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The step-by-step plan for Norway

From "we want this" to being settled, in 35 steps. Read phase 1 in full here. Test your departure date along the way. Then you'll know whether you want the rest.

35 steps5 phases81 official sources8 only for your situationchecked on 9 September 2026

Phase 1 starts below ↓The whole plan: € 199 one-off, no subscription.

What it looks like

Not a PDF, not a checklist. A plan that knows what needs to happen now.

Every step sits in its place in the order, with the lead time, the counter and the official source. You tick off, your partner ticks along, and the plan counts back from your departure date: what has to start when, and what is running now.

Below is phase 1, exactly as it appears in the plan.

The dashboard of the step-by-step plan for Norway: the current phase, the open steps, the next step and the deadline bar.

The route

  1. Orientation

    5 steps

    Open · You are here

  2. Closing the Netherlands

    14 steps

    In your plan

  3. Move

    3 steps

    In your plan

  4. Registration in Norway

    6 steps

    In your plan

  5. Arrival

    7 steps

    In your plan

Phase 1 is the question "can we, and do we want to?". From phase 2 the arranging begins.

Phase 1 · Orientation

5 of 5 steps open

Norway is EEA, so you may live and work there as if it were EU — but it stands outside the customs union, and that makes this the only corridor where the border itself is a sum. Whoever works out the border sum and the housing market in advance arrives without surprises.

By the end of phase 1 you know how the Norwegian system fits together, you've done the border sum, and the family stands behind the decision.

Step 1.1

Understand the system: EEA rights, and two registrations

Lead time:
reading step
Costs:
none

As a Dutch citizen you have the same rights in Norway as in an EU country: living and working from day one, without a permit. What's different from the neighbours: there are two registrations. Within three months you report to the police (the EEA registration: free, one-off, the proof never expires), and for a stay of more than six months you report the move by law within eight days to Skatteetaten — the registration that yields your fødselsnummer, with a lead time of two to twenty-five weeks.

That contrast with Sweden is worth remembering: there the police registration has been abolished and you wait for the tax authority; here you have both counters, but the police are done while you stand there.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.2

Do the border sum: what may come along, and what the border costs

Lead time:
an evening of calculating
Costs:
none

Norway stands outside the EU customs union, and that makes your move different from a move to any EU country on this site. The main rule is favourable: your household contents pass tax-free as removal goods, provided you lived in the Netherlands for at least a year and owned and used the things — with a declaration and an inventory list, via the red zone.

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 wine collection does move, but never free. The car carries the engangsavgift (weight plus CO₂) plus 25% VAT, softened by the age deduction and the Dutch BPM refund — work it through with the official calculator before you decide. And new things aren't removal goods; keep receipts of what you bought just before departure.

Checked against the official source

The official sources for this step

Step 1.3

Get a picture of what it's going to cost

Lead time:
1-2 hours with the calculator
Costs:
none

The paperwork is almost free here — the registrations cost nothing, the ID card 840 kroner. The money is in the border sum of step 1.2, the home (by law up to six months' depositum), the first months at the highest price level of all destinations, and the first payslip: without a tax card your employer withholds the emergency rate of 50%. Work it out with your own choices.

Step 1.4

Take the decision together

Lead time:
no fixed time; take your time for it
Costs:
none

Norway wins every ranking on nature and salary, so discuss precisely the things that aren't in the brochure. You pay for the language yourself: unlike in Sweden and Denmark, EEA citizens get no free language lessons — the integration act excludes them explicitly. The housing market is a buyers' market: well over three quarters of Norwegians own their home, the rental market is small and often temporary, so buying comes into view sooner than you're used to. And the price level is real: groceries and especially alcohol lie far above Dutch level. Against that stands the highest net wage on the site — provided you arrange phase 4 well.

Step 1.6

Choose your target date

Lead time:
five minutes, below
Costs:
none

Choose below the date on which you want to be standing in Norway. The step-by-step plan works out whether that's feasible with what still has to happen — and says so honestly if it gets tight. A target date is yours: you can always move it, and moving it is a perfectly fine outcome.

Phase 1 read

You know what you're getting into. Now the arranging begins.

You've read phase 1 of the step-by-step plan for Norway. The full plan has another 30 steps ready for you: Closing the Netherlands, Move, Registration in Norway and Arrival.

The plan counts everything back from your departure date, watches your deadlines and documents, and shows only the steps that apply to you.

The step-by-step plan for Norway

€ 199

one-off · no subscription · instant access

Continue with the full plan · € 199

Also included: deadlines watched · documents with expiry dates · only your steps · your partner ticks along · all cancellation letters · questions to Auke.

✎ Auke reads along

Stuck somewhere? Ask your question at the step. Auke reads it himself and answers within two working days.

Not ready yet? Send yourself your date and phase 1 →

Phase 2 · Closing the Netherlands0 of 14 steps open

Norway is EEA, so the familiar EU routes simply work — CAK, protective assessment, AOW. Two things are different here: the apostille is back (the EU public documents regulation doesn't apply), and since 2013 the treaty has source-state taxation with transitional rules that older guides mix up.

  1. 2.1Arrange your healthcare: the basic insurance stops on departurestart 3 months before departure; the CAK application takes ± 4 weeks
  2. 2.2AOW and pension: source-state taxation since 2013an afternoon of research; in case of doubt one conversation with a tax adviser
  3. 2.3The tax wrap-up: M return and the protective assessmentthe return comes after the emigration year; preparing can be done now
  4. 2.4Stop allowances and child benefitan hour, online
  5. 2.5Deregister with the municipalitypossible from 5 days before departure, up to and including departure day
  6. 2.6DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlandsan afternoon
  7. 2.7Documents: the apostille is back2-3 weeks for extracts and apostilles
  8. 2.8Partner comes along without a job of their ownonly if this applies to you
  9. 2.9Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month ruleonly if this applies to you
  10. 2.10The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keeponly if this applies to you
  11. 2.11Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the houseonly if this applies to you
  12. 2.12Cancel what stops: job, rent, energy, subscriptions and schoolstart three months before departure; most notice periods are one month
  13. 2.13Stay reachable: DigiD, your phone number, your bank and your postarrange it before you leave; afterwards it takes weeks
  14. 2.14Student debt, remote work or your own business: what moves with youreport it before you leave; the consequences run for years
Open all steps · € 199
Phase 3 · Move0 of 3 steps open

The border is real, but well arranged: removal goods pass free with a declaration and an inventory list, via the red zone. The three exceptions you know from phase 1 — alcohol, the car and the pet each have their own rules.

  1. 3.1Plan the move: the declaration, the list and the red zonequotes 2-4 weeks ahead; the papers an evening
  2. 3.2The car: carrying out the sum, with two clocksonly if this applies to you
  3. 3.3The pet: the tapeworm treatment with a time windowonly if this applies to you
Phase 4 · Registration in Norway0 of 6 steps open

Two registrations, two speeds: the police are done while you stand there, Skatteetaten can take up to twenty-five weeks. Everything that asks for a fødselsnummer — GP, bank, BankID — waits for the slow one of the two, so report in the first week and use the bridges.

  1. 4.1Find your home: small rental supply, strict depositumcount on weeks; the supply is small
  2. 4.2The EEA registration with the policeschedule an appointment; you get the proof straight away
  3. 4.3The folkeregistrering: eight days to report, weeks for an answerreport within 8 days; decision 2 to 25 weeks
  4. 4.4The tax card: choose deliberately between PAYE and ordinaryarrange at the same ID check; avoid the 50%
  5. 4.5ID-kort, bank and BankID: the chain with bridges2-4 weeks once the fødselsnummer is there
  6. 4.6GP and healthcare: the fastlege and the S1choosing is possible straight after the folkeregistrering
Phase 5 · Arrival0 of 7 steps open

The systems here are generous and cut differently: no a-kasse to choose (the unemployment insurance sits in the folketrygd), healthcare with co-payments up to a hard ceiling, and childcare that just got considerably cheaper. The car has the shortest clock: thirty days.

  1. 5.1Registering the car as Norwegian: thirty daysonly if this applies to you
  2. 5.2Work: no a-kasse — but know your rights and your collective agreementreading step
  3. 5.3Healthcare costs: co-payments up to the ceilingreading step
  4. 5.4Children: apply for barnetrygd, register for childcareonly if this applies to you
  5. 5.5Tax: evaluate your PAYE choice, and know the returnan evening a year
  6. 5.6Learn Norwegian: it isn't free here — budget for itchoosing a course can be done straight away; learning takes years
  7. 5.7Your driving licence: nothing is required, exchanging is allowedreading step

8 of these 30 steps only appear when your answers call for them: a pet, a car, a partner without a job, children staying in the Netherlands. That is the difference between a step-by-step plan and a checklist.

Three questions

Can't I find all this for free?

Yes. Everything in the plan comes from official sources, and they're listed at every step. Phase 1 above is the proof. What you buy is the work around it: which of the 30 following steps apply to you, in which order, with which deadline, and a nudge when something needs doing.

Does this apply to my situation too?

The plan first asks who is coming along, what is coming along and how you're leaving the Netherlands. Steps that don't apply to you don't appear; steps that only apply to you do. Is your situation slightly different from what's written? Ask your question at the step; you'll get an answer within two working days.

What if the rules change after I buy?

Then your plan changes with them. Twice a month we check every source; whatever changes is in your plan the same week, with the date. Your access lasts for your whole departure.

Ready to begin?

The step-by-step plan for Norway: 35 steps, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.

Start your step-by-step plan · € 199Read more about Norway first