Over the age of 18

• You must pay an application fee.

• You must have your identity verified. As a general rule, you are required to present a passport. 

• You must be residing in Norway and intend to continue living here in the future.
  
  • You must reside in Norway both when you apply for Norwegian citizenship and when the application is processed.

• If you are between 18 and 67 years old, you must: 
  
  • Have passed an oral test in Norwegian at level B1 or qualify for an exemption
  • Have passed the Norwegian citizenship test or qualify for an exemption

• If you over the age of 15 years: You must order a criminal record certificate (external website), which you must hand in with the application. The certificate cannot be more than three months old when you meet for your appointment with the police to submit the application documents. Therefore, you must wait to apply for a criminal record certificate until you know when you have an appointment with the police. If you already have a criminal record certificate that is older than three months, you must apply for a new certificate before you have your appointment. If you have been convicted or fined by the police or if you are under investigation for a criminal offence, you might have to wait longer to become a Norwegian citizen.

• You must have a permanent residence permit – or fulfil the requirements for a permanent residence permit – at the time we decide on your application for citizenship.
  • If you have not been granted a permanent residence permit, you should consider applying for a permit for permanent residency before you apply for Norwegian citizenship. Please make yourself aware of the implications of applying for Norwegian citizenship without applying for permanent residency.
  • Your application for citizenship will be rejected if you do not have a permanent residence permit – or do not fulfil the requirements for a permanent residence permit – at the time we decide on your application for citizenship.
  • If you applied for a permanent residence permit before 1 September 2025, it is sufficient that you met the requirements for a permanent residence permit on the day you met with the police and submitted the documents.
  • If you apply for a permanent residence permit after 1 September 2025, you must meet all the requirements for a permanent residence permit, except for the requirement to financially support yourself, on the day UDI decide on your application for Norwegian citizenship or permanent residence. In this case, it is sufficient that you met the requirement to financially support yourself on the day you applied for a permanent residence permit.
  • If you have not applied for a permanent residence permit, you must meet the requirement to financially support yourself and the other requirements for a permanent residence permit on the day UDI decide on your application for Norwegian citizenship.
  • If you do not meet the requirements for a permanent residence permit, you should wait to apply for Norwegian citizenship until you fulfil these requirements. Read more about the requirements for being granted a permanent residence permit.
  • If you do not wish to apply for a permanent residence permit, then your temporary residence permit must be valid while you wait for your application for Norwegian citizenship to be processed. Therefore, you need to renew your temporary permit at least one month before it expires unless you have received a decision concerning your application for Norwegian citizenship by that time.

• You must have stayed in Norway for a total of eight of the past eleven years and have held residence permits that were each valid for at least one year.
  • Read more about how to calculate the length of your residence period.

Certain groups have shorter residence requirements. If you have a permit in Norway due to the need for protection (asylum), you must have resided in Norway for a total of seven of the past ten years and have held residence permits that were each valid for at least one year. If you have sufficient income, you must have resided in Norway for a total of six of the past ten years. If you were born in Norway or came here before you reached the age of 18, there is a shorter residence period requirement. You must have stayed in Norway for a total of five of the past seven years and have held residence permits that were each valid for at least one year.

A few other groups also have their own requirements for length of residence period. Read more about the exemptions for researchers associated with a Norwegian research institution, athletes, household members of deployed personnel at a Norwegian foreign service mission or of military personnel, foreigners who have held a Norwegian passport, and Kola Norwegians here.

• From 1 January 2020, you are not required to give up your original citizenship to become a Norwegian citizen. You can have one or more citizenships in addition to a Norwegian citizenship. However, if the country you are a citizen of now does not allow you to have more than one citizenship, you may still lose this citizenship when you become a Norwegian citizen.
  • You must make sure what the rules are in your current country of citizenship. You can, for example, look for information on an official website which belongs to the authorities in that country or ask an embassy.
  • You do not have to inform Norwegian authorities that you wish to keep your previous citizenship.