Identity
When you apply for a residence permit in Norway, you must document your identity, i.e. your name, your age and what country you are from.
- The best way of establishing your identity is to present a valid passport, travel document, birth certificate or other documents with a photo issued by public authorities in your home country. Please provide all the documents you have. UDI registers you in Norway with the information that is registered in your home country, as long as this information is correct, so that it will be as easy as possible for you to live in Norway.
- For children born in Norway, a Norwegian birth certificate will in principle be sufficient documentation of the child's identity, as long as the parents' identity is substantiated (sufficiently proven) and the child's identity information (citizenship and surname) matches the parents'.
- It is important that you provide the correct identity, so that we know who is in Norway. If you do not present your passport, your application for a residence permit will in most cases be rejected. The exception is if you, or the person you are applying for family immigration with, have been granted protection (asylum) in Norway. In such cases it is also best if you present your passport, but if you do not have a passport and cannot obtain one, you will not be held accountable for this. In such cases UDI till try to find out who you are by using other means, such as by asking you to explain in detail about your life and your family in your home country.
- If UDI is in doubt about who you are, or whether the information in your documents is correct, the Norwegian authorities may want to examine the documents more thoroughly or carry out other investigations. In some cases, UDI will contact you and request, for example, a DNA test, age testing or an interview.
- If UDI does not believe what you say about who you are, this could have consequences for whether your are allowed to stay in Norway, and what type of residence permit you can get. If UDI later finds out that you have provided incorrect information about your identity, you may lose your residence permit - your residence permit may be revoked.
- Click here to find examples of how UDI assesses the identity of different groups of people (external website, opens in new window).