The requirements that must be met in order for an application for Norwegian citizenship to be granted are set out below.The rules are simpler for many Nordic citizens and children. They do not have to apply for Norwegian citizenship, but submit a notification instead.
General requirements to obtain citizenship
The residence requirement and the calculation of period of residence
The good conduct requirement
Applicants who have had a Norwegian passport
General requirements to obtain citizenshipIf you hold a valid residence permit in Norway, you can apply for Norwegian citizenship. In order for your application to be granted, you must, among other things:
be older than 12 years of age (see the exemptions below)
have documented or clarified your identity. As a rule, you must have a valid passport when we decide your application.
be resident in Norway and intend to continue to live here
meet the conditions for a permanent residence permit (see the exemptions below)
have stayed in Norway for a total of seven years during the past ten years on permits, each of which must have been granted for at least one year (see the exemptions below)
have completed 300 hours of tuition in the Norwegian language or have documented sufficient skills in Norwegian or Sami (Note: applies to applications submitted after 1 September 2008 and to persons between the ages of 18 and 55)
have been released from your original citizenship (unless it automatically expires when you become Norwegian)
Please note! If you do not have a permanent residence permit, it is very important that you make sure that you have a valid residence permit the whole time while you are waiting for a decision on your application for citizenship. If your residence permit is about to expire, you must renew it as normal. Read about how to renew your residence permit here. The residence requirement and the calculation of period of residence To become a Norwegian citizen, you must in principle have resided in Norway for seven years during the past ten years. Stays in Norway more than ten years ago are irrelevant.
You must have stayed here on work or residence permits that were each valid for at least one year. You must be permanently resident in the country when you apply for Norwegian citizenship and when your application is being processed.
If you were granted a permit before you entered Norway, or if you are a Nordic national, your period of residence will be reckoned from the date on which you arrived in Norway. If the date is unknown, your period of residence will be reckoned from the date on which you were registered with the police or in the Population Register, or from the date on which you can document in some other manner that you arrived in Norway.
If you were granted a permit after entering Norway, your period of residence will be reckoned from the date on which you applied for a permit.
Illegal stays in Norway will not be included in the period of residence.
The period from one permit expires until a new application is submitted is not included in the period of residence.
You can stay abroad for up to two months during a calendar year without this affecting the calculation of the residence period. This means that such stays abroad are regarded as residence in Norway, i.e. the time spent abroad will not be deducted. If you stay abroad for more than two months during a calendar year, however, the whole period abroad will be deducted, not just the part of the stay that exceeds two months.Please note! The UDI is revising the way we process applications for Norwegian citizenship. This means that most likely the case processing time will be much shorter than it used to be.
Therefore, it is important that you do not apply for Norwegian citizenship until you believe that you have stayed in Norway with a residence permit for the required number of years. If you apply too soon, the application may be rejected.