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The plan for Norway, from the inside

These are all 32 steps of the Norway journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.

Steps
32
Phases
5
Official sources
64
Only for your situation
8

Phase 1

5 steps

Orientation

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.

  1. 1.1

    Understand the system: EEA rights, and two registrations

    Lead time
    reading step
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  2. 1.2

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

    Lead time
    an evening of calculating
    Costs
    none

    3 official sources

  3. 1.3

    Get a picture of what it's going to cost

    Lead time
    1-2 hours with the calculator
    Costs
    none
  4. 1.4

    Take the decision together

    Lead time
    no fixed time; take your time for it
    Costs
    none
  5. 1.6

    Choose your target date

    Lead time
    five minutes, below
    Costs
    none

Phase 2

11 steps

Closing the Netherlands

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. 2.1

    Arrange your healthcare: the basic insurance stops on departure

    Lead time
    start 3 months before departure; the CAK application takes ± 4 weeks
    Costs
    workers none; pensioners the CAK contribution

    4 official sources

  2. 2.2

    AOW and pension: source-state taxation since 2013

    Lead time
    an afternoon of research; in case of doubt one conversation with a tax adviser
    Costs
    possibly the tax adviser's conversation

    3 official sources

  3. 2.3

    The tax wrap-up: M return and the protective assessment

    Lead time
    the return comes after the emigration year; preparing can be done now
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  4. 2.4

    Stop allowances and child benefit

    Lead time
    an hour, online
    Costs
    none

    3 official sources

  5. 2.5

    Deregister with the municipality

    Lead time
    possible from 5 days before departure, up to and including departure day
    Costs
    none

    1 official source

  6. 2.6

    DigiD, bank and your vote: keep the lines with the Netherlands

    Lead time
    an afternoon
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  7. 2.7

    Documents: the apostille is back

    Lead time
    2-3 weeks for extracts and apostilles
    Costs
    fees per extract plus apostille per document

    2 official sources

  8. 2.8

    Partner comes along without a job of their own

    Lead time
    an evening together, then a few things to arrange
    Costs
    none — the consequences are in the article

    2 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

  9. 2.9

    Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule

    Lead time
    one decision, before you commit to anything else
    Costs
    none

    4 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

  10. 2.10

    The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep

    Lead time
    one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
    Costs
    advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank

    2 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

  11. 2.11

    Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house

    Lead time
    an evening, and after that one report a year
    Costs
    none

    1 official source

    Only if this applies to you

Phase 3

3 steps

Move

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. 3.1

    Plan the move: the declaration, the list and the red zone

    Lead time
    quotes 2-4 weeks ahead; the papers an evening
    Costs
    see the cost indication

    2 official sources

  2. 3.2

    The car: carrying out the sum, with two clocks

    Lead time
    RDW export and applying for the refund, 1-2 weeks
    Costs
    see the border sum of step 1.2

    3 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

  3. 3.3

    The pet: the tapeworm treatment with a time window

    Lead time
    vet visit 24-120 hours before arrival — plan it exactly
    Costs
    vet check plus the treatment

    3 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

Phase 4

6 steps

Registration in Norway

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. 4.1

    Find your home: small rental supply, strict depositum

    Lead time
    count on weeks; the supply is small
    Costs
    depositum by law up to 6 months' rent

    2 official sources

  2. 4.2

    The EEA registration with the police

    Lead time
    schedule an appointment; you get the proof straight away
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  3. 4.3

    The folkeregistrering: eight days to report, weeks for an answer

    Lead time
    report within 8 days; decision 2 to 25 weeks
    Costs
    none

    3 official sources

  4. 4.4

    The tax card: choose deliberately between PAYE and ordinary

    Lead time
    arrange at the same ID check; avoid the 50%
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  5. 4.5

    ID-kort, bank and BankID: the chain with bridges

    Lead time
    2-4 weeks once the fødselsnummer is there
    Costs
    ID-kort 840 kroner

    2 official sources

  6. 4.6

    GP and healthcare: the fastlege and the S1

    Lead time
    choosing is possible straight after the folkeregistrering
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

Phase 5

7 steps

Arrival

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. 5.1

    Registering the car as Norwegian: thirty days

    Lead time
    declaration, inspection and plates, 2-3 weeks
    Costs
    engangsavgift and VAT from the border sum, plus vrakpant

    2 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

  2. 5.2

    Work: no a-kasse — but know your rights and your collective agreement

    Lead time
    reading step
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  3. 5.3

    Healthcare costs: co-payments up to the ceiling

    Lead time
    reading step
    Costs
    see the text

    2 official sources

  4. 5.4

    Children: apply for barnetrygd, register for childcare

    Lead time
    apply as soon as the registration is complete
    Costs
    childcare at most 1,200 kroner a month

    2 official sources

    Only if this applies to you

  5. 5.5

    Tax: evaluate your PAYE choice, and know the return

    Lead time
    an evening a year
    Costs
    none

    2 official sources

  6. 5.6

    Learn Norwegian: it isn't free here — budget for it

    Lead time
    choosing a course can be done straight away; learning takes years
    Costs
    course fees, at your own expense

    1 official source

  7. 5.7

    Your driving licence: nothing is required, exchanging is allowed

    Lead time
    reading step
    Costs
    exchanging about 260-370 kroner including photo

    1 official source

8 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.

Look inside

This is what one step of your plan looks like

Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Norway journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters 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

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.

This is step 1.2 of 32. The other 31 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.

And what you don't see here

This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:

  • The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
  • Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
  • The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
  • The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.

Ready to start on Norway?

All 32 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.

The departure guide

Five mails, and you see your whole journey

Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Norway: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Norway really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.

Your address is used only for the guide and the monthly update. You can unsubscribe under every mail.

Ready to begin?

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