How do we calculate the start of your residence period?

Your residence period begins on the date you were granted legal residence in Norway. This can be the date you came to Norway or the date you applied for a registration certificate or residence card.

If you have stayed in Norway with the right of residence without having registered, you must substantiate how long you have been here with the right of residence and that you have had the right of residence here throughout this period.

• If you are an EU/EEA national, you can do this by submitting e.g. work contracts, payslips or semester cards.
• If you come from a country outside the EU/EEA area and have been granted family reunification with an EU/EEA national, you may for example submit a transcript from the National Population Register (Folkeregister), a home purchase or rental contract, or a joint insurance policy for your home (buildings/contents insurance).

What does not count as part of your residence period?

• illegal stays in Norway
• stays abroad lasting for more than two months per calendar year.

Staying abroad for two months or less during one calendar year will have no negative bearing on the calculation of your residence period. This means that you will be considered as having been resident in Norway during such stays abroad, and your time abroad will not be deducted. If you stay abroad for more than two months during a calendar year, however, the entire period abroad (not just the part that exceeds two months) will be deducted. This is also the case if you were working abroad.

You may not have stayed abroad for more than two months within one calendar year in the last three years. Since stays of more than two months within one calendar year are deducted from your period of residence, you will not fulfill the requirement for continuous residency in Norway for the past three years. This applies regardless of whether you have a permanent right of residence or not.