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READER QUESTIONS

Reader question: Can you be granted Norwegian citizenship through ancestry?

Norwegian citizenship is an attractive proposition, especially as dual citizenship is allowed. What are the rules for becoming a Norwegian citizen if your relatives are from Norway? 

Published: 13 October 2023 15:15 CEST
Pictured is the city of Ålesund at night from a viewpoint.
Can you move to Norway and become a citizen if your grandparents were Norwegian? Pictured is the city of Ålesund at night from a viewpoint. Photo by Samuel Han on Unsplash

Question: My grandparents were Norwegian. Can I become a Norwegian citizen and move to Norway? 

Several countries allow foreign nationals to become naturalised if they are connected to the country through ancestry, such as grandparents. 

Norway only allows the first generation born to Norwegian nationals to become citizens. This means that you will not be eligible for citizenship if you have a Norwegian grandparent or grandparents.

The same applies to other extended family members. 

READ ALSO: Eight key advantages of Norwegian citizenship

What are the rules? 

All children born to a Norwegian citizen after September 1st 2006, automatically become Norwegian citizens at birth. The rule applies regardless of whether the child was born abroad or the child’s parents were married at the time. 

The rules for offspring before 2006 are tighter, though. Those born before this date are Norwegian citizens from birth if their mother was Norwegian.

They also become citizens if their father was Norwegian and married to the mother before the birth, if the father died before birth and was married to the mother at the time of his death. 

If the father was Norwegian and not married to the mother, those under 18 can easily become Norwegian citizens by handing in a notification of Norwegian citizenship. This can be done in Norway or from abroad. This rule will no longer exist when the last child born after September 1st turns 18. 

Those before 1979 are required to contact the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, as per the immigration directorate’s advice. 

If these rules do not apply to you, but you had a Norwegian parent when you were born, then you can apply for a residence permit. 

The residence permit requires one of your parents to have been Norwegian when you were born, and you are required to have an income of at least 296,550 kroner. This is on top of paying an application fee. 

Once you have a permit, it is possible to work towards becoming eligible for Norwegian citizenship through the other requirements, such as language skills, earnings, residence length, passing a citizenship exam, and obtaining a police certificate. 

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NORWEGIAN CITIZENSHIP

Why Norwegian citizenship can be easier to obtain as you get older

Due to the many requirements, applying for Norwegian citizenship is far from straightforward. However, those approaching their advanced years may have an easier time of things.

Published: 17 September 2024 16:02 CEST
Why Norwegian citizenship can be easier to obtain as you get older

The older we all get, the more time and effort we spend thinking about where we’d like to settle down.

Norwegian citizenship helps boost your options as you’ll have the right to live in Norway and be a member of the national insurance scheme indefinitely.

Those who would hold dual citizenship if they become Norwegian may benefit from gaining the rights of EEA citizens, too.

READ ALSO: Six surprising Norwegian citizenship rules you should know about

Why Norwegian citizenship may be easier the older you are

Well, firstly, you can be subject to slightly easier language requirements – or they may not apply at all.

Applicants over age 67 do not need to meet the language requirement to pass an oral Norwegian test at the B1 level. CEFR-level B1 means the language user can enter unprepared into conversation on topics that are familiar, of personal interest, or pertinent to everyday life.

Those over 55 also face less strict requirements. They simply need to pass the language exam at the A2 level. This level means users can handle very short social exchanges, even if they can’t usually understand enough to keep the conversation going.

Being able to bypass these exams makes citizenship a lot more appealing and more obtainable.

Another perk of being older is that you will be more likely to meet the other requirements. For starters, the older you are, the more likely you are to be in a long-term relationship, which means that your citizenship waiting times might be shorter.

Should you have a Norwegian spouse, you can apply for citizenship after you have lived in Norway for five years and have been married or have lived with a Norwegian for a total of seven years. During this seven-year period, it doesn’t matter whether you have lived abroad or in Norway.

This can make it easier to obtain Norwegian citizenship.

The things that make it harder to obtain citizenship if you are older.

Firstly, learning languages can be more difficult for older people. Therefore, if you are still young enough that you can’t completely skip the language requirements, but are old enough that you might struggle then you may be at a disadvantage.

Furthermore, the citizenship rules for those with Norwegian parents are less lenient for older generations.

As the rules for claiming citizenship when one parent was Norwegian at birth can be quite complicated for those born before 1979, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) advises that you contact them directly to find out whether you will be eligible for citizenship.

Meanwhile, those born before September 1st, 2006 can become Norwegian through parentage if their mother was Norwegian, or if their father was a Norwegian citizen and was married to their mother.

The rules are far more straightforward for those born after 2006. In that event, you automatically became a Norwegian citizen at birth if you have a Norwegian mother or father.

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