Leaving from Belgium?To the Belgian plan →See the plan for Belgians moving to Norway →This plan is for people leaving the Netherlands.
Norway · No visa required
Emigrating to Norway
For Norway you don't apply for a permit. You arrange two registrations: with the police and with the tax agency. But Norway is outside the EU customs union, so your move goes through customs. This page shows the journey and what the border costs.
€ 199 one-off · 35 steps · no subscription
- Kind of journey
- Free movement (EEA), with two registrations
- Lead time
- About 4 to 5 months. The home sets the pace
- Note
- The customs border: your household contents free, the car and alcohol not
Last updated: 14 October 2026
Will your departure date work? Check it in the free step-by-step plan →
Five phases, from the border sum to the frikort
The journey has two speeds here. The police register you while you wait. The fødselsnummer (the Norwegian citizen service number) can take twenty-five weeks, and the bank waits for it. The border itself is well arranged, as long as you know the papers.
- Orientation
Free movement, real border
In this phase you work out what the border costs, and you look at the housing market. As an EEA citizen you have the same rights in Norway as in an EU country: living and working from day one. But Norway is outside the customs union. Your household contents cross the border tax-free as removal goods. Alcohol never counts as removal goods. For the car you pay the engangsavgift (the Norwegian one-off registration tax) plus VAT. The age deduction and the Dutch BPM refund (car tax you get back on export) soften that. Then the housing market: Norway is a buyers' country, the rental market is small and the deposit may legally be six months.Read more
- Closing the Netherlands
The EU routes work, and the apostille is back
In this phase you work through the familiar list, and towards EEA country Norway it simply works: CAK treaty healthcare (your healthcare via the CAK if you retire abroad), automatic deferral of the protective assessment (a tax assessment the Netherlands sets on departure but doesn't collect straight away) and full AOW. Two things are different. First the apostille, an official stamp that makes a certificate valid abroad. The EU regulation that abolished such stamps doesn't apply here. So your certificates go into the suitcase with an apostille. Then your pension. Under the treaty, since 2013 the Netherlands taxes all pensions, as the source state (the country your pension comes from). Transitional rules come with that, and older guides mix them up. The country-of-residence factor (which sets your CAK contribution) is 1.0000, capped from a calculated 1.4205.Read more
- The move
The red zone, with the papers ready
In this phase you move your household contents, car and pet across the border. Removal goods pass free, as long as you carry the flyttegodserklæring (the Norwegian removal goods declaration) and an inventory list. You drive through the red zone for that, the lane for people with something to declare. If the mover drives without you, the declaration and a power of attorney go along. You declare the car at the border and register it within thirty days. Alongside that runs the BPM clock of thirteen weeks. The dog has a tight deadline: a compulsory tapeworm treatment 24 to 120 hours before arrival, documented in the passport. That window literally decides your travel day.Read more
- Registration in Norway
The police are fast, Skatteetaten isn't
In this phase you arrange two registrations, and they run at two speeds. You do the EEA registration with the police within three months. It's free, and you get the proof right away. The folkeregistrering (your registration in the population register) is done with Skatteetaten, the Norwegian tax agency. You report it by law within eight days. Then you wait two to twenty-five weeks for the fødselsnummer, and GP, bank and BankID wait for that. There are bridges. MinID (a Norwegian login for government services) already works with a d-number, a temporary number. And the national ID card from the police (new since 2025) opens the bank's door. At that same ID check, arrange your tax card straight away. Otherwise your employer withholds 50%.Read more
- Arrival
No a-kasse, but a frikort, and thirty days for the car
In this phase you settle into living and working. After Sweden and Denmark this is a relief: there's no a-kasse (an unemployment fund) to choose. Unemployment insurance is simply part of the folketrygd, the Norwegian national insurance. Healthcare you pay per visit, up to the ceiling of 3,278 kroner. After that the frikort (an exemption card) comes by itself. Children are free everywhere. Adults pay for the dentist themselves. Childcare became considerably cheaper in 2025: at most 1,200 kroner. With a move you apply for the barnetrygd (the Norwegian child benefit) yourself. Norwegian lessons are not free, unlike at the neighbours. And the car: within thirty days it needs Norwegian plates.Read more
This is what one step of your plan looks like
This is the real thing: one of the steps of the Norway journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan, with the deadlines, the offices and the sources.
Step 1.2 of your plan
Do the border sum: what may come along, and what the border costs
- Lead time
- an evening of calculating
- Costs
- none
With this step you know what crosses the border for free, and what costs money. Norway stands outside the EU customs union. That makes your move different from a move to an EU country.
The main rule is favourable: your household contents pass tax-free as removal goods. These conditions apply:
- You lived in the Netherlands for at least a year.
- You already owned and used the things.
- You carry a declaration and an inventory list.
- You drive through the red zone, the customs lane for people with something to declare.
Three things fall outside it, and they form the sum:
- Alcohol is never removal goods. Above the traveller's quota you pay per litre, up to a maximum of 27 litres via the simplified route (a simple declaration at customs). So a wine collection may come along, but never for free.
- The car carries the engangsavgift (a one-off Norwegian tax on weight plus CO₂) plus 25% VAT. The age deduction and the Dutch BPM refund (car tax you get back on export) make that lighter. Work it through with the official calculator before you decide.
- New things aren't removal goods. Keep the receipts of what you bought just before departure.
And this is the dashboard that step lives in. The example shows the plan for Spain; your dashboard shows the plan for Norway.
This is step 1.2 of 37. The other 36 are ready for you, each with the same sources, the same offices and a schedule that keeps track of your dates.
See all 37 steps for NorwayWhat you get for € 199
All 37 steps to Norway, for your situation
In order, with the office and the official source at every step. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear.
Your deadlines in one place
For each step you see the latest date to start, and you get a heads-up before something is due or expires. Your documents sit in the vault, with their dates.
A plan that stays right
Twice a month we check the sources. If something changes, it's in your plan and you get a message.
The step-by-step plan for Norway
€ 199
one-off · 37 steps
- Pay once, no subscription
- Destination changes? Within 30 days I switch your plan to another country free of charge
- Stuck on a step? You get a personal answer within two working days
What will your move to Norway cost? Work it out →
Know someone moving to Norway? Give this plan as a gift →
Every step on one list, free
Not ready to start yet? Then you get the departure checklist for Norway: every step in order, to print and tick off. With it, five mails in a week and a half about the pitfalls and the real costs. If the rules for Norway change, you'll hear about it. After that we ask once where your plans stand, send one offer, and now and then one thing that fits your moment. No newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Which country may tax your pension once you live in Norway? Is there a favourable regime, a scheme that lowers your tax? And how do you get insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you'll see which rules apply to you, with the source.
See the financial conditionsClosing down the Netherlands: all your letters in one go
Moving to Norway starts with leaving the Netherlands properly. That's why the plan includes the letter tool: you enter your details once and every cancellation and notification letter is ready.
Just the letters, without the plan? That works too, for € 49
- Health insurance, rent, energy, subscriptions, GP, school, bank and pension fund: 16 kinds of letters. You enter your details only once.
- A sending list that counts back from your departure date and your notice period, even when that's three months.
- Also what you need to ask for as an emigrant: your no-claims years in English, your medical file and the school report (the report on your child for the new school).
Auke, maker of Vertrekklaar
On 2 January we're leaving ourselves, on a trip around the world with our family. What I put here, I'm arranging for my own family too.
On 20 September 2026 a customer wrote that the CAK rule for early retirement was missing from his plan. He was right. That evening the step was in thirteen plans, with the source attached.
The knowledge base on Norway
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
- AOW and pension in Norway: the Netherlands taxes, since 2014The treaty with Norway tipped in 2013: since then the Netherlands taxes AOW, occupational pension and annuity that come from the Netherlands — and old guides still tell the old residence-state story. Norway meanwhile counts your worldwide income and gives credit. Plus the country-of-residence factor that is capped at the Dutch maximum.
- The Norwegian border: what your removal van passes for free — and what neverNorway is EEA but stands outside the EU customs union: the border is real. Your household goods pass tax-free as removal goods — provided with the right declaration and an inventory list, through the red zone. Alcohol is never removal goods, new things aren't either, and whoever sends the mover across the border without papers brings the van to a standstill.
- Your car to Norway: the engangsavgift, and why old is goldNo relocation exemption: whoever brings their car pays the engangsavgift (weight plus CO₂) and 25% VAT. But the age deduction pushes the bill down considerably, the NOx component has been abolished from 2026, and the Dutch BPM refund stands against it — so an old car often does win the sum and a young one doesn't. Plus: the thirty days, and what electric still yields.
- Your pet to Norway: the tapeworm treatment and six banned breedsDogs and cats travel on a chip, an EU pet passport and a valid rabies vaccination, just as within the EU. For dogs Norway adds one rule that sets your travel plan: a treatment against the fox tapeworm by a vet in the country of departure, between 24 and 120 hours before arrival. Plus the red zone, the six banned breeds including crossbreeds, and what happens if something is not right.
- Banking and paying in Norway: first a number, then an ID card, then BankIDOpening a Norwegian bank account requires a Norwegian identification number, and BankID comes through that bank. The police's national ID card, NOK 840, is the Norwegian proof of identity that documents your fødselsnummer, but it requires a full fødselsnummer and a name that matches the Population Register letter for letter. What you need, how to bridge the weeks before, and why you want your account number registered with Skatteetaten early.
- Fødselsnummer, MinID and BankID: the Norwegian chainNorway has two registrations: the police are done while you stand there, but the fødselsnummer from Skatteetaten can take up to twenty-five weeks — and GP, bank and BankID wait for it. This is how the chain works, what the police's ID card requires, and how MinID bridges the waiting time.
All 14 articles about Norway
- Renting in Norway: six months' deposit in your name
- Your first weeks in Norway: eight days, three months and the wait for a number
- Buying a house in Norway: the budrunde is binding — whoever texts the highest has bought
- PAYE or ordinary tax: the choice that shapes your first Norwegian year
- Driving licence in Norway: nothing is required, exchanging is allowed
- School and barnehage in Norway: free school, childcare for at most 1,200 kroner
- Working in Norway: no permit, no general minimum wage
- Healthcare in Norway: paying per visit, until the frikort comes
Also applies to your move
Ready to begin?
The step-by-step plan for Norway: 37 steps, with your documents and your costs in one place. For each step you see the latest date to start. You pay once and it's yours.