is a payment app rather than a full bank. Use Revolut as your bridge and your travel account, open a Norwegian bank account for salary and BankID once you have your ID number, and use Wise when you are sending money home. That combination covers every gap each tool leaves open.