(You may nominate a person in Norway to register an application on your behalf. However, you are responsible for the application and have to hand in the supporting documentation yourself.)
You should submit your application no later than a month before your temporary residence permit expires. If you submit your application on time, you are entitled to stay in Norway on the same conditions as previously until a decision has been reached on your application.
In addition to the application form, you must show your passport and hand in releveant supporting documentation to the police or the embassy.
Please print out the list and hand it in together with the documents.
Who decides your application?
The police will make the decision if there is no doubt that you meet the requirements to be granted a permanent residence permit. In practice, this means that the police process most applications for permanent residence permits.
If the police are in doubt as to whether the requirements are met, they will send the case to the Directorate of Immigration for processing. Doubts can be due to numerous or prolonged stays abroad during the three-year period, lack of clarity relating to the basis for various permits, good conduct requirements or the application being submitted too late. The police consider whether they should process the case themselves or whether it should be forwarded to the Directorate of Immigration for processing.
How long will it take to process my application?
The case processing time depends on whether the police process the case or if it is sent to the Directorate of Immigration for processing. You can ask the police where you submit your application how long they expect it to take if the application is processed by the police. You can find more information about case processing times in the event of the Directorate of Immigration processing your application under expected case processing times for permanent permits.
Residence card to document your premit
If your application is granted, you must get yourself a residence card. This is a proof that you have the right to live in Norway. You will receive a letter which informs you that you must visit the police to have your fingerprints and photo taken. About ten days later the card will be sent to you by post.
The residence card is valid for two years, and must therefore be renewed. A couple of months before the card is about to expire, you must go to the police again to have your fingerprints and photo taken.
The residence cards replace the old scheme with stickers in passports. If you have a sticker in your passport which is still valid, you wait until a couple of months before it expires to get your first residence card.
Please note that you do not need to reapply for a permanent residence permit or pay an application fee in order to get the card.
Read more about how you get a residence card
If the sticker or residence card expires, that does not mean that you lose your permanent residence permit. It is, however, important to renew an expired sticker or residence card before any travelling abroad, since it functions as a return visa to Norway and the Schengen area. As a person subject to a visa requirement, you will need a separate visa to enter Norway without a valid sticker or residence card.
The permit’s content
A permanent residence permit gives you a general right to stay, work or run a business in Norway indefinitely. Your protection against expulsion is also stronger than for a residence permit. A permanent residence permit also entitles you to repeated entry into Norway. Please note that you will need to renew your residence card, which is your proof that you have a permanent residence permit, every two years.
You can appeal the decision
Read about how to appeal a decision here
Can you lose a permanent residence permit?
Yes, you can lose your permanent residence permit if you do not stay in Norway.
You will lose your permanent residence permit if you stay abroad for a continuous period of two years or more after being granted a permanent permit. The stay outside Norway will be deemed to have been continuous even if you have stayed in Norway for one or more periods of a certain duration.
You can, however, apply to stay abroad for more than two years without losing your permanent residence permit if you are to settle in Norway again after your stay abroad. However, this only applies if you:
- are to serve your military service or other equivalent service in your home country
- are to stay abroad in connection with work or education over and above upper secondary school
- are to stay abroad together with a spouse, cohabitant or parents staying abroad in connection with work or education
In order to be eligible for a permit to stay abroad for more than two years, you must submit an application to the Directorate of Immigration well before you have spent two years abroad. If you have submitted your application more than six months before the two-year deadline expired, you will not lose your permanent residence permit if you return to Norway within two weeks of being informed of a rejection of the application.
You must be able to document the purpose of your stay abroad.
How long you will be permitted to stay abroad depends on the duration of your subsequent connection with Norway and the purpose of the stay abroad.
Further information
