The step-by-step plan for Norway

In this step you see which counters you report to, and how fast each counter is.

First the good news. Norway belongs to the EEA (the European Economic Area). So as a Dutch citizen you have the same rights there 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. That's the EEA registration. It's free and one-off, and the proof never expires.
• If you stay longer than six months, you report the move by law within eight days to Skatteetaten (the Norwegian tax agency). That registration yields your fødselsnummer, the Norwegian citizen service number. Expect to wait two to twenty-five weeks.

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

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.

In this step you see what the move is going to cost you. The paperwork is almost free here. The registrations cost nothing, and the ID card (the Norwegian identity card) costs 840 kroner.

The money goes mainly here:

• The border: what you worked out in the border sum above.
• The home: by law up to six months' depositum (deposit).
• The first months, because the price level in Norway is high.
• Your first payslip. Without a tax card your employer withholds the emergency rate of 50%. Further on in the plan you arrange that card.

Work it out with your own choices in the calculator.

With this step you decide together whether you go. Norway wins every ranking on nature and salary. So discuss precisely the things that aren't in the brochure.

Going alone? Then have this conversation with the people you're leaving behind. The questions below work for them too.

Take three evenings. One conversation is too short for a decision like this. Set aside three evenings, a week apart. Talk with your partner, and depending on their age with your children too:

• Evening 1, why. Why do we want this? What do we hope to find in Norway? What are we leaving behind here? Would that really be different there?
• Evening 2, what we give up. Who and what will we miss? What are we dreading most? What do we do if it disappoints?
• Evening 3, the conditions. What needs to be in place for each of us to say yes? When do we check together whether it's going well, for example after six and after twelve months? And what would be a reason for us to come back?

Write the conditions down. On the kitchen-table card it all fits on one A4 sheet.

With Norway these two belong on those evenings too:

• 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.
• The price level is real. Groceries and especially alcohol cost far more than in the Netherlands.

Against that stands a high net wage, provided you arrange phase 4 well.

Divide the work. Agree who takes on which part of this plan: the papers, the house and the cancellations, the school, the move. That way not one of you carries everything. Invite your partner into your plan; then you both see what's done.

Is one of you going without an income of your own? Someone who lives in Norway and doesn't work in the Netherlands usually stops building up AOW. AOW is the Dutch state pension. For every year you're not insured, you later get 2 percent less AOW. From the moment you're no longer insured, you have one year to take out voluntary insurance with the SVB.

Also discuss whether that partner keeps an account and money of their own, and how you decide together on big expenses.

Married, registered or living together? That can matter for your partner's right of residence, for being insured together for healthcare and for inheritance. Check in the steps on your registration and your healthcare further on in your plan what applies to you.

Are children coming? How you tell them depends on their age:

• Up to about four. Tell them shortly before the move and keep fixed routines, such as the bedtime ritual and the cuddly toy in the hand luggage.
• Primary school. Tell them well in advance and let them look along: photos of the school, the neighbourhood and the house. Let them choose something, such as their room.
• Teenagers. Involve them in the decision itself. For them, saying goodbye to friends weighs heaviest. Agree how they'll stay in touch and when they'll see their friends again.

School in Norway is free. For the youngest children there's the barnehage, the childcare. The right to a place only applies after an application, so register your child as soon as you have an address.

Who learns the language, and when? In Norway that's Norwegian, and you pay for the language yourself. Unlike in Sweden and Denmark, EEA citizens get no free language lessons. The integration act excludes them explicitly. Often the partner without work needs the language most, and that's exactly the one with no colleagues to practise with. Plan it together, preferably before you leave.

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. If it gets tight, it says so honestly. A target date is yours: you can always move it, and moving it is a perfectly fine outcome.